Purpose And Meaning – Jesslyn Choi

I was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I am the second eldest child in the family. I have a great relationship with my siblings and parents. My parents were religious and I often followed them to religious meetings. Yet, they did not restrict me to seek other religions.

During my teenage years, I found myself still lacking purpose in life. Something was missing. Nothing seemed to satisfy me. One day, my neighbor brought me to a church. The people in church were warm and friendly. I got to know many people and made many friends and the most enjoyable moment was singing the hymns together.

After marriage, I moved to Canada with my husband and my three lovely sons. One day, as we were watching the news and learned about the September 11th, tragedy, I felt so confused and lost. Life was so meaningless and without purpose. This is when I began to seriously seek for ways to add meaning and purpose to my life.

Soon, a friend invited us to a church, and I enjoyed the Sunday Worship and the fellowship. A few weeks later, someone from the church came to visit me and we had a great discussion about life and about God. In the Bible he showed me, I realized that I have been disobedient to God and because of that, I was separated from God and that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for my disobedience. In order for me to have a new personal relationship I must believe in Him. I was greatly encouraged by the Word of God and I eventually prayed to Jesus and confessed my sins. I asked Jesus to forgive me and invited Him to be my Saviour and Lord. I asked Jesus to take over my life because I wasn't doing a very good job with it by myself.

A month later, I joined the Alpha course. Then I got involved in the Discipleship class in September 2003, where I continued to grow, knew more about the lordship of Christ and experienced an intimate and personal relationship with Christ. I have experienced Christ's strength in my weakness. My faith was strengthened. God has reached out to me and answered my prayers in many ways and transformed my life. Thank you Jesus for giving me so much support and blessing me with so many wonderful and supportive friends in my life. But the greatest thing of all is that I know for certain that I have the gift of eternal life.

My life verse is Galatians 2:20 -- I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.