The Call to Faith: Finding Christ Through Acne

 “So, how did you get saved?” 

Each time I had to share my testimony of how I became a Christian, I intentionally left out details. 

I was embarrassed by the reason I turned to Christ. 

I was afraid my faith would be deemed to be shallow just because this reason was quite unheard of. 

Many personal testimonies are about God rescuing them from their dark seasons of life or their reckless lifestyles. 

Whenever I contemplate if I have to share the full story of my testimony, I shrink back because mine didn’t sound God-glorifying enough. 

So, each time I share my testimony, I would say I was lost and suicidal before my conversion.

And I thought that sounded perfectly acceptable to my audience. 

But I cried within, thinking, “When would I have the courage to tell people the main thing God used to call my attention?”

The Call to Testify

Immediately after I repented of my sins and believed the gospel, I told my younger sister and brother about Christ and their need to surrender to him. 

They were the only two people who knew what God used in my life to make me broken and contrite and repentant. 

However, in 2023, I read something about the Samaritan woman from the book When God Doesn’t Fix It by Laura Story.

“God didn’t use her in spite of her story.

He used her story.

And the people responded to Jesus because of it.”

That tugged my heart. 

Was I hindering God from working through me because I was terrified of how people would receive my conversion story?

I pondered it in my heart for almost two years.  

Then, I stopped hiding and began proclaiming from the rooftops God’s unconventional way of calling me to His redemption.

The Call to Draw Close

I was 15 when I first had my acne. 

It was a huge blow to my self-esteem. I had made an image of myself that I wanted people to like and admire: a pretty and attractive student.

I was so addicted to the praises of people around me. I wanted to look faultless in their eyes, and so earn their devotion.

I tried all the means I could possibly afford on a student budget to keep my skin from breaking out, but nothing was working. 

One of my classmates pointed out my acne and laughed about it in front of others. I felt disgusted with myself. I was no longer the image I wanted to project to people. I lost the identity I wanted for myself. 

For four years, I was in cycles of depression and even contemplated ending my life. 

However, in those same four years, God was sending people into my life to share Christian music and literature with me. 

I felt drawn to God, but I also felt too weak to come close.

One day after my college graduation, I was invited to a one-on-one Bible study. The text we studied was John 4.

I realized through that passage that even though I felt too weak and even ashamed to approach God, Jesus would nevertheless insist on meeting me as He did with the Samaritan woman.

I started reading the New Testament, and I sensed a different kind of knowledge coming out of the pages–it was bursting with life. 

I was so amazed to learn so much about God, but at the same time, I was so broken to learn so much about myself–I am a sinner in the fullest sense of the word. 

I was entrenched in hostility and idolatry against God. 

I desired to be my own god, trading God’s glory for human approval, because deep down, I yearned to be more important than others, even more important than God.

The Call to Repentance

My mom gave me a Bible study guide by Charles Swindoll Beholding Christ…The Lamb of God: A Study of John 15-21.

Through that guide, I learned the historical and cultural information surrounding the arrest, trial, scourging, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ as recorded in the gospels.  

And learning them undid me. 

It was as though each detail I discovered shook me to the core: His trial and scourging were more brutal than I imagined. The crucifixion itself was a capital punishment meant to inflict maximum pain and humiliation.

I tried to imagine Jesus at the cross.

Wounded. Torn. Disfigured. 

My physical and emotional pain was nothing compared to what Jesus had to endure.

The Son of God sacrificed His life to take upon himself the punishment I deserved because I made myself my god.

But despite the horrors of the crucifixion, Jesus did not remain among the dead because He has the authority to lay down His life and to take it up again (John 10:18).

Jesus appeared to more than five hundred disciples (1 Cor. 15:6). They were persecuted and killed for spreading the gospel. 

No one would dare to endanger their lives to keep a lie. 

I realized the only logical response was for me to repent from my sins and believe the gospel: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1-4, ESV). 

I was so convinced the gospel is not a Christian mythology. God Himself is the ultimate reality. 

Coming to Christ is the most intelligent decision I made in my life. 

The Call to Obey

I told my sister I was going to build a website to share my articles centered on the theme of how our blemishes can point us to the greater beauty of Christ.

She shared this with her Christian circle, and most of them laughed when they learned that I came to Christ because of acne. 

Only two people expressed their amazement at how God even used acne to save my soul. 

I hope more Christians will be like them, whose response is to praise God even if there are testimonies that may sound unconventional and not grand compared to other big faith stories. 

Sharing my journey, which began with something as ordinary as acne, can show others the beauty of God’s power in transforming us. 

It’s a reminder of His grace and love, proving that no experience or circumstance, however mundane it may be, is beyond His ability to bring redemption and renewal.

Because Jesus will always make an appointment to meet us where we are. 

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