In the Bible, Jesus tells us if we follow Him, we will  become “fishers of men”. It’s a scary proposition, but one that we must take seriously if we are to truly follow Christ. Found people find people.

Four years ago, I started to tell Natalie about Jesus – she believed – and now she is sharing the same message of hope and redemption with other new Chinese students. She once told me “a fish JUMPED IN MY BOAT” after a Chinese girl approached her with questions of faith.

Recently, Natalie shared with Yaping, a Chinese international student at Vanderbilt university, and after much prayer, she chose to follow Christ.

Yaping (on the left) calls me “nai-nai” Chinese for grandma because in a way she is a 2nd generation believer…I shared with Natalie and Natalie shared with her. Found people find people remember?

Yaping shared her story with me about recognizing her need for true empowerment and peace, despite her belief that she could ‘work’ her way towards happiness and fulfillment. Hearing the Gospel was seemingly an “accident”, because on the outside she did everything right and had a good life….but the deep sense of purposelessness and confusion would tug at her soul at night. She came to America and found Christ! Hallelujah!

Yaping’s story (in her words): “The old me seems like a good daughter for parents, a good friend for peers and a good student in schools.  I knew I was a lucky person for my upbringing and unconditional love of families and friends. But still I did not have consistent peace and joy at heart, which was more evident when I came here living alone and handling life all by myself.” But the real me presented itself at night when I was listening to songs that resonated my inner bitter feeling…occasionally made me feel lost in this world. My faith in Christ changes my life in that it fulfills my heart with real peace and joy.  I am more at peace simply because I now know that there is an almighty God whose unconditional love exceeds what I could have imagined and to whom I can always rely on and speak with whenever and wherever I am. Sometimes love from friends and families are imperfect but love from our savior is absolutely perfect. Our Jesus gives me the inner freedom of denying myself and taking on my own cross to follow him. I was taught nothing is impossible through your hard work and never-ending pursuit. But I now realize that by accepting that we have limited power and ability and trying to make the best of it in order to glorify God, we can reach a much better result in all aspect of our life.  Many self-improving literature and psychological theories only talk about what it is and how to pursue the upmost meaning of self, but they do not give me “the ability” to do it or to change myself.  But our Christ love is different. It really gives me the “ability” and the “empowerment” to take initiative in life and make changes.

What an amazing story! What an amazing Savior! I love being a grandma:)