Grace's Testimony

I grew up on a farm in the countryside, in a very small town in Taiwan. I was the youngest of four children, with two older sisters. Because of the traditional Chinese belief that sons carry on the family name, my parents had high hopes that I would be a boy. When I was born a girl, I was given to a family friend who wanted a daughter. A few months later, perhaps out of guilt, my parents took me back.

My grandmother repeated this story throughout my childhood, and I have carried its emotional weight with me my entire life.

I began working on the farm when I was seven years old. Every morning, I woke at around 4:00 a.m. and worked until it was time to go to school. This continued until I was 16, when I finally had the opportunity to leave town to attend high school. I remember thinking, “Yay—I no longer have to provide free child labour.”

I still loved my mother, who devoted her life to our farming family and passed away almost ten years ago. However, I never had a meaningful relationship with my father. Throughout my childhood, I often felt unwanted, exploited, and lost—feelings that stayed with me long after I left the farm.

I entered young adulthood without guidance or a clear sense of direction. At 19, I felt called to embark on a year-long adventure in Canada. I worked two jobs to save for the journey, and four years later, I arrived in Calgary without being able to speak English.

I enrolled in an ESL program at a local college and chose the English name “Grace,” believing that Canadians might have difficulty pronouncing my Chinese name. At the time, I did not understand the spiritual significance the name would later hold for me.

As the year-long program came to an end, my savings were running out, and it seemed that I would have no choice but to return to Taiwan. Around that time, I was introduced to a local church group and attended several of their gatherings. I prayed that I would find a way to remain in Canada.

My prayer was answered, although I did not recognize it at the time. I was offered a job at the college where I had been studying, which allowed me to stay in Canada and eventually complete a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree. Yet despite this answered prayer, I drifted away from God and Jesus, believing that everything I had accomplished was the result of my own efforts.

After years of living like a nomad and trying to figure out my future, I reached one of the lowest points of my life, struggling with anxiety and depression. In early 2018, when I could no longer process everything I had been through, a voice prompted me to reach out to my friend Chris Lam, whom I had briefly worked with for three months in 2014. At the time, I did not know that she and her family were devoted Christians.

From that moment on, my life began to change. The Lam family gave me a sense of belonging that I had been searching for. They welcomed me as one of their own. We quarantined together during COVID, and I became part of their Sunday dinners and major holiday celebrations.

Over time, I began to realize that none of this was a coincidence. One of my favourite Bible verses is Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” I now understand that I did not find God on my ow. He used the love and welcome of the Lam family to bring me home. After confessing my sins and asking for His forgiveness, I experienced a deep sense of peace. As 1 John 1:9 promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

For me, baptism represents a new beginning. I am leaving my old life behind and choosing a life of faith, hope, and purpose with Jesus. Today, I am publicly declaring that I belong to Him and want to follow Him wherever He leads me.