International Student Comes to Christ!

[This is part of the College Writers series. We are looking for students who want to post great stories like below.]

This is a great story of conversion told by Christine. She is a college student at UCSD, majoring in Literatures in English. She is a Vision Team Leader for InterVarsity’s international chapter (International Christian Fellowship).

Grace and I first met through UCSD’s language exchange program in Fall of 2012. Our first conversation was light and simple, but things changed when she asked me about what I did for fun. I told her that I like to sing at my church on Sunday mornings, and surprisingly, she asked if she could join me. Her intrigue about church surprised me, and I responded with excitement! She then asked me what else she could do in San Diego to have fun while improving her English. I recommended that she come to International Christian Fellowship (ICF) so that she could meet both American and international students who would become good potential friends for her. Immediately, her eyes widened, and she told me that two other people had told her about ICF that week! This seemed like perfect orchestration. From that moment on, I asked God to show Himself to be real to Grace.

The next week, I asked Grace if she would like to do personal bible studies with me. She responded with much appreciation and told me she felt special that I would teach her more about Jesus. She wanted to know He was like and how she could know that He was real. I was fired up for the bible studies and thought we would meet on a weekly basis. Yes, the sessions were productive and Grace got to know more about God, but because of miscommunication, we only met two times in that month. I felt very disappointed in myself because I thought I was doing a bad job as a leader. My plan was to invest as much as I could into Grace before the November Fall Retreat so that she could have a fuller understanding of God in the retreat. Since this didn’t happen, I decided to let go of my plans and I said, “You can do anything God. If you would, awaken inside her soul that you are real!”

In the meantime, I had two significant moments of encounters regarding Jesus with Grace before the retreat. In one hiking trip, I intentionally shared with Grace some of my past shame so that she could see how Jesus redeemed those negative areas of my life. She repeatedly said she appreciated my vulnerability. Another moment was in an ICF meeting where we were discussing lying being a sin. She asked with much concern, “Is all lying a sin? What if it’s a white lie?” Recognizing that she seemed very sensitive, I explained sin to be a condition of sickness and that God can help to heal us. I don’t know how much of this she actually heard, but she started tearing up, so I took her outside as she poured out her heart to me. Since her fears and her guilt seemed to consume her, I started praying for her. Her crying progressed to weeping and then came to a sudden halt. It was as if her cries ran off a cliff and entered into silence. I looked into her face and saw peace. She thanked me over and over again, and I was glad that Jesus calmed her storm.

At Fall Retreat, I decided not to put God in a box and asked Him to move in whatever way He liked in the international students’ hearts. I said, “God, you can help them to see you whenever you like. I’d like it to be today, but if that’s not your timing, I just want them to love you more than they did yesterday.” When the time came for people to accept Jesus Christ into their lives, my friend Grace stood up. All the hope that I had previously stuffed down my throat because I didn’t want to be disappointed spilled out into cries of joy. Grace’s life would forever be changed, and it all happened because of God’s grace, not because of any plan that I had. Grace’s life decision made me realize that if I surrender to God, I must let go of my agenda so that I could see His perfect plan come into play to transform both my friends and myself.

[This is part of the College Writers series. We are looking for students who want to post great stories like the above one.]