Enlightenment

Repentance

“Please forgive me for my lack of love for my brothers and sisters.” “Please forgive me for my disobedience to Your words.” There were many times when I could ask God for forgiveness—on the Sabbath day and Third day every week, and the Day of Atonement when we confess all of our sins committed throughout the year. However, I just repeated vague prayers without sincerity. I knew my wrongs, but I just thought God would forgive me and prayed for my wishes rather than for contrition. I really never knew how to repent. Then this one verse changed me: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for,…

Jang Min-gyeong from Seongnam, Korea

God Does Not Break a Bruised Reed

I met God when I was going through many things. What would have happened to my soul if God had not given me a hand; I don’t even want to think about it. I was grateful that I could smile again after meeting God. However, the human heart is unpredictable. I soon started running out of the new strength I’d gained through the blessings of Heavenly Father and Mother as I was tossed about by temptations and storms of life. It was God’s word of love that saved my dying soul. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.” Mt 12:20 “Ah! I was a bruised…

Kim Tae-hui from Cheongju, Korea

No Longer Live for Themselves

I had many changes in my life after accepting the truth and realizing the existence of the heavenly family and the Heavenly Parents who give life to my soul. The blessing of eternal life that I’ve received through the Passover skimmed fear off my mind, and the precious teachings of the Bible revived my soul day after day. Now, after more than a decade, I come to realize that the blessings I’ve received in the truth were not free of charge. “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Co 5:15 When my younger brothers and sisters were born in a…

Yun Eun-ju from Goyang, Korea

I Will Be Joyful in God

I once struggled financially as my company went bankrupt. I tried many things, but I couldn’t find the answer. I felt like walking a long, dark tunnel alone. Thinking that I needed to pull myself together in times like this, I focused on listening to sermons, reading the Truth Books, the Bible more diligently. Among the verses I read, there was one verse that comforted me greatly. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God…

Park Min-gun from San Miguel, Argentina

God Who Protects Me All My Life

I first came to study the Bible at the Church of God. I was so excited by the amazing and marvelous words that I could not help reading the Bible every night. “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isa 46:3–4 The impression I get after reading the above verses before going to bed doesn’t fade for a long time.…

Lee Chang-seob from Namyangju, Korea

My Son’s Finding the Way Back Home

In the late afternoon when the sunlight came through the curtain, I became drowsy. Suddenly, my cell phone rang. It was my second son who went out with his friends to ride scooters. “Mom, I don’t know where I am.” When I heard that, my body got up instantly. ‘He had said he was going to a nearby park, but how come he doesn’t know where he is now?’ My son said he was riding scooters in the park, and then he went out of the park and rode it around the alleys with his friends. As the evening time was approaching, his friends went back home one by one, and he was left alone. Looking around, he could not…

Jeon Eun-ok from Seongnam, Korea

Please Let Me Always Have Hope in God

After I graduated from university, I worked as an administrative assistant at the school immediately. At first, I was grateful to God for allowing me to accomplish the workplace mission at the school where I had been working for the campus mission until then. As time went by, however, I lost my commitment to the gospel mission. As the new semester began, things got tougher. I was not familiar with the administrative work, but while dealing with freshmen all at once and carrying out professors’ instructions, I lost track of time. I thought, ‘Do I have to work so hard like this?’ Wanting to be comforted by someone, I pulled out my cell phone and our church app caught my…

Lee Jin-gyeong from Suwon, Korea

The Best Medicine

“I just want to sleep for a day, no more or no less.” I go to work early in the morning and work all day. After work, I go to church and participate in the young adult group gathering. So, I often get exhausted when I return home. When I spent even day-offs with things, I felt like my body was so heavy that I wanted to sleep all day long. Last Sunday, I left home early in the morning because of the IWBA education. I was still tired, but my eyes opened wide as I heard the professor read the following verses before education. “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not…

Seo Mi-ju from Incheon, Korea

If the Words of God Remain in Me

I prayed to God many times to allow me to bear good fruit of the gospel, but it was hard to bear fruit. I was wondering why, and then a verse came into view. “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Jn 15:7 The secret of receiving whatever I want is having the words of God in me. On the contrary, if there is no word of God in me, I cannot get what I want. Heavenly Mother always gives us sound instructions and godly teachings so that we can go back to the kingdom of heaven. However, I have been lazy in engraving God’s words…

Kim Mi-hui from Geoje, Korea

Do Not Be Afraid of Them, for I Am With You

When I received the truth in the Church of God, I was so happy and joyful, and being confident that this is the true church which people must go to, in order to receive salvation. I wanted to become a great prophet and preach to many people—to whomever I meet. But I was often intimidated because of my age and what I would look like. Everybody always mistook me for being an elementary student because of my petite body and baby-face look. I was also slow-witted and didn’t speak well. So I wondered, ‘Will people listen to me and be convinced in what I say?’ While I was in distress because of this matter, one of my branches, who led…

