One aspect of Kingdom Living is testifying to the goodness of the triune God. When was the last time you shared the story of the transformative power of Christ’s love in your life? See our Church Hack on giving your testimony in a worship service here.
Enjoy the latest video in our series, GCI Testify. In this series, members from our global fellowship share testimonies of their experiences with Jesus through GCI congregations and ministries.
Watch the entire series here.
Meet Epeli Nakautoga from Suva, Fiji! He shares how moving away at an early age and taking care of his family helped him grow closer to Jesus and experience God’s faithful love in every season.
Transcript
Hello! Or Bula! as we say in Fiji.
To share my story, I learned to live on my own when I was just 14. That was the year I left home to attend boarding school for high school. And with that, I stepped into independence at a young age.
I was actually brought up in the church. My grandfather was also a Methodist pastor. Faith was a part of my everyday life. Every school holiday, we would gather at our grandparents’ home, and without fail, all the grandchildren were asked to read scripture during family devotion time.
From an early age, I knew of Christ. I knew the stories and the teachings. But it wasn’t until I was 14, when I left the comfort of home, that I slowly began to understand who Jesus really was — not just as someone I was taught about, but someone who was really personal and present.
Read More University came with its share of struggles. I was on my own again, navigating a new world and facing challenges I never anticipated. But through every hardship, I could sense him beside me. Christ was there — faithful, steadfast. He never left me. He walked me through every exam, every setback, every victory, all the way to graduation.
Looking back, I see how deeply I experienced his love during those years. He provided. He comforted. He gave me strength when I had none.
One of the biggest turning points in my life came not in the classroom, but at home. I was still young myself when I was suddenly given the responsibility of managing my family. My parents had to move abroad for work, and I was left with the task of looking after my younger siblings — both in high school, at that time.
It was a heavy burden trying to balance my own life while raising two teenagers, and it wasn’t easy. I often felt overwhelmed. There were nights I couldn’t sleep. I kept asking, “God, why me? Why do I have to do this? Shouldn’t I be living my own life?” But every time I felt like giving up, I turned to him. I prayed, and he answered — maybe not always in the way I expected, but he reminded me again and again of his presence. He gave me the strength to keep going.
More than anything else, he taught me to love. It was his love that held me together. When I had nothing left to give, he filled me up so I could pour into others, especially my siblings. His love gave me peace in the chaos. It kept me grounded and pushed me to move forward even when I didn’t know what tomorrow would look like.
That was over a decade ago. Today, my siblings are grown.
Just when I thought that season of responsibility had ended, the Lord gave me another opportunity to serve. I now look after two of my cousins, supporting them through high school and into university. And once again, every day, Christ reminds me of his love — faithful, unchanging, and everlasting.
I’ve been blessed to serve in our church, leading as the Hope Avenue champion. In that space, I do my best to reflect the same love that Christ continues to show me. I’ve come to see that ministry isn’t just what we say. It’s how we love, how we show up for people, how we point them to the One who never fails.
Christ’s love — there’s nothing like it. It stretches wider than the heavens and runs deeper than the ocean. It’s a love that gives, a love that forgives, a love that saves.
Romans 8:38-39 says: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Because of his love, he died, so we may live. And because of his love, I keep going. I keep serving. I keep trusting.
God bless you.
