Transformed by Grace

Christiana Tsai, one of twenty siblings, was born to a Chinese ruling family during the Manchu dynasty, She enjoyed a good education, personal servants, and an isolated life, almost never venturing outside the walls of her family's palace. But Christiana's father, despite Buddhist convictions, wanted Christiana to attend a Christian school run by missionaries form America. "Just be sure you don't eat Christianity!" he said, meaning he didn't want his children converting to the foreign religion.

At boarding school, however, Christiana heard the Gospel and was drawn to Jesus Christ. Her conversion shocked her family. A servant was dispatched to bring her home; and on the boat, he gave her a rope and a knife. "You have disgraced your family by eating the the Christian religion," he told her, warning that if she did not renounce her faith, she would have "to choose between this rope to hang yourself, this knife to stab yourself, or this canal to drown yourself."

The girl, however, bore the wrath of her family who treated her like a dog, even tearing to pieces her Bible and hymnbook. She was threatened, punished, rejected, ridiculed, and treated with contempt by the servants.

"But," Christiana later wrote, "I did not argue; I only prayed for wisdom, and God gave me grace."

One day a brother said to her, "Tell me about Christianity and why you became a Christian." When Christiana told him, he replied, "That was a remarkable experience. I have noticed that in spite of the way we treat you now, you seem much happier than you used to be. I think I would like to believe, too."

In the course of time, fifty-five relatives received Jesus, including the brother who had torn up her Bible and hymnbook. Christiana Tsai found the secret of conveying to others the grace she herself had received, and it was her gracious spirit that drew her family to Christ like a magnet.

Turning Points

Page 16-17

March 2006