Enlightenment

The Reason We Should Practice God’s Word

If you look at the records of Jesus’ work, you can see Jesus healing the sick suffering from incurable diseases. Why are there many miraculous works of Jesus recorded in the Bible? In fact, they are a copy and shadow, giving us a lesson. On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Mt 9:12 Jesus came to the earth as the spiritual Doctor. Just as we go to see a doctor when we are sick, we must go to God for the healing of our souls that are mortal as a result of sin. Two thousand years ago, tax collectors and sinners who were with Jesus were despised by people, but…

Fujikawa Moto from Kyoto, Japan

Mother’s Creation

One day when I was on a short term mission, preaching the gospel overseas, I came across a flower on a street, unwittingly picked it up, and brushed off the dust. The flower was very beautiful at a close distance. I gave the flower to one sister, saying, “Sister, this beautiful flower resembles you.” Then with a twinkle in her eyes she said what made a profound impression upon my soul, “Mother’s creation!” “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Rev 4:11 Her word totally changed my point of view of faith. It really touched my heart…

Park Min-ji from Seoul, Korea

Christian

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 1 Pe 4:12–16 Sometimes, we look for a prestigious title in the…

Alisa Szewcik from Seattle, WA, U.S.

I Have Prayed for You

Whenever I went through hardships and trials in my life of faith, I always prayed, seeking God’s help and asking for strength to overcome all of them. One day, a member read me a verse that really moved me. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Lk 22:31–32 Even though Jesus foreknew Peter would deny Him even for three times, Jesus never hated him. Instead, He prayed for Peter not to be wavered by the situation, but to have faith so that he could carry out his mission as an apostle of the New Covenant.…

Arnaldo Codoy from Mandaluyong, Philippines

How to Get Debts Written Off

Often times, we may find it hard to forget our hurt feelings. Although I thought that I let go of my hurt feelings, they would come up again and resurface in my heart. “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay…

Kimberly Martinez from Los Angeles, CA, U.S.

Wherever God Leads

[S]o David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord answered him, “Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.” . . . Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees . . . So David did as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer. 2 Sa 5:19–25 David asked God before going to battle against the Philistines. God promised David…

Lee Hyeong-hui from Lima, Peru

God Does Not Despise a Contrite Heart

Whenever I saw members bearing gospel fruit every month, I was worried about myself as I did not reap any result. I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I’m still not after God’s own heart.’ “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.” Ps 51:17–18 David, who was approved by God as the “one after My heart,” always had a contrite and repentant heart. Furthermore, he gathered materials for Jerusalem temple, eagerly hoping to establish it. As a result, God loved David so much. I want to fill my heart with humbleness and repentance, fully realizing that I…

Andrea Bahena Valdés from Toluca, Mexico

He Showed Them the Full Extent of His Love

“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” Jn 13:1 I usually read this verse in Korean, and I thought it meant that Jesus loved them until His death on the cross, until I read it in the New International Version Bible, which says that He showed them the full extent of His love. He did not even spare His own life for His people because He loved them perfectly, 100%. Heavenly Mother, too, said to Her children, “You are everything in My life.”…

Lee Eui-seon from Quezon City, Philippines

My Ugly Fingers

“I wish I had found you sooner when that happened. I should’ve let you have a surgery . . .” Today, too, my mother’s eyes get all teary, looking at my fingers. When I was little, my mother would stay up until late at night in the cold winter, making rice cake for the national holidays. I, a curious seven-year-old boy, took iron chopsticks from the kitchen in secret while my mother was preparing food. As I brought the iron chopsticks to the bedroom quietly, two small holes on the wall got my attention. I looked at them closely for a while, and stuck the chopsticks in those holes—Bam! I felt a great shock as if someone had hit my…

Lee Je-bong from Hwaseong, Korea

For Eternal Life

Gulliver’s Travels is a prose satire written by Irish writer Jonathan Swift, which begins with Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput and leads up to Part 4. This satire was adapted into a children’s story and has been read by many children. When I was a teenager, I had a chance to read the full text of Gulliver’s Travels and there was a very impressive part. The third nation Gulliver goes to after traveling in Lilliput and Brobdingnag is a flying island, where he hears from a high official about the Struldbrugs, people who are immortal. Gulliver starts to admire them, but he soon changes his mind. At first, Gulliver envied them at the thought that they would stay young…

Choi Jae-ung from Incheon, Korea

Mom and Light

When I was little, my house was located in a deep mountain valley. My village had only fourteen households, and there was no bus there. I had to walk forty minutes to go to the elementary school, and it took me almost one hour by bike to go to the middle school. The high school was too far to commute from my house, so I stayed at the school dormitory. During the week I stayed in the dorms, and on the weekends I went back home, where I received rice, side dishes, and pocket money to spend the following week. Every Saturday, I had to hurry to go back home. There was the bus that went near my neighborhood, but…

