My name is Sophia. I was so named because of the word “wisdom” my father found in the Greek New Testament. Though my name is Greek, I am a not from Greece.
I was born in the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal torn by strife and Civil War; but God, in His grace, planned it so that I was born in a Christian family. Being born in a Christian family did not make me a Christian, though. This is my testimony of how I truly became a follower of Jesus Christ. Beware, it is going to be rather long-winded.
My parents decided to homeschool me when friends and relatives pressured them to send me off to school when I was just a toddler. God provided the way, and my father taught me until I was ten years old. In fifth grade, I joined video school through A Beka Academy. The same year, our family left the city of Kathmandu and moved to a tiny mountain village 70 kilometers away. That was a major change in my young life!
Used to city ways, the village was strange and new to me. The road to the village was narrow and tortuous; I always got “jeep-sick” and I dreaded the monthly trips we had to make. There was no library, and being the book worm that I was, I couldn’t bear it. I had to leave all my old friends, and I didn’t like that, either!
The village was so small and old-fashioned that there weren’t any decent stores at that time. We had to bring in most of our dry goods from the city — and the greens? Well, we couldn’t bring them from the city, and the village stores didn’t sell them. As a result, we had to eat the local produce that the believers gave us. Sometimes, we had spinach for several weeks, twice a day, every day. I’ll tell you an amazing thing: that cured me of all my picky habits and I came to love spinach!
Well, after a year, I came to love the little village where God had put me. Maybe a part of it was like the spinach that I came to love because I got used to it; but I know there was a greater reason. My heart had changed because I had come to know God.
I had a relationship with Him, I came to love Him, and I began to love what He loved. Slowly, I came to love His word as never before, because it was His message to me. Still more slowly, I came to love other people (villagers or not), because He loved them.
It was not a drastic, radical change in my life. I still walked in my old ways most of the time, and I even wonder how He could have borne me at all! Yet, I knew that if I prayed, He heard me and He loved me.
It’s strange, and as I look back, I think it rather odd . . . but I don’t remember any conversion experience in my life at all. This confuses me sometimes and makes me doubt whether I am a true Christian or not. Truly, it is a fearful thing for a person to go to hell still saying, “I am a Christian!” Therefore, I do not trust in any conversion experience or prayer to save me from perishing. Rather, I trust in God’s Word that is forever settled in Heaven. I find consolation in His words that give me the blessed assurance that if I die today, I will wake in the presence of my dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
How I did not become a true Christian:
As a child, I used to pray the prayers that are written in the backs of gospel tracts. However, I know I was not saved at that time. I remember several instances when I tried to “get saved.”
When I was 8 or 9 years old, I was in bed, trying to sleep. It was dark, and I was thinking about the missionary stories I’d read, especially of Ed McCully (Jim Elliot’s friend). I thought to myself, “I must get saved immediately, so that when I grown up, I can say in my testimony that I was less than 10 years old when I got saved.”
Then I began interrogating myself, do you believe in God? In Jesus? Do you believe that you are a sinner? Do you believe that God loves you? Do you believe that Jesus died for the sins of the world? That He rose again from the dead? That He ascended into Heaven after 40 days? That He is coming soon, at any time?
Yes, yes, yes. So I can pray that prayer then, I thought. So I did.
No wonder I was terribly shaken up when I read in my Bible, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19).
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know the Gospel. I did know that I was a sinner, for I did wicked things: lying, quarreling, and stealing. I knew that Jesus was the only way to Heaven, but I did not care. The Savior was calling me, but my ears were deaf to Him.
How I became a true Christian:
Then one day (when, only God knows!), my eyes were opened to the truth: I was about to perish, and there was only one way of escape. I realized then that this was not something to put off until I found myself on a deathbed. I saw the greatness of my sins and repenting, turned the other way, to Jesus. Jesus was calling me — it must have been the millionth time! — and, this time, I answered.
I put my trust on Him and believed that He took the terrible punishment that I should have received; and He took me in. It is amazing. I did nothing — I just took Him at His word — and He did it all for me! He forgave all of my sins, He washed me from all my transgressions, He wiped out the whole ledger of my wrongdoings, He gave me His righteousness, He made me His child, He came to live in my heart!
Oh, how glad I am that He did not give up on me! He found me at last. Yes, it was He that found me; for I had never searched for Him.
After this, I really found out the great mystery and wonder of having a true relationship with the God of the universe. It wasn’t just a “catechism” any longer, “Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with God.” No, it became the simple truth, the awesome reality.
A gift. He offered it to me. I took it. God’s salvation is mine now.
A gift. He now offers it to you. Will you take it?
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)
