Good morning, my name is Christine Chan and I am a second year at UC Irvine and this is my testimony. Introduced to Christianity at a young age, I followed my parents to church, hearing about a God that loves me so much that he sent his one and only son to die for our sins.

However my desire to even attend was always found in my friends. Not knowing the true gravity and consequences of sin, I chose to ignore the worries about the future and live in the present, enjoying every moment with the friendships that I had. I continued to gain head knowledge about God and the Bible, but I never chose to apply any of it into my life.

In middle school I joined a Christian ministry that meant to sing, dance, and worship every week. Throughout high school I became insecure about everything about myself, as I put what people thought of me before what God thought of me. I mimicked other people in the way I dressed, talked, walked, and laughed, wearing a mask that hid the true me.

As I learned to say and do the right things to be received as a "Christian," I became two-faced and lived a double life. I was even confirmed and therefore proclaimed to the church that I had accepted Christ and believed that he is Lord and Savior of my life, and yet my life was not reflecting Christ's when I was alone.

While those around me had a burning passion for God, his love for us, and how he saved them, I was faking it. And the scariest part of all this was that I had done it subconsciously. I did not know that I had lost my identity and my way to Jesus.

Being surrounded by believers all my life, I was secured in a bubble, and my faith had unknowingly become something that was not of my own. During the quarantine of 2020, I realized all this in addition to forgetting what it was like to love, as I felt apathetic to any love shown to me.

My heart was hardened to anything my community said to and did for me. When my cousin invited me out to Berean, I was amazed at how rooted in the Bible Berean Community Church was, for I was never taught how to properly study the Bible, let alone directed to read it.

However, the more I came out, I stood in awe and wonder at how marvelous the Lord is, and how much he truly loves us despite our imperfections. Through some of the leaders and friends from college ministry, I was able to hear and receive the gospel, along with their testimonies on how their lives were completely changed.

It always encouraged me and left me wondering when it would happen for me. Learning more about God, I prayed that he would reveal himself to me and truly open my eyes to his glory, but I left all the work for God to do. I needed to do my part and surrender my everything to him, but I couldn't let go of the things that I thought were keeping me together, but in reality were tearing me apart.

There was no date or time in which I accepted Christ, but gradually within the past year, as I participated in small group accountability and Friday night Bible study, God's love was exposed to me, and in turn, my love for him and desire to know him grew exponentially. I learned to love and what it felt like to love.

I learned that love is different for everyone, and that I cannot have the same standards or expectations of love as the world. The more time I spent studying his word, the smaller I felt towards God's holiness and his magnificence. I realized how much sin had invaded my life, how it clouded my views on God, and how much I needed the Lord to save me from my hopeless state, which led me to true repentance.

A verse that I have been meditating on is 1 John 4, verses 7 through 8. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Thank you.

(audience applauding)