Ju Jeom-yeol from Yangsan, Korea

Only After I Became a Mom Myself

I was born in a remote village in Gangwon Province. There were many good things about living in the countryside, but I wished I would have many chances to eat delicious foods that were only sold in downtown. My favorite days were the national holidays and my birthday, when my uncle visited us with snack gift sets. Knowing how excited I was about special food, my mom prepared delicious food on my birthday every year. I moved to a city when I entered middle school and lived with my sister, who is two years older than I am, until I got married. My mom felt so bad that she couldn’t take care of me as she let me, her youngest…

Gi Geum-ju from Chuncheon, Korea

When We, Who Are Different from Each Other, Are United

A sigh came out when I opened the refrigerator door. There were sesame leaves and a little bit of bean sprouts, which were left over after I cooked spicy chewy noodles; some carrots and baby vegetables, which were left over from when I cooked bibimbap; and some water parsley, crown daisy, and a cabbage. A little bit of all kinds of vegetables that were left over was taking up space on one side of the refrigerator. After wondering how I could utilize those ingredients that would go bad if I left them in the fridge any longer, I decided to make buchimgae [Korean pancake]. It was perfect menu for the weather, for it was drizzling outside. There are many different…

Lee Hye-gyeong from Seoul, Korea

Hiking

“Mom, can’t you take my backpack?” One holiday when my husband went away on a business trip, I decided to go hiking after much thought over how I would spend time with my child. However, she whined from the moment we began. “Is it too heavy? We’ll get to the spring soon. Be patient a little more. Let’s take a rest there.” My child, who was not accustomed to hiking, felt burdened to even carry her backpack that just contained her own things like drinking water, snacks and so on. I was reminded of myself in my childhood days. Shortly after my younger sister was born, my mother gave birth to twins. With the newly born crying babies and my…

Cho Eun-jin from Changwon, Korea

Breathing of My Soul

“Mom, the doctor said that I have pneumothorax, and that I might die if I don’t have surgery right away.” I received a phone call from my son who went to hospital for having breathing difficulty. Then the doctor talked to me over the phone. “Hello, Ma’am. We just took an X-ray, and he is in a critical condition. He needs to have surgery right away. We will have him go through the admission process and get things ready for an operation, so please come right away. We will start the operation as soon as you arrive.” My mind went blank when I hung up the phone. ‘Pneumothorax?’ I pulled myself together and quickly searched for pneumothorax. It is a…

Kim Eun-mi from Cheongju, Korea

Happiness That I Learned in the Military

When I joined the military, my parents didn’t look sad while seeing me off. I entered the training center, thinking, ‘It’s good that my mom and dad didn’t get too emotional.’ But on the day we had the completion ceremony of the basic training, my parents ran to me, looking like they were about to cry, and gave me a hug. That was when I realized that my parents were actually hiding their feelings at the admission ceremony. Ever since that day, I tried harder to get myself adapted to the hard trainings, thinking that they would be very concerned if I couldn’t adapt myself there. I called them four or five times a week at least to ask them…

Kim Seung-hyeok from Busan, Korea

What Is Important to My Mom

When I came back home from meeting my friends on a Sunday evening, my mother had several layers of bandages on her pinky finger. “Mom, what happened to your finger?” “I got a little cut while doing something.” Glancing at it, however, it wasn’t just a little cut, and so I asked her to see a doctor quickly. But she said it wasn’t serious and she could go tomorrow. She said so as if nothing really happened, so I thought she was okay, but that was not the case. When I came home after work the next day, her condition was really bad. It was not just her finger; her whole hand was wrapped in bandages. When she went to…

Lee Sun-mi from Seoul, Korea

Home & Mother

On a day off, which I don’t usually have, I was busy doing all the house chores that had piled up and didn’t even notice my phone was ringing. I checked my phone later and found there was a missed call from my mom. “You called me?” “Yes, did I wake you up? Did you get up?” “Of course! Look at the time!” My mom felt bad that I had been working part time for a few years to help with my children’s education fees. She said that her neighbor gave her some big and nice radishes and so she made diced radish kimchi for me and sent it. She asked me to call her to let her know when…

Kim Hyang-sun from Uijeongbu, Korea

Lost Memories

When I was a kid, I liked animated TV shows a lot. Whenever I came home after school, I was always excited to watch them, and whenever they ended, I felt so sad. I tried to figure out how to save those episodes so that I could watch them over and over again, and I learned about video recording. There is a square hole on a video tape. When I covered that hole and recorded the show, what was originally recorded was deleted and the animations were recorded over it. We had various kinds of video tapes: my kindergarten talent show, bowling guide, foreign movies, my parents’ wedding, etc. I started recording animations with them. Of course, I was only…

Hong Sun-tae from Gangneung, Korea

Mother’s Errand

I am the second child in my family; I have an older brother and a younger brother. We live in different parts of Melbourne in Australia, and our parents live in Adelaide which is nine hours away by car from Melbourne. We cannot go visit our parents that often due to our work, but our mother travels such a long distance whenever we get sick or something happens, and she looks after us. One day, my older brother got a flu. My mother would have made a trip to my older brother’s house right away, but she was also sick and busy taking care of something else, too. Late at night, my mother called me. “Yeon-uk, could you make some…

Jeong Yeon-uk from Melbourne, Australia