Through God’s power, I have gained joy and peace in my heart
My sincere desire to truly believe in God originated from my search to find joy in my heart. Born in Jeongju, Pyeonganbuk-do, my family had been Christians since the first missionaries arrived in Korea. Baptized while still in my mother’s womb, I grew up attending a Presbyterian church. At the age of 23, I got married and in 1947, I left my hometown and moved to Seoul, where I had very hard time financially and mentally during the Korean War. The physical poverty and sorrow of a divided nation left me anxious and restless, unable to live peacefully. Realizing that I could not continue living like this, I decided to earnestly believe in God to find joy in my heart. From that moment, I began to attend the revival meeting wherever it might take place.
However, I found my desire for joy did not come automatically. At Elder Na Un-mong’s Yongmunsan revival, those who claimed to have received the Spirit foamed at the mouth and spoke in tongues, which I found repulsive rather than enviable. Realizing “This is not what I am looking for,” I returned home. It was same with other various revival meetings I attended.
I attended several revival meetings seeking joy in my heart but was
not satisfied. However, I witnessed miracles at Elder Park’s meeting
and was moved by His words, “Sin must be removed for the Holy Spirit
to dwell.” I made up my mind to become a new person.
Then, one day, I attended Elder Park Tae-sun’s revival meeting at the sandy shore of Hangang River. It was in July 1955. A huge crowd gathered, and during the meeting, I witnessed miraculous events. The mute began to speak, the blind began to see, the patients brought on the stretchers jumped up. Despite attending numerous revival meetings, I had never experienced anything like this.
More astonishing than the sick being healed was God’s word, “Sin must be removed for the Holy Spirit to dwell,” which deeply resonated with me. I had spent my entire life attending an established church, unaware of sin and with a heart dry of tears. But upon encountering God, I felt deeply humbled and insignificant, and could only weep. My thoughts were solely about how to become a new person and live a clean life so that the Holy Spirit could dwell within me.
On January 1, 1956, I officially registered as a member of the Chunbukyo Church and began attending the church at Wonhyo-ro. My husband was soon assigned as an evangelist, and I brought my mother-in-law to live with us, enabling us to attend the church together.
In December 1957, my mother-in-law suffered a stroke. She lost consciousness and could not eat or drink anything, but she could barely swallow the Water of Life when it was given to her. She remained unconscious for a month. My husband, who was working as an evangelist in the countryside at the time, came up and told God about her situation. God responded, “Then I will go and heal her,” and personally came to our home.
God laid His hands on my mother-in-law, and I witnessed such a thorough laying on of hands for the first time. He laid His hands from head to toe, and then laid them on again. After finishing the laying on of hands, He instructed us to bring water in a jar. As we brought it to Him, He blessed the water and told us to give her only this water to drink. As instructed, I made her drink it for three days until she passed away.
After my mother-in-law passed away, we were really astounded. Her face glowed with a rosy color and was so clear that we could see the fine blood vessels beneath her skin. Her lips were bright red, as if she had applied lipstick, making her look much younger than her 60 years of age. People who saw her remarked, “She looks younger than her daughter-in-law.” What surprised us even more was that her face was covered with clear dew drops, making her look incredibly beautiful. That image remains unforgettable to this day.
In January 1958, I moved into the Sosa Faith Village and took charge of Zion Kindergarten. I had originally studied childcare and had experience as a kindergarten director in my hometown. During the Korean War, I also took care of war orphans. Due to this background, I was entrusted with the kindergarten.
The children raised in grace were distinctly different from those raised with no faith. While it was common for children to fight, our children never quarreled, never complained, and always obeyed, with remarkable gentle-ness.
God came to my home to bless my sick mother-in-law
with the Water of Life. After my mother-in-law passed
away, her face glowed with a rosy color and was covered
with dew drops, leaving everyone amazed.
Later, in 1975, I moved to the Gijang Faith Village and took charge of a daycare center. From infants left behind by parents heading to work to slightly older toddlers, as the number of children grew, the tasks of changing diapers, doing laundry, cooking, and more became quite challenging.
