Cecilia was one of my Bible Study students. She was a pretty, sweet, smart, and devoted Christian girl. Nevertheless, she did not pass the college entrance exam (CEE). I lost her contact information since she moved to Taipei to go to the “cram school” (a school that prepares students for the CEE). The next year, I heard that she failed again. After that I lost all contact with her.

She was always in my heart and in my prayers. One year I missed her so much that I asked God to bring her back to me as my birthday gift.

Around 9 p.m. on my birthday, my phone rang. It was Cecilia. I began to scream when I heard her voice. How did she reach me? I had moved several times. She told me that she called my mom, and my mom gave her my phone number. I asked her to visit me immediately, so she came over. We hadn’t seen each other for over ten years. So many things had happened to her during the past ten years that we talked all night long. Flunking the CEE twice made her very frustrated. Her father’s business failed, and he went bankrupt. To help her family, she took a job which she shouldn’t have. She fell into a bad lifestyle and was distant from God.

That night we cried a lot, and we gave each other hugs. She repented, and she re-offered herself to God as a living sacrifice. She felt as if she was the lost son (Luke 15:11-32), and she would never leave her Father in heaven again. She decided to follow Jesus even though her boyfriend might break their relationship, and her business partnership might end.

Later her boyfriend did leave her, and her company closed. She did not return to her former lifestyle. Now she is a strong Christian, and she leads other people to God.

The persevering love of God brought Cecilia back, and that is the best birthday gift I have ever received.