I believed in God when I was a university student. At that time I was not truly seeking for God but came to know God through my university course mate. It has been nearly 20 years since I came to know God and as the years go by I love God more and more and feel very lucky that I have found God. I would like to share with you joys that I have experienced in knowing God.
Shortcut to a Happy Life
One of the joy of being a Christian is finding a shortcut to a happy and content life. There are many teachings in the Bible and after practicing it out, I found that it is the best way to live my life. I came to realize after many years of experience that if I follow the words of God, I can never go wrong.
For example the Bible says husband love your wife and wife be submissive to your husband (1 Peter 3:1, 7). This is one of the basic principles that we follow in our family. 7 years ago, when my husband decided to move back to Japan from Malaysia, he looked for a job that is within commuting distance to our church. He rejected other better paid offers as he knew how important God is to me. When we first moved to Atsugi, the nearest church was in Tokorozawa which was 2.5 hours drive away and my husband would drive us weekly to church no matter how tired he would be. As the decisions that my husband make consider what is best for the family, it is easy to be submissive and support him. With only one head in the family, there are no contentions and arguing in our family.
Children are inheritance from God (Psalms 127:3) and they are placed in our care temporarily to bring us joy and it is our duty to educate them well. Children will eventually leave us and lead their own life whereas our spouse will be with us for the rest of our lives. In my family, spouse is always placed before the kids. By and by, I noticed that loving your spouse is the best thing that you can do for your children. When your kids see you love and respect each other, they learn to love and respect in the same way. When I bake a cake, I will tell the kids that they need to wait for daddy to come home and eat together. When I receive some nice snacks, I will always save them to eat with my husband. Unknowingly, the kids learned how to share and when someone gave them something nice to eat, they will always bring some to share with us. If you do not put the kids first, they will not be pampered and know how to consider for others.
Peace on Earth
By believing in God, we have a hope of eternal life in heaven. (1 John 2:25) Life on earth is temporary and even if we face tribulations and sufferings, we have our God to rely on and are able to endure the sufferings as we have a hope of something better in future. If there is no God and no hope, some may choose to end their life. Recently my husband has been having a tough time at work even to the point of depression. However, we are thankful that we have God to rely on and at times when he is most down, we will pray and sing hymns together and peace from God will come to him. Through tribulations, we can receive comfort and peace from God and become closer to each other and to God.
Family in Christ
Apart from having our physical family, we have our spiritual family in Christ. The first time I stepped into the True Jesus Church in Portsmouth, U.K., I experienced this deeply. I was a university student then and a complete stranger to the church members but yet they warmly invited me to stay over night at their house and treated me like family the first time I met them. Actions speaks louder than words and maybe it is their warmth that made me continue to go to church and finally find God.
Recently, my family have been traveling a lot overseas. We went to Taiwan, Sabah and New Zealand and wherever we went, we were warmly welcomed by church members who came to meet us at the airport and we were given accommodation and invited to have meals with them.
In Petaling Jaya True Jesus Church, Malaysia, there are some old brethren that do not have any kids or relatives with them. The youths of the church treated them like family and visited them in the hospital and nursing home till the day that they were greeted by our Lord Jesus Christ. This comforted me that even if I am alone, I will have my family in Christ to care of me.
I hope that everyone will come to know Christ and experience the joy that I feel.
It is very hard to completely rely on God, easier said than done. I ask God to teach me how to rely on God from bottom of my heart. Like a little toddler learning how to walk. I pray every day and night to ask and teach me how to completely to rely on God. Depression is a illness and not every one in church would understand the Depression. I have to go through hospital care for the Depression. I ask God to help me to recover. So far Jesus helps me a lot. I am slowly recovering from my depression. Takes me many years to realize depression can kill a person. I have to pray a lot and a lot. I still keep praying a lot to ask God to help me every day for my recovery. I also find out not every one in True church understand depression is a illness. Depression is just like diabetes and heart disease. It is a serious illness, the society and the church do not want to get involved with it. Many people have that illness and yet a lot people keep quiet about that and not deal with it. Takes me many years for me to understand the illness. And I know only God can help the person to go one step at a time to learn from it. Thank God for that.
I am curious since I wrote my reply back in March 10 2013. Do you guys read them? What do you do with the Leave a Reply ? I am curious, please do reply.
Dear Maria,
This blog is a public medium for all to share reflections on faith-related topics. Since comments are one’s personal thoughts, they are not always responded to. You also do not have to “leave a reply” but it is a nice way of letting writers know you have read their post.
As you mentioned, depression is an illness that not everyone can understand. But it does not mean that members in church do not care or want to get involved. Sometimes all we can do is pray. You are right that only God can really help a person get through depression. We hope that this blog can edify you in your faith and help you draw closer to God.