Sharina Aya Z. Gorospe from Quezon City, Philippines

Until All of the Prophecies Are Fulfilled

It has almost been a year since I started preaching overseas. When my heart was going to be weakened due to the hot weather lasting throughout the year, a great language barrier, and unpalatable food, I became spiritually renewed by the following verses: “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” Mt 26:52–54 Jesus was able to avoid the situation at that time, but He silently…

Kim Min-gyeong from Cheongju, Korea

Spiritual Vitamin

This happened when I was on my gospel mision in Spain. A deaconess came from Korea to preach the gospel for a month. I was worried that she would not be accustomed to unfamiliar circumstances as she was not good at speaking Spanish. Unlike my expectation, however, she preached the word of God until late at night, always wearing a smile and showing no signs of fatigue. I wondered how the deaconess could be so eager to preach without rest, and I asked her how. Then she opened the Bible and showed me this verse. “. . . but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and…

Kim Jin-hui from Seongnam, Korea

Test Me and Know My Anxious Thoughts

While my faith was growing little by little, I got tested. I thought that “test” was only for a person with weak faith. So I earnestly prayed to God that the hard times would pass by quickly. However, the answer to my prayer was getting delayed. While I was bearing the time of loneliness and desperation, my hope for heaven grew even bigger. After much time, I realized that the test I had at that time was God’s plan to grow my faith. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps 139:23–24 If there was any…

Kim Su-yeong from Gunpo, Korea

Things That Should Not Be Overlooked

“You will not have to fight in this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.” 2 Ch 20:17 Jehoshaphat heard that the Moabites and Ammonites were coming to make war on him. He proclaimed a fast for all Judah and sought help from God. Listening to his prayer, God let them gain a victory even without fighting in the battle and granted peace. While doing things in Zion, I focused only on how to do it and often forgot to pray to God. Reading these words,…

Jang Dong-geon from Seoul, Korea

The Reason I Can Do Everything

I don’t have any specialty. So when I am given something to do, I start to worry first. Fortunately, there is a verse that puts down my worries. “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” Php 4:13 Since God gives me strength, I come to have confidence that I can do everything. Heavenly Father and Mother, thank You for granting me all the strength and cheering on me while always being my side!

Kim Bo-rah from Busan, Korea

Saving a Happy Tree

Our Zion has a tree named “happy tree.” Whenever we look at that tree with big green leaves and small bell-like flowers, though not many, we feel happy just like its name. But when summer was about to start, the happy tree, which was almost touching the ceiling, started showing strange symptoms. Its leaves started hardening as if they were withering, and they didn’t look fresh like before at all. At first, we thought it needed more water and gave it more. However, it still looked the same. Worrying that too much water would rot the root, we stopped watering it. Thankfully, there was a sister who knew much about plants, so we asked her for a piece of advice.…

Gahng Shin-hae from Seongnam, Korea

Heaven’s Teacher of the Law

Jesus said, “If you love Me, feed My sheep.” There are a variety of spiritual foods, but I’ve always wondered what food is proper for each of sheep. He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” Mt 13:52 The words settled my worries at once. The heaven’s teacher of the law should be able to give spiritual food from the Old and New Testaments to whoever he meets at the proper time. He should do it like the owner of a house is well aware of his house and can…

Yu Yeong-mi from Ansan, Korea

We Are More than Conquerors through Love

In life, there are times when you may face unexpected difficulties. Sometimes I overcome them, thinking of God, but sometimes I get so discouraged that I just want to plop down on the ground. I was exhausted in body and mind, thinking, ‘Why doesn’t the situation get any better?’ At that moment, God gave me comfort and courage through the words in the Bible. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him…

Peter Antonio Azucena Valencia from Cordoba, Argentina

Finding the Lost Heavenly Children

One day, while I was on my way to work just as usual, a man came to me and handed me a piece of paper. It was a flyer for finding his daughter, who was thirty nine then. The flyer had her picture when she was eleven, along with the description of how she looked and what she was wearing. The father, who had been looking for his lost daughter for about 30 years, was handing out the flyers to passersby, with his back bent and his hands wrinkled. Suddenly, a verse crossed my mind. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Lk 19:10 Heavenly Father, too, could not take care of Himself…

Kim Min-seong from Suwon, Korea

Those Who Absolutely Obey God’s Word

I often thought, ‘Ah! This is what I should do,’ or, ‘I should get rid of my sinful nature,’ after listening to a sermon or watching an educational video. Within a few days, however, I would soon find myself leading the same lifestyle as before and feel a great deal of shame. Yet I would justify my action, thinking that I was at least keeping worship services. But I came back to my senses when I read this verse: “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” 1 Jn 3:4 I thought that lawlessness referred only to disobeying God’s commands such as the Passover or the Sabbath day. Since I kept God’s commands, I thought I was…

Jo Gyeong-jun