Full Testimony Text

Dear brothers and sisters, may the peace of the Lord be with you!

From the day I met the Lord Jesus in Michigan and was baptized into His name, I knew that my life would never be the same. He not only saved me from my former emptiness and confusion, but also led me onto a way that has direction, hope, and life. What I want to testify of now is not a “worldly” success story, but how the Lord, in my weakest moments, with His lovingkindness and faithfulness, led me step by step through the valley of my job search, so that I experienced His leading and His presence for myself.

At first, like many international students, I longed to find an ideal summer internship. I worked hard on my résumé, applied again and again, and waited for replies. But a whole month went by — my applications either sank without a trace or met with countless rejections. As April drew near and one internship after another closed, my heart grew anxious and unsettled — not because I had not tried hard, but because I could not see any hope.

I began to doubt, and even my faith in the Lord wavered. I had once asked the Lord in prayer for “a suitable internship,” but as the answer kept not coming, my prayer slowly changed: from “Lord, please prepare the most suitable position for me” to “just any internship will do,” until at last I was even praying, “Lord, even if You would only let me have one interview, just to experience it, I would be content…”

In that low valley, it was a brother in the church who upheld me. Brother Liu Yang encouraged me, saying, “The Lord will surely give to you; only, what He gives you is certainly better. If it has not come yet, it is because the most fitting one has not yet appeared.” He said, “You can even say to the Lord, ‘Lord, why have You not yet come? Where are You? Will You really prepare for me?’” When I heard these words, my heart was suddenly struck — I realized that faith is not pretending to have no anxiety, but coming to the Lord still, with all my real feelings, and pouring out my heart to Him.

So I began to change my attitude. I no longer prayed merely to “find a job,” but every morning I said to the Lord, “Lord, if You are willing, I am willing; if You delay, I will wait; if You do not open the door, I will keep on praying.” I went on praying together with the brothers, and took an active part in the Lord’s Day meetings, in the reading of the Scriptures, and in fellowship with the brothers and sisters. Little by little, my heart was comforted and strengthened by the Lord.

Then one day, after I had finished praying, I happened to come across a newly posted internship. The company’s background, the role, the location — everything fit me astonishingly well; the office was even very close to where I lived and to the church. At once something stirred within me, and an inexplicable peace welled up in my heart — not from my own reasoning, but from a spiritual sense. Quietly in my heart I said, “Lord, is this the one You have prepared with Your own hand for me? Did You arrange all of this long ago, only waiting for me to be willing to believe You to the end?”

With a thankful heart I sent in my application. On the day of the interview I was, honestly, still nervous. But just before I stepped into the interview room, the brothers prayed for me and cheered me on, and suddenly my heart had a peace and strength that came from the Lord. During the interview I felt a clarity and confidence I had never known before, as if the Lord Himself were beside me, guiding my every word.

A few weeks later, I received the offer letter, and I nearly wept for joy. I knew this was the Lord’s answer to my faith, and a clear proof of His wonderful doing!

Yet the story did not end there. Just when I thought I could finally rest, a larger, more famous company with even better pay suddenly invited me to interview. I should have been overjoyed, but instead my heart was thrown into turmoil. I began to cry out to the Lord, “Lord, why did You not let me have this opportunity sooner? If this one is better, why did it not come first?”

Right in the middle of my struggle, the Lord gave me a very deep realization: what the Lord gives us is never merely what looks “best” on the surface, but what is most fitting for us.

That larger company offered higher pay and a more impressive title, but it was far away in California, a thousand miles from The Church in Northville where I am. If I went there, I could no longer meet with the brothers and sisters week by week, no longer pursue growth in the church, no longer serve and draw near to the Lord after work. The Lord helped me see: if a job took you farther from Me, would not that “better” become a chain? If you gained the glory that men esteem yet were far from Me, would you not lose the real life?

Through this experience the Lord reminded me, “Child, what I give you is not the road you think is most ‘successful,’ but the way that leads to spiritual life.” In that moment I understood: the earlier internship was the very grace the Lord had tailor-made for me — it let me learn in the workplace while never leaving the church, never leaving the Lord, never losing my spiritual life.

From then on, my internship life would unfold under the Lord’s blessing. After each day’s work, I could still join the Lord’s Day worship, share in Bible study and prayer, and serve together with the brothers and sisters, while my spiritual life kept growing in the light of the Lord. I also began to pray more earnestly for others, to share the Lord’s grace, and to testify of His reality and faithfulness.

I would like to close with a passage of Scripture I heard at the meeting hall in Cleveland — Philippians 3:13-14: “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

May I run on the Lord’s way all my life — unshaken by the world, unafraid of the road ahead — desiring only to gain the imperishable crown that the Lord gives.

Thanks be to the Lord; may all the glory be given to Him! Amen!