Testimony of ‘Little Dove.’

Acts 26:18 – “..to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

The following is the testimony of a sister who requested to be named as ‘Little Dove’ of London, England of how Almighty God worked in her life by His grace to bring her ‘from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that [she]..receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith’ in Lord Yeshua the Messiah, Son of the living God.

 

Little Dove, roughly how long have you been saved?
I have been saved for 30+ years.

In your own words, what does  “saved” mean and where in the Scripture do you derive your understanding?
I understand this to mean being moved from one status, as a condemned sinner, to another status of a restored relationship with God as His beloved children.  My understanding comes from 1 Peter 1:9 which speaks of God calling us out of darkness into His light.  1 Peter 1:9-10 says this, ‘But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy now have obtained mercy’ (underline added for emphasis).

Little Dove’s background

Can you share with us about your family background?
I was born in Hong Kong to parents whose religion at that time was ancestral worship and am the oldest of two children.  Ancestral worship involved having shrines at home to remember dead ancestors who we would burn incense to and pray to.  I was told that after your parents died, they would sort of become “gods” who can bless you. We would burn incense to them both morning and evening and pray that they would bless us.  Whenever my father was not at home and it was time to burn the incense, being the eldest child this would be my job. I can remember that as a child, while still in that darkness, praying to my grandmother to bless my exams!  During festivals we would burn something and also sacrifice food to the ancestors – serving them food first before we then ate.  My father said that Christianity was for the West but that for us, it was the worship of our ancestors.

My childhood was beset with many difficulties and challenges arising mainly from our poor circumstances.  We lived in a three-bedroomed flat with two other families, who were our relatives, and each family lived in one room – ours was very small.  It was a very difficult environment to live in, the overcrowding made daily life a challenge.  Although as children the cousins all played together, the adults quarrelled and I often saw acts of unkindness, selfishness and lack of caring displayed among them.  This, I believe, later played a significant role of my being drawn to Lord Jesus.

By God’s great mercy and grace, in their senior years, my parents repented, turning to the one true God and received grace and salvation through faith in Lord Jesus Christ.  They were both later called Home to be with the Lord.

Can you remember when you first heard the Gospel? What were you told? What impact did that have on you? Where were you in life at that time? What was happening?
At the age of 12 I attended a Catholic secondary school where Religious Education (RE) was taught as one of the subjects and we needed to study the Bible to pass exams. As a result, I would have heard the Gospel.  I would say it was more about what I read in the Bible and about the life of Jesus Christ which impacted me rather than the message of the Gospel itself.  I really admired the teachings of Jesus because it was such a contrast to my own experiences at home and in particular, it was as I read Genesis that I learned there is a God.  The cartoons I really enjoyed as a youngster were those which depicted goodness and kindness between people and really touched the deep longing to experience this inside me, because of the contrast of my experiences of home life.  As I read and studied the Bible, although I did not know it at the time, a tiny seed was planted in me.

When did you become conscious of the Gospel of Lord Yeshua,  that Messiah died for your sins, personally?
Although I read the bible in Secondary school, I would say that it was during my training as a nurse, as shared in more detail below, that I became conscious of the Gospel.

Little Dove’s Journey to Faith

What was your journey to saving faith from then on? How did God work in your life to bring you from head knowledge to the light of the saving knowledge and salvation of Lord Yeshua the Messiah?
As stated above, during my time in Secondary school a seed was sown in me and began to grow in the form of a seeking heart.  I deeply admired the teachings of Jesus who spoke of things I had desperately longed to experience among people but never saw the reality.  I was increasingly drawn to these teachings  and in the process of time stopped praying to my ancestors and began praying, according to the understanding of the teachings of the Catholic Church to Jesus and Mary.  Each morning when attending school, I would go to the chapel and pray before the start of the school day.

After school, I had a desire to learn more about nursing and duly made various applications for training.  Initially, I wanted to attend a Catholic nursing school, run by a charity belonging to the Catholic Church but the Lord led me into attending a non-religious government one.  It was here that I met and made friends with a class-mate, who was also my room-mate and invited me to her cell-group of Christians.  I was really drawn to them by their deeds – by their kindness and by their helpfulness.   Whenever they would come to my room to see my room-mate, they were always so kind to me, always asking about how I was doing. Their genuine kindness drew me to them and I went on to study the bible with them.

