Thank you for visiting ECBC! We are glad you can join us.
Nancy Bui
I never realized how God worked in so many mysterious ways until the day the Lord came to save me. For the past few years I have always been hesitant about becoming a Christian; the idea of going to Church came across many times in my life but never did I think to actually go and attend service.
It wasn・t so much the belief that I was against, but it was the image of those fellow ：Christians； around me at the time that deterred me from it. The way these Christians held themselves was the complete opposite of what I had originally thought the Church life was suppose to be; I began to see a lot of hypocrisy, exclusive-ness, cliques, and what was suppose to be done in loving nature came out as being superficial. The more I thought about it, the more judgmental I became towards it – refusing to ever be a part of a faction that seemed to only protect their outer image rather than promote the true message of the gospel.
For a year and a half, that was how I felt; until unexpected events started to unfold: I could no longer get along with a long-time friend, the final year at BCIT was overwhelming with endless work, and a relationship I worked so hard for ended. It felt like bad things were just happening to me left and right. I felt like I was at the lowest point of my life – like I just wanted to crawl into a hole and just disappear.
Each day passed by but it was so painful to have to pick myself up time and time again after what seemed to be, frequent disappointments. At my lowest point, I sent out a prayer to God; at the time because I wasn・t religious, I wasn・t even sure it was being heard but I felt like I had nothing else to lose. And even though there weren・t any big significant changes, there was a sense of comfort.
One day in late April of 2006, I was studying and all of a sudden the thought of attending service crossed my mind. And someone suggested attending ECBC. When I attended, I was expecting to feel like an outsider and uncomfortable; but nevertheless it was something I wanted to experience for myself.
To my surprise, I felt really at peace attending worship service, I was more interested in the sermons than I was in the environment; it didn・t hit me until I heard the messages and the songs of praise began to touch me emotionally, that I began to feel somewhat connected to God. Although I didn・t fully understand the meanings behind the songs, I found myself in tears as I was listening to the music and the lyrics and I figured; ：if this has such a big impact on me, it must mean something；.
As I learned more about the gospel and Jesus Christ, I started to believe and most of my misconceptions were proven to be wrong. When I think about how God sacrificed His only son for us, I feel...sad; sad that someone loved us enough to be sacrificed, not because we deserved it, but through His amazing grace.
But as I continued to attend Bible study sessions with the Pastor I further expanded my understanding and strengthened my belief. Upon accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior, I don・t think my life has drastically changed – I・ve always been a compassionate person and I try my best to always do good for others but I have learned that I can always improve as a person as I continue to follow in Chris・s footsteps.
I guess, because God works in so many ways, He touches all of us in a different way – for me it was the gift of hope. Whenever I・m at my lowest point and I feel like I can・t turn to anyone else, I know that God is there for me to confide in and to listen to my prayers. During fellowship with God, I don・t have to hold back and I don・t feel alone. ：...not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us； Romans 5:3-5. This passage means a lot to me and I・m so thankful that the Holy Spirit has ministered to me in more ways than I could imagine and I can only hope that I can further become closer to our heavenly Father.