Discovering Faith: “My first encounter with Jesus”

My faith in Christ began when I was young. My sister and I were invited to a Christian Church. We didn’t know that there were different denominations within the Christian faith. One difference we noticed was that this church had a small room called the “Children’s Ministry” room, which most churches I knew did not have. In those churches we would simply sit next to our grandmother, who attended church every day.

Upon arriving at the small room in this Church, we saw children doodling with crayons on printed bond papers. It reminded us of our little classroom at school, but this time, it was inside a church. I stood there, amazed, wondering how this could be. Then, my sister and I were asked to take a seat. The chairs were small, colorful chairs designed for children to sit on and participate in activities, much like they would at school. There was even a teacher in the room, which surprised me. I thought to myself, “A teacher at church? Hmm… I must have missed out on a lot of fun during my childhood.”

Once we were seated, the teacher handed us a piece of printed paper and some crayons. However, before I started coloring the paper, I noticed someone familiar. The teacher showed us a photo of Jesus with a very friendly and smiling face. I thought that the Jesus depicted here seemed very friendly and outgoing – someone I would want to be with, like a friend. In the church where we attended, Jesus was always portrayed as someone who needed help and appeared very sad. We were taught to be silent while praying; otherwise, the leaders would become angry, and our grandmother would scold us again. But here, I experienced a feeling of familiarity and longing. It was as if deep within my heart, I knew the man in the white garment – smiling and radiating peace – was someone I had known before. Looking back, I understand that you place your little faith in someone who is faithful and trustworthy. As a child, I would say I prefer to put my trust in a loving, peaceful, friendly, and outgoing God who is also a Man. This is someone to whom you can confide your deepest hurts and with whom you can talk for hours on end, yet that Someone never grows tired, weary, angry, or frustrated with you.