The Local Church

I was born in Columbia, South America, and came to live in the US when I was eight years old. My childhood was very normal, as were my teenage years. As a teenager I had everything I wanted. I was popular, and I always got everything I wanted; yet I was miserable. No matter what I received or did, nothing satisfied.

Like 95% of all Columbians, I was born into the Catholic Religion. I didn’t really practice or believe in it, yet I knew nothing else. I figured that if I would say that I believed in the Catholic Church then at least I’d go to heaven (which meant I was safe).

By my 10th grade year in high school I became very open to religions. I just wanted to find God. A Christian friend, seeing that I was so open, took me under her wing and began to take care of me by taking me to her church. I began going to this church and within six months I received the Lord as my savior.

I continued attending that church for the following two years. I tried my hardest to be a “good Christian,” yet no matter how hard I tried I was never able to succeed. I began to ask my Christian friends how I could go on with the Lord, but no one knew how. I became desperate and bought a devotional Bible, which told me to try this or that in order to “improve” my humanity. Yet, I was unable to improve myself for more than a couple of days. I became discouraged and frustrated. Eventually, I gave up trying. I had not ever seen a Christian who I felt truly lived a life that expressed the Lord. This made the burden of being a Christian quite heavy. I couldn’t see how the Lord could make me the first Christian in all of history to live Him in a real way.

From that point I stopped going to any church, yet I was still open to the Lord. Then, by His mercy, I met a dear sister who was meeting with the local church. Someone had shared with me that she was a Christian, yet she had never mentioned it to me. I began to spend time with her and soon I began to see that there was something different about her. She would do normal everyday things, yet while she did them, she just expressed Christ. Her humanity expressed him. She never mentioned the Lord to me; she just shined forth Christ in her daily living.

After some time she introduced me to a couple that also met with the local church. I saw that they too had something of the Lord that I never had experienced or seen before. This was so attractive; it really impressed me. Something in my spirit told me that this was home. Once I began meeting the Lord was faithful to give me the peace to stay. In the local church I have found the Lord, as well as a way to live and grow in Him. Here I have given up trying to improve my fallen man and I am able to take Christ as my life and my way by letting Him grow in me through my enjoying Him.

I praise the Lord that he brought me to the local church. Through His mercy He has revealed Himself to me through His Word and the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.

R.F.