Hi, my name is E Zhang, and I spent a lot of time at church. Before I could even walk, my mom took me to a church in Brooklyn where I was introduced to Jesus. But before I accepted Jesus into my heart, I was just a shy little girl who was scared to socialize with people, but when I met Jesus, I changed, and now I have friends that I can rely on, and family members I can speak freely with. Looking back, I always think about how foolish I was, because of all that hiding, and acting differently at Church than I did in school or at home. I realized I was hiding from God. I was running away from God’s creation, which he deemed “good”. I was too scared to face God back then, but now I see that was stupid, and I don’t want to hide from God anymore. When you try to play two sides of your character, it becomes tiring, and problems pile up as you fake smile or pretend to be someone you're not until you go crazy and your head explodes. This is when stress and hatred start to appear. Have you ever had that feeling when your parents embarrass you in front of your friends, and you panic, trying to get them to leave? This is what happens when you have two separate sides of your life. You say hurtful things to your loved ones, but hurting your loved ones isn't exactly what God would want from you, but what Satan wants from you.
I wanted to get closer and closer to God to break away from Satan’s clutches. Confessing that I'm a sinner and having faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior is the first big step in my faith. When I accepted Christ, I was at home during pandemic on September 19, 2020. My mom and Mrs. Ma talked to me about accepting Christ. Even though I had sinned a great deal, I still decided to accept Christ into my heart, if it meant getting closer to God. Then Mrs. Ma led me with a prayer to confess my sins and accept Christ in my heart to be my Savior and Lord.
After that, I continue to grow in my spiritual life. Reading about the Rapture was a slight push to think and participate more seriously in my church. When reading about the Rapture, it described all the horrors yet to come after all the believers went up to heaven with Jesus. This made me think about how powerful yet terrifying God's power can be. Also, it made me think about how I didn’t want to be that person who gets left behind. This made me wonder what it was like to be a part of God's family. This was the little push I needed to decide to get baptized, so that I wouldn’t fall into Satan’s clutches again.