It was at this time, through these bible studies in the cell-group of Christians that I came to have saving faith in Jesus, His salvation and what He has  prepared for us.  In addition, at the hospital there was a Christian fellowship which I had also joined and which also played a significant part in my journey to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

I can’t be certain of the moment I was saved, as I prayed for this a few times but did not have certainty.  I do however have an abiding memory of an event which I believe is a hugely significant “sign-post” to the time-frame of when I became born-again.  It was the occasion of an Aunt’s illness which led to her being admitted into hospital.  At the time of receiving the call from my cousin, I was really busy with exams looming over me and so I wanted to study rather than go to my Aunt.  I thought I could visit her some other time.  After the call ended I experienced a very strong and definite conviction that Jesus came to die for my sin and, of the sense of my own selfishness in putting myself first.  I was a believer at this time, I believed in Jesus and had by that point been attending bible study fellowship for a while.  That day however, that conviction was so strong that it moved me to my knees, and I began to thank God for sending Jesus to die for my sin, for Jesus dying in my place and for bringing me out of my self.  I also committed myself to God again and asked Him to take over my life, and this is the moment I hold on to as being when grace entered into my heart.

As I look back, I can see that the Catholic secondary school I attended had a significant role to play in my coming to faith in Jesus.  Those few years at school, reading the Gospels for the RE syllabus I studied, it was as though I had come to a beautiful garden but one which was surrounded by walls – with no entrance.  It was only when God led me to the nursing school and to those first group of Christians that I found the door into that garden!  That door was cross-shaped and entering in through it I came into the beautiful garden.  A particular Scripture which God gave me along the way is Philippians 1:6, ‘…He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.’  By His grace, I continued on in the good work God started and was baptised as a believer in Lord Jesus Christ at 21 years old.

When did the assurance of salvation come?  When did you know you were saved?  Can you describe how that felt?
For me, the assurance of salvation was and is based on what Jesus did for me and also the ‘born-again’ life and change which I saw God had made in me. I was a different person.  My desires changed – I wanted to seek the Lord and I wanted to please Him. If you can imagine a pineapple having its hard core taken out and replaced with a different core, this is what it felt like.  Before, I had been a very quiet person but bitter from the difficult circumstances of my childhood: the poverty; the sibling harshness towards me and the anger this drew from my parents to myself; the family quarrels among the adults in an overcrowded environment.   As a child, I did not like my parents however when God’s grace came into my heart and saved me, they were the first people I was enabled to pray for!  The Holy Spirit really ministered something of God’s grace in me by highlighting for me the Scripture passage concerning Jesus forgiving those who crucified and mocked Him while hanging on the cross.  He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).  God used this prayer in my heart to enable me to pray for my parents.  The Lord also helped me to become understanding towards them and see that they themselves did not have a good upbringing and the impact on them of  the stress of poverty, the overcrowding and even the volume of sibling conflict.  He enabled me to pray that same prayer of Jesus for my parents, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.’

I also noticed that the way I saw myself changed.  Before, I had very low self-esteem, I didn’t like myself, but when God saved me by His grace, I saw things differently and was given a new approach to life.  Again, this too was like that hard core of the pineapple being cut out and being replaced with a new one.  Just as the Scripture says, under the New Covenant, God writes His law upon the new heart which He gives us [Ed. see Jeremiah 31:33].   Seeing that I had become a different person and having faith in the promises of His word, that assurance of salvation was made firm in knowing that this was not my doing, but God who lives in me.  I would also just add that this too was and is a process, as the Apostle Paul wrote: ‘But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

In your own words what is repentance and its connection with salvation?
Repentance is the awareness of your own shortcoming before God and turning to Him.  As I experienced at the time of my Aunt’s illness, it is a real knowing that Jesus died on the cross for you, turning to Him to acknowledge and confess your sins and asking to be forgiven.  When we truly repent and receive Jesus Christ who is Lord and Saviour, God gives us a new heart, His gift of salvation.  Repentance is also a gift from God.