When the babies were sick, treating them with the Water of Life or, when God visited, taking the sick babies to Him to receive His blessing by holding them in front of Him, they recovered quickly. When they had measles, the Water of Life healed them within a few days.
When sudden stomach cramps occurred, making them cry loudly, feeding them the Water of Life and applying gauze soaked in it on their chest and belly quickly alleviated the symptoms. No medication was necessary, nor was there any need to visit the hospital. Always under God’s protection, the children grew up healthy and strong. Before long, they were carrying bags to school, working hard at their jobs, and I was deeply proud and grateful. I always prayed they would grow up splendidly and become pillars of Zion in the future.
After many years of running the daycare and kindergarten, in December 1989, I took charge of the nursing home. Many elderly people who lived alone came there, and visitors often remarked on how clean and bright the elderly ladies’ faces were. Our nursing home residents, even those over 80 or 90 years old, were always cheerful and lived joyfully. I was always grateful for God’s grace, which allowed us to live in peace without any difficulty.
Moreover, when grandmothers passed away, I noticed them depart very peacefully. Suffering from old age or chronic illness, they were in bed quietly until one day I found them passed away in peace by putting my hand under their noses.
We gently cleansed the body and applied the Water of Life, resulting in a remarkably beautiful appearance. Funeral directors often commented on how clean and pretty the deceased looked, marveling at their serene and youthful appearance.
All the elderly who passed away in the nursing home appeared much younger and more beautiful than they did in life. One of the most memorable experiences was when Deaconess Park Malja, who suffered from throat cancer, passed away. She had been an evangelist in her youth. A few years before her passing, her throat became increasingly painful, and her neck swelled to the point that it was indistinguishable from her face. Large, hard lumps appeared on her back and neck, and one of her brow bones was so swollen that she could not open her eye. After a prolonged illness, she peacefully passed away at the age of 77 in August 1995.
In the morning of her passing, I cleansed her body. The lumps, which I had thought would be soft, were as hard as stones. I carefully washed her and then poured the Water of Life in her mouth and on her face with a cloth. The next day, when the funeral director arrived and uncovered the cloth, she looked even more beautiful than the day before, and the funeral director remarked on the stone-like lumps.
I was in charge of the Daycare Center and later the
Nursing Home at Gijang Faith Village. After the senior deaconess,
who had lumps on her back and neck, was cleansed with
the Water of Life, the hard lumps vanished without a trace.
Shortly afterward, the funeral deaconess and other church members arrived for the funeral service. As we played the tape of hymns of God, the funeral deaconess and I easily washed and dressed the body, which had been already cleansed the previous day. However, mysteriously, the lump, which had been as hard as a stone, vanished without a trace. I exclaimed, “The lumps are all gone!” Everyone present was amazed and joyful at this miraculous event. The multiple lumps on her neck had vanished, the swollen brow bone returned to normal, and the lumps on her back were nowhere to be found. We were so focused on washing her that we did not notice when the lumps disappeared. The joy and amazement we felt at that moment were indescribable.
Furthermore, old lady Park Mal-ja had rough skin with many dark spots on her face and her appearance was not particularly refined. However, after washing her body, her skin transformed remarkably. Her rough, dark skin turned into a smooth, glowing complexion, and all the unsightly dark spots on her face disappeared completely. She looked so beautiful that it was incomparable to how she looked when she was alive.
Seeing her like that filled me with such joy and gratitude. I have witnessed many bodies beautifully transformed after death, but I had never been as joyful as I was then. I was deeply grateful for God’s enormous grace.
I have always lived with the belief that “To know the good and not do it is sin.” Particularly, in the work done under grace, no task is too difficult or burdensome if it is assigned to me. I can carry it out with joy and obedience. Despite being 82 years old, I consider my health and happiness as great blessings from God, and I strive to do my best in all tasks, living diligently according to God’s will.
<Published on September 15, 1996>
