My testimony is about how discovering God’s love transformed me from being someone who thought they were worse than everyone else to a believer who knows that above all things in life, there is someone whose love continuously comforts me. I was born into a Buddhist family and attended a Lutheran high school. However, I did not care nor think about religion and its teachings. I lived my life out on a day to day basis, doing the things that needed to be done at the time. Apart from my studies, future career and family, I did not think about life a lot.
But I knew that I wanted to study veterinary science. Although I had just missed the cut to enter the degree straight from high school, I was confident that I would be able to make it next round with my grades. However, this didn’t go exactly as I had hoped, and in combination with other factors in life, I soon developed an inferiority complex. I began to feel that my friends, peers and even strangers were just inherently better at everything than I was. I felt discouraged in my studies, my GPA dropped, and I did not enjoy studying my degree and dropped my dream of becoming a vet.

During this time, a few of my school friends invited me to join one of Campus Christian Movement (CCM)’s events. Although I was reluctant because it was a Christian group, I decided to go. While my attendance was inconsistent at first, the people and the environment at CCM made me come back every week, and it was around that time that I began to learn more about God. The idea that I was valued and loved by someone despite everything that I thought about myself felt weird at first, but soon I began to find comfort in this truth. It was through this revelation that I decided to accept Jesus as my saviour, and to this day, I believe it to be the most impactful decision in my life.

Since then, I have had a shift in the outlook of life. I now know that my life is valuable, and I am loved by God, who has shown me love and grace despite all things. I believe God’s transformation in me has caused so many great things to happen in my life, from my shift in studies to my relationships with family and friends and I can only give the glory to God. Although there have been ups and downs in my spiritual journey, and at times those feelings of inferiority come back, I find constant comfort in knowing that God’s love for me will never disappear. For anyone who is feeling discouraged, worthless or if everything is not going as planned, remember that our God’s love is eternal and He will continue to create change in us through the highs and lows, and that is the most comforting truth.

Isaiah 26:4, “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal”
2 Corinthians 1:7, “And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort”

Tony Tran
Bachelor of Nursing and Paramedic
QUT4