Lhivanne May Sembrano - Baptism Testimony

I am Lhivanne May Sembrano from the Philippines. I was raised as a Roman Catholic. Growing up, my understanding of faith was merely about going to church every Sunday with my parents, reading Bible verses from time to time, casually praying to God, occasionally praying the rosary, doing good works, loving my neighbours, and being a good person in general.

When I was younger, I began to realize the inconsistencies between what I believed, what my practices were and what I understood about God; however, I simply shrugged them off. I thought that as long as I believed in God, the other details of my faith did not matter that much. I had a skin-deep understanding of Christianity. I knew that Jesus Christ was the Saviour, but I never truly understood how or why He was my Saviour.

When I married my husband, Joshua, in 2024, he was seeking to know God more profoundly and to strengthen his faith. At the time, I did not understand and found it odd that he felt the need to seek so deeply. He urged me to yearn for God with him and to grow together in Christ. In 2025, when I came to Calgary, he encouraged me to attend Knox Baptist Church. It was then and there, as I began seeking God and learning His Word, that I realized how crooked and superficial my understanding of God had been all my life.

Before, I never truly understood the weight and seriousness of sin. I was living a life centred on myself. I was chasing money, pursuing worldly things, and placing my desires above God. I convinced myself that because God is merciful and forgiving, I could simply ask Him for forgiveness after I sinned and continue doing the same things. It became a cycle: sin, ask for forgiveness, and sin again without repentance. It was a shameful period of my life. But now, I no longer carry that shame, because Jesus took it away.

A few months ago, if you had asked me whether I would go to heaven when I die, I would have answered, “I don't know. How could I possibly know?” I had always believed, or perhaps had simply been taught, that in order to go to heaven, I needed to be a good person, do good works, help others, and somehow become worthy enough. But if salvation depended on how good I could be, how could I ever know when I had done enough? How could I ever know that I was finally worthy? Whenever I encountered people who were confident that they would go to heaven, I used to think they were being boastful, overconfident, or even blasphemous. How could anyone be so certain? But now I understand. Ask me today, “When you die, will you go to heaven?”

My answer is yes. Not because I am good enough. Not because I have done enough good works. Not because I am worthy on my own. It is because of Jesus Christ. He died for me. He bore the punishment that my sins deserved. He paid the debt that I could never pay. What I could never accomplish through my own goodness, Christ accomplished for me. My hope is no longer in myself. It is in Him. But this does not mean that I will no longer do good works because I am already saved. Rather, I will do good works because I am saved. Good works are not what will save me, but are fruits of the salvation I have received through Christ.

As Jesus said in John 6:37, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” And so here I am. I am coming to Christ not trusting in my own righteousness, but trusting in His. I am coming with nothing to boast about except Jesus. I am coming to receive His grace, a grace that I do not deserve and could never earn.

I was once uncertain about where I would spend eternity. Now my confidence rests not in who I am or in what I do, but in who Jesus is and what He has done for me.

To Christ alone be the glory.