From then to now

Since then, can you share a little bit about how the Lord Yeshua has worked in your life?
The hospital Christian fellowship had a significant part in my growth in the Faith in the early years.  I saw in my older brothers and sisters in the Lord a real servant heart in the way they reached out to patients and colleagues with the Gospel.  We also had a Christian chaplain who took us through a discipleship course, which was voluntary to join.  Through this course, the Lord used it to lay a sound foundation in me and enabled me as I grew and learned to serve.

Later, a classmate said to me that I needed to attend a church because it was God’s heart that we be part of God’s Body, to grow and serve the Church.  I asked around my friends about the church they attended and the Lord led me to a nearby church, easy for me to get to from the hospital.  The style of fellowship was a little different to the way things are done in the UK; put into a group of believers of similar age, we had weekly fellowship besides the main Sunday services and were taught to grow together in fellowship and in the Faith and serve the Lord.

 God continued to work in my life through His word.  Both in the local church and the Christian fellowship within the hospital where I worked, the Lord allowed me to sit under good and solid teaching and the shepherding of His ministers He brought to us.  We were taught how to serve the Lord in our roles as doctors and nurses as well as in serving in church.  I recall the motto among our hospital Christian fellowship then was the Commission Jesus gave His Church at Matthew 28:18-19: ^“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” I was given the very clear understanding that although I was a nurse, I also had this Commission that Jesus gave and so began to share the Gospel with patients and colleague as the opportunities came.  In time, I also began volunteering after work to serve with the Chaplain of the hospital visiting patients in the Oncology unit, to just be there to comfort and listen to them.  In those days, life was busy but enjoyable at the hospital.

There was also many Christian activities provided in the city and I was drawn to a preaching rally, which was held annually over a period of ten days.  There would be two sessions in the morning and one in the evening of really great preaching which also laid a very good foundation for my faith.  I attended with my classmates and we greatly encouraged one another in the teachings  we received from the rally too. I recall, in those days, so many times I would respond to the call from the altar to recommit our lives to God and this played an important role in eventually leading me into full time ministry.

As God worked in me through His word, this increased the desire to want to know Him more and to want to follow Jesus more closely.  I was also aware of the constant work of conviction by the Holy Spirit helping me whenever I fell short.  A particular Scripture – and there have been many – which was significant in shaping my growth in the Faith, given by a class-mate early on in the journey was 1 John 1:9.  My classmate shared with me about what happens when we find ourselves committing sins after we’ve come to faith and then read the Scripture to me. It says this: ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’  In my journey of discipleship with Lord Jesus there was a constant coming back to this verse for me, to acknowledge and to be cleansed and continue on in the journey of faith.

Just as it was the Lord who worked in these ways in me, immersing me in His word and truth, it was also His work which gave me the desire to serve Him. I began serving at church in the ministry among young people before later going on into full time ministry.

Within the will of God, do you have any particular hopes for the future that you can share with us?
My hopes for the future are that people come to the Lord Jesus Christ and grown in Him so that He will be glorified and, that I personally continue to follow Him, know Him, serve Him and rejoice in Him.

Last words

Can you share one other Scripture passage through which the Holy Spirit has really encouraged, strengthened or instructed you in your walk of faith in Lord Yeshua?
I would say – in conjunction with Philippians 1:6 mentioned above – Philippians 2:13, which says, ‘…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.’  The Lord enables me to allow God to work in me for His will and His good pleasure.  This also helped to teach me the importance of acting upon God’s word.  After learning the truth, it was the process of acting upon it which also enabled me to grow and come to know Jesus more.  It is not only in bible studies but also through the trials and challenges of life that the applying of God’s word needs to grow.  Philippians 2:3 became part of my learning this truth:  if there is no application in daily life, there is no growth in knowing the Lord and doing His will!

I thank God that I belong to Him. My enjoyment of being His continues to grow, knowing Jesus is my Wonderful Counsellor and Companion, with me in all situations and my example, as 1 Peter 2:21 reminds me, in the walk of faith.  It truly is an unspeakable joy when you know you have followed in those steps.

Finally, how can sisters in the faith of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah pray for you?
Please pray according to the hopes which I have shared above.

 

To God be the glory great things HE has done!