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Personal
Testimonies
Why Our Faith is in Jesus Christ
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God the healer of
my heart
When I was in high school, I felt that there were three keys to my happiness and success: having a girlfriend, academic success, and participating in sports. I soon found out that as I accomplished each one of those objectives, I still had a deep emptiness inside.
I believe much of my emptiness was related to my skin disease, psoriasis. Since childhood, I have had a severe case of psoriasis. This condition causes large areas of my skin to become inflamed, red, scaly, itchy and at times painful. But the pain of psoriasis drove deeper than my skin right into my heart. Because of the blemishes I saw in the mirror, I did not feel acceptable to anyone--not myself, my family, or my friends. I never wore shorts or short-sleeved shirts for fear of being asked and ridiculed for my skin. I worked hard in school and in the workplace to try to please teachers, bosses, and parents that they might love and accept me.
During my early teen years, my father suffered depression concerning his job situation. Christian friends invited him to church desiring to help him. Not long after, I noticed a change in his attitude and demeanor. He went back to work, he showed me affection for the first time in my life, and he smiled instead of cried. Through my father's life testimony I decided to visit my father's Chinese church.
On Easter Sunday 1986, after a very compelling presentation of the Gospel, I responded to an altar call by the pastor. Much of the emptiness in my heart was replaced with hope in Christ. I knew that my transgressions against God were forgiven. I began my a new relationship with my Heavenly Father that day and was baptized in June, 1986.
I still have a severe case of psoriasis. But God has healed me where it counts--deeply within. I have learned that He accepts and loves me for who I am. My favorite Bible verse comes from the Apostle Paul:
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for
us" (Romans 5:8). God's love and acceptance, His grace, has replaced my longing for acceptance and love from this world. No matter what I do in this world, the key and measure of success is found in Christ--not what might be added to my name. He has healed me from within; He is the healer of my heart.
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