“Lord Don't Leave Me Behind.”, Z.C.

My mom began to meet with the local church in 1980. I was five years old at the time. As she began to know the Lord, she began to speak to her kids about God's love and His desire to come into our heart. It was at about the age of six that I remember praying to God for Him to come into my heart. The experience was so real to me. I even asked more than once to make sure God heard me.

We later moved to Austin, Texas. It was in the church in Austin that I began to know more about the Lord and about the Church. I attended Christian young people's meetings and went to numerous weekend conferences between the ages of eleven and sixteen. During those years, my heart went back and forth from loving the Lord to loving the world. Eventually, during my junior year in high school, I stopped going to any church meetings. I could not stand the ups and downs of my Christian life so I made a decision to pursue my worldly desires.

After high school, I went to the University of Texas in Austin. By this time, my heart had fallen further away from the Lord and was wholly given to love many things in the world. However, beginning from my sophomore year many of these enjoyments in the world became sources of frustration. I found that everything I had been giving my heart to did not satisfy me. Rather, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth. These feelings lead me to pray to God. As the bitterness increased, my prayers became deeper and more sincere. Eventually my prayer became very simple. I began to cry out “Lord don't leave me behind” (referring to my Christian life). The Lord was faithful to answer my prayers, but not in the way I thought.

During the summer of 1995 my whole life began to fall apart, or so I thought. Crisis after crisis came my way, which turned my world upside down. Although I became very discouraged and depressed at times, I knew this was the answer to my prayers. One day I began to thank the Lord, even in tears, because I knew that the Lord was giving me a new beginning.

The person I confided to during those times was my mom. She was the first person to lead me to the Lord and the Church and once again she directed me back to my savior and my home. I began to attend the meetings of the local church in Austin and opened my heart to the Lord. It truly was a new beginning.

Through the love, care, and prayers from so many Christian brothers and sisters I was slowly restored in my Christian life. Within one year I found myself loving the Lord strongly and wanting to be in every meeting I could make.

Now my love for the Lord still grows daily. Every morning I wake up with love and thanksgiving in my heart to the Lord. I am so thankful both to the Lord and to the church in Austin for restoring unto me the joy of my salvation. There is not one significant moment in my life that I do not remember the tender love and care the Lord provided me through the brothers and sisters in the local church.

Thank the Lord for this Ministry

In the last four years, I have really come to love the Bible. I find myself wanting to read it over and over again. I want to know what it says and what it means. My desire to know the life and truth in the Bible increased when I began to read the writings of both Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.

Before, when I read the Bible, I had a difficult time understanding what the verses meant and why some were regarded as being so important. Many times I would read over the text without much thought or consideration of the significance of what was being spoken. Little by little, the Bible is making more sense to me as I read more of Watchman Nee's and Witness Lee's ministry. I really appreciate how their ministry, again and again, brings me deeper into the Bible and increases my desire to know the Bible. Because of the ministry of these two brothers, I have come to know many things in the Bible that were previously a mystery to me. I thank the Lord that the Bible is being opened for me so that I can experience Him and know Him in a proper way.