How I encounter Jesus in my life

I broke up with my first ex boyfriend when I was in high school 7 years ago. The reason he broke up with me was because he gets more serious in his faith in Jesus. He knew that he should not be on the same yoke with unbeliever like me. Back then I was a Buddhist. I grew bitter and angry asking why so serious about religion? religion is there to guide us to be a good person, but not there to hinder us with someone that we like. It just doesnt make sense to me at all. i got really really devastated and traumatic because at that time I really did give my heart to him and was thinking how could he be so thoughtless and just dump me like that? after all we have been through? It just further emphasized what
my dad thinks about christians, they are selfish people.

Okay so afterthe break up, i was so sad up to the point that i asked my mom to send me to study overseas. i know this sounds so desperate, ridiculous and you might think, what? You were just 17 at that time! Well, the truth is thats what i felt. My mom did not know about the real story behind , she just thought that i sincerely wanted to study abroad.

So then i came to melbourne. It was not as i was expected, it was a huge transition for me. Although there were a lot of indonesians in my intake at my foundation studies, i found it so hard to make friends. Plus my indo language is so formal so my friends keep on making fun of me. I was so homesick and cried a lot during those days and even told my mom that after my foundation studies i would like to go back for good. My mom agreed cos she saw how i struggled. 

God obviously has another plan cos i am still here, lol. On my last term of study, i was close with a guy. Through him i started to feel belong in melbourne. Through him i also started to make friends. only one thing that is he is going to adelaide if he get the offer go to medicine school and he is a Christian. I was very anti-Christ and already warned him so many times that i wont date him if he cant respect my religion. In the end we still got together cos he didnt get the offer and he said he will respect my belief.

Well, God has an amazing plan even thru all the barriers that i had put up before Him. This bf, lets call him Mr.T to make it easier, he is a bassist at churcH. we would meet every other day but not on friday night and sunday bcos he always went to cell group and church. He was not a very dedicated Christian but i should say that T was quite obedient in terms of church stuff. Oh yes,i forgot to mention that i also went to temple every saturday.

Few months went after we dated. One day, i remembered it clearly, it was during Easter, it was public holiday. T had duty to serve at church and i had nothing to do. So i thought of going there to watch him as well as giving him surprise. Turned out that i was the one who was surprised. Haha. So i went there without him knowing. I was greeted very well by the ushers. They were all very welcoming.  During the worship , there was this song "bapa, sentuh hatiku". When i listened to this song, i started to tear. (later, long time after this event, then i know that it is actually the Holy Spirit moving in my heart. ) i started to question and doubt my doubts. I started to think if Christians God is real. I ask T abt religion but he couldnt explain. Back then he was just a professing Christian. He gave me his bible and asked me to read it. It was Indonesian bible and guess what, i couldnt understand a thing cos i read from Genesis. The words were so deep and Adam and Eve jst didnt make sense to me. T asked me to just pray anyhow. I did as he suggested and my simple prayer was "God, if you are there, show me".

That prayer marked the start of my journey with Christ. Few days after that, I met a girl in my uni who was so passionate about God. She could tell me about God in the middle of lecture. At that time I couldnt really focus on what she says because I had to concentrate on the lecture. At the end of the lecture, she asked if i would like to go to the bible study at uni. I was feeling bad if i didnt say yes to her ,and at the same time i thought this could be the answer to my prayer, so i thought, well just give it a try.

As God has planned, on that day there was this lady, a member of this Christian union, who has been going to theology school and knew the bible well. She didnt usually come to this bible study but on that day she was there. i was introduced to her and she was told that i am new to this whole christianity thingy. She asked me if i would like to find a time and meet her weekly just to chat and talk about any doubts that i may have. I agreed bcos again i feel bad to say no.

On our first meeting, she started to guide me thru the bible. She asked me to read the new testament first and jot down any verse that i didnt understand during the week. I started meeting her week by week. couldnt remember every single details of the meetings but few things that i remember her saying to me was :
Budha was just like another humaN. He was born , and died but was never risen again. Yes he was extraordinary but he was still only a human. Nobody can prove that he was God. While Jesus, He died and rose again, He appeared to His disciple and they saw him went back to the sky. I also asked her why is it so unfair that Christian can wash away all their sins , what abt rapist and murderer? Well, i cant remember exactly what she said but the main understanding that i got was that every human is a sinner, no matter whether ur sin is small or big, the fact that we have commited the sin that means we are sinner. Once we are sinner , we are separated from God. So if we are sinner, how can we ever go to heaven? This is the flaw that i see in Buddhism. If no one can ever be holy ( without sin)then how is it possible for a human to go to heaven? The answer is no way. While in Christianity, God Himself who is without sin , came down to the earth to save us , and only Him can save us because he washed away our sin with His holiness. He died once and for all. The illustration that she gave was this : say you were caught speeding and you hve to pay the ticket. Instead of u paying , ur friend came to pay for u. ur friend didnt owe the officer but he just come to rescue u. Similarly, Jesus didnt have to save us,but He came because He so loved the world that He didnt want anyone to perish. therefore, salvation is a gift.

Actually after all hearing all this i wasnt buying what she says. It was just a theory for me and at that time salvation wasnt really what i needed. Then there was one time when we had gathering with this lady and a few other girls. I was on the tram with this lady, she asked me how im going about all this stuff. I told her tht i started to believe in it. However i think that she thought that i already had faith in Jesus. She brought me to the prayer of salvation. I was still in shocked and just prayed anyway. Everyone there was so hppy for me and little did i know what happened haha. But anw, i think since then God really gave me His faith and His Holy Spirit because little by little my faith keeps on increasing. It wasnt solely because of reading the bible but it was also thru coming to cell group and church. Every week the message just spoke to my heart and every week i felt God answered any doubt that i had. That i why i can really feel His presence and know that I worship a living God.

God is good. Christianity isnt about teaching,religion or rules. Christianity is about having a relationship with GoD. it is the world that has corrupted the real meaning of Christianity with different denominations and rules.

well,this is a little story of how i met Jesus. maybe if u have ur story to tell as well u can copy paste ur link in the comment area below or u can write the whole thing below. It doesnt matter if the story is extraordinary or not because every single person has their own story to tell and every story is meaningful.
Reading my own testimony sometimes can be very encouraging because it just reminds me how persistent God has been in winning over me.

Let Thy will be done
Orange girl ;)