Counting Nine Years of Grace
— Written for EFCCA’s 30th Anniversary
Thirty years is a milestone for a church and also a testimony to countless families whose lives have been renewed by God. As we look back together over EFCCA’s thirty-year journey and see how God has built this spiritual home brick by brick, welcoming wandering hearts into His embrace in a foreign land, I cannot help but look back and count the grace He has shown our small family over these nine years.
In February 2017, our whole family came to Auckland. We arrived with hope for a new life, but we had almost nothing. I had no job and spent six full months looking for my first position. I was on a student visa, our daughter was also an international student, and the cost of supporting the family felt like a mountain pressing down on us. We depended on my wife working day after day in a restaurant to keep us going. The weight of life, uncertainty about our immigration status, language difficulties and an unfamiliar environment left us struggling to breathe. The pressure of work and daily life also caused frequent arguments between us as husband and wife. At that time, we almost felt unable to continue and even considered returning home.
At our weakest point, when we most wanted to give up, the testimony shared by one of the church elders rekindled our faith to stay. We did not know what the road ahead would look like, but we were willing to trust once more, remain a little longer, and place our family into God’s hands.
Looking back now, I can see that these nine years were a road personally prepared by God. I gradually came to understand that if we had always walked in favourable circumstances, we might never have learned true obedience or true dependence on Him. It was precisely in the hardest moments that we drew closer to God than ever before. We began serving in church, reading Scripture and praying more seriously, and entrusting each day to the Lord.
During those years, I often left early and returned late, walking home exhausted at night. Each time I looked up at the vast stars and saw the breadth of the universe and the wonder of God’s works, I felt deeply how small I was. Before the God who created all things, I realised that every burden could be laid down. “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them?” (Psalm 8:3–4). In those moments of looking upward, I entrusted myself and my family to the Lord again and again.
God never disappointed us. At every point when we felt we could hardly continue, He provided a way through in a remarkable “just right” manner—not too much or too little, neither too early nor too late. “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19). Over these nine years, we have personally experienced how true these words are.
When we look back, the tears and battles have become marks of grace. God did not immediately make our lives easy, but through hardship He drew us closer to Himself and drew our family closer together. This is what EFCCA has taught us through the years and demonstrated through the lives of its people: Loving One Another, Blessing Each Other.
Thirty years marks the way God has led this church step by step; nine years marks the way He has led our family day by day. The church’s thirty years and our family’s nine years are really the work of the same God and the same hands, carrying out the same wonderful work in different lives. Under His leading, the church has grown into what it is today, and our family has also gradually grown and taken root in Him.
May all glory belong to the God who has watched over us in a foreign land and led us all the way. Thirty years cannot exhaust the story of His faithfulness, and nine years cannot fully tell of His grace. Yet counting grace is not about remaining in the past. It is about seeing more deeply what God intends for the future. May EFCCA, like a life that has reached thirty and stands firmly established, become increasingly mature and increasingly useful in God’s hands. May the same be true of our family. The road ahead still calls us to rely on the God who has led us, to continue receiving His grace, to be united in His love, and to move step by step toward His purpose.
— Robert Zhao and Sophie Zhang and family