Category: Faith

I was at Best Buy last week looking for a new computer in case I needed work from home because of COVID-19. There was a long line in front and I wondered why. Costco was across the street. Did they suddenly start selling toilet paper? As I got closer, I realized people were standing far apart from each other. 

Social Distancing

There was blue tape on the wall to mark a 6 feet distance between people. There was also a sign that said, for everyone’s safety, they were practicing social distancing, providing an associate to assist you with shopping, and asking shoppers to keep shopping to essential purchases only. I quickly got the laptop I wanted to buy but I had to return the next day because it didn’t meet my expectations. 

Sharing My Faith

As I returned my laptop, I had a chance to talk to the customer associate while he was processing my refund. We talked about his 6 jobs, our backgrounds, personal finance, and about faith. I gave him a card from our church and told him to check out our website. It was so easy to connect and share my faith with him. I hope he did visit our website when he got home. 

I realized that God answered a question I’ve been wondering about for a few days. How can I share my faith if we’re supposed to stay at home and do “social distancing”? I’m already scared of rejection. How can I start a conversation about faith from home? 

Sharing on Social Media

We can first share our faith through social media. Most of us are already on social media since we’re required to stay at home. If we spend even just 5 minutes a day sharing our faith, then we’ve gotten people interested in God and what he can do for us in these stressful times. You could share your favorite quote or Christian music video. You could even re-post a picture from @incmedianews on Instagram.

Interact When Out

Another thing we can do is to actually talk to people when we do have to go out. We’re not banned from going to the grocery store or visiting the doctor. We can talk to people while waiting in line (just stay 6 feet apart!) or paying for groceries. Ask them how they’re doing, how they’re coping, thank them for their service if they’ve helped you, and let them know that it will all be over soon. Remind them that we just have to pray and have faith in God. Give them a card from church if they seem interested. 

Share Your Story

One more way you can share your faith is by sharing your story. Let people know how you learned of the Church of Christ and your path to become a member. Share what you’ve experienced in life and how God has answered your prayers. Everyone has their own stories. Your story might be something that someone else is going through and it will be the inspiration they need to finally listen to the truth. 

Don’t forget that we do have tools to help us. We can share the link to incmedia.org and/or share our social media accounts on Facebook or Instagram. Don’t be afraid to connect with people even with social distancing. We don’t have to be distant from God. We should actually help others be closer to God during this time so they can have hope and survive. 

Comment below with other ways you share your faith when social distancing.

In this updated blog, I want to use this space to be able to share my faith. I grew up in a Catholic household when I was younger. However, shortly before I went to college, my best friend (now husband!) introduced me to the Church of Christ (Iglesia Ni Cristo). It was vastly different from what I grew up. As I started to attend bible studies, I started to understand what it really means to believe, obey, and trust in God. I was baptized in March 2007 in the Locale of Honolulu. Even though my family didn’t understand or accept my decision for many years, I feel like they are now at peace with my new path.

I’ll tell you the story of how I started with the Church of Christ (INC) in another post if you want to hear it. It’s a story full of coincidences (or fate!), sacrifices, and happiness. 13 years later and I’m still active in our church as a choir member (even though I’m not a very good singer! I try!).

Being a New Convert

The thing about being a convert is the difficulty in opening up your mind to teachings that totally contradict what you’ve grown up with. This is why it was important to me to have all of my questions answered before I became a member of the Church of Christ.

What solidified my decision to join was because everything I learned and all of the answers to my questions came directly from the bible. All of the ministers I met did not provide their own interpretation. They read directly from the bible. All of the reasons why INC members behaved, thought and believed made sense because all of the reasons came directly from the bible.

New Friends and Family

I also joined because of the family friends I gained. College life was a bit lonely until I started hanging out with other college students from our church. We ate out, went to the movies together, studied at the library, carpooled to church, and participated in many sports and fun activities.

I found a sense of belonging that I couldn’t find in other college groups and organizations I joined no matter how hard I tried. I was accepted as is and that was big for me since I was practically alone in Hawaii having moved here from Saipan. In addition, when our family moves to the mainland in the future, I know we’ll always have our INC family welcoming us wherever we are in the world (we have locales in over 150+ countries and territories!).

Peace

Another reason why I joined because I found peace when I prayed. I received solutions to my problems. I received blessings when I least expected it. It’s hard to imagine how after 100+ job applications (yes, I counted!), a handful of job interviews, and many prayers, I landed a good job 2 months after graduating college and a year after the recession.

It was perfect timing because I was also running out of money fast! There were also many times over the years where I cried to God because I was so broke from debt during college but would later find myself with some windfall money to get through it. Then there were the times that I cried because every father figure I had died every few years of each other.

Would you believe it if I told you that I stopped sleepwalking after I joined the church (I somehow had an obsession with doors and would be found standing there creepily. True story! I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not but it makes it much easier for me to sleep safely at night!)? Some of these might be hard to believe and some not but these are my stories. These are just some of what my God has helped me through after I joined the Church of Christ.

Sharing My Faith

Despite all of this, I’ve been so selfish and have been having a hard time sharing my faith with others because I’m scared of rejection. However, I’m starting to realize and really feel how time is running out. There’s no time to be scared. The world is getting worse and Judgement Day is coming. In this new year, I want to make sure that many will know the true church before that day comes. This is why I would like to invite you to check out the Iglesia Ni Cristo at our website: https://incmedia.org/. Learn what it means to be a member of the true church and how God can make a difference in your life just how he did with mine.

If you have any questions or want to attend a free bible study, let me know.