Rachel's Testimony:

2 Peter 1:21 says, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

While I sit down to write this, I want this verse to be true in my life. I want my words to be from Him and not from myself, so it is with this that I start my testimony.

I was born to Christian parents and was raised as a pastor’s kid and also as a missionary’s kid. Even when I was a small child I believed in God. I prayed to Him, but I did not really know Him. I was like most kids in my situation. I was considered a well behaved child by most of the world’s standards, but I knew that I wasn’t as I appeared to be. I was living in my parents’ shadow. I was just a cute little girl who knew about God and cared about Him, but I did not place Him above everything else in my life. I went to church I said my prayer at meal times, but that did not satisfy me.

My parents taught me about Christianity and they chose my 9th birthday to share with me about the love of Jesus Christ. They shared the verse, Romans 3:23 with me and it says: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That verse is what God knew I needed to hear. That verse showed the true nature of all people and puts us all on the same level, which was really important to me, it didn’t matter if people were rich or poor, popular or outcast, pretty or ugly, we had all sinned. That night I became a Christian and accepted Jesus Christ into my heart.
My life did change but I was fitting the description in Revelation 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. I was not on fire for Jesus. But as I grew older and went on day mission trips, I felt God working in me. He wanted me to be on fire for Him. He didn’t want me to just sit back and enjoy the ride, but rather live for Him and His service. This was such an important time in my life because it’s when I started to really give everything in my life to Jesus. Also during that time I began to take Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19-20 more seriously, they are: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." I was so shy especially when I was younger and used that as an excuse for not telling other people about Jesus. But when I was getting ready to go on my last day mission trip (I was in eighth grade) to this deaf school in the Philippines, it was canceled. I was disappointed because I had really felt God calling me to share my testimony and instead of ignoring that call I had committed myself to fulfilling that. But as with all things, God took this situation and made it something totally amazing for His glory. He opened up the doors for us to go to an elementary school and help out and also share my testimony. I was so nervous but I also felt a peace when I was saying it. I felt God’s strength and that gave me more confidence. I tried to make the verses above mottos for my life.
From then on I really began to start seeing things in a different light. I began to rely on God more and had a desire to know Him better. He taught me many different lessons but here were two things that really stuck out to me. The first would be that everything happens for a reason. This concept is so amazing. Its hard for me to fathom that EVERYTHING that has happened in my life has happened for a reason. I would understand things such as living in a certain place, or having a certain family, but the fact that everything we see, say, do, touch, experience happened for a reason. This is also amazing cause it just shows how much God cares about our lives that He would plan every single millisecond out. The next concept is peace of mind. I felt this when I learned we would have to move again after living in a place for four years, and I learned I may never come back to South Korea. This was difficult for me, every other move I had been fighting and asking God why He had made me leave all of my friends, and I blamed my parents and their job. But this time instead of feeling anger I felt peace from God. This has been so important to me because it took me to a new depth in my relationship with God. It’s such a relief to myself to know that I have Him to rely on and that He gives me that peace.
To explain why I love God I must first begin with a story. When I was a child I was often scared of the dark, in fact, I was terrified. I don’t know why I was so scared, but there was something about the feeling of being alone and vulnerable that just took over me and petrified me in fear. I used to make up stories in my head, happy stories and sad stories, but whenever I would get scared I would think of God. I used to imagine that I was sleeping not on a mattress, but on God’s hand. I think I got this idea from the song He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands and I would just focus on that and the fear would go away. God is our protector, our Father, our best friend, and a million other things, in short He is everything. This is part of the reason I love Him. There are endless reasons I could name for loving Him, but there is one that stands above the rest. That is He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us. That just blows me away because it’d be like a man sacrificing his son for an ant, but that doesn’t even accurately show how insignificant we are compared to God. Also, He didn’t just die for us, but for our sins! Every single sin we ever committed. These are just two of the reasons I love God.
To end this I just want to repeat what I wrote earlier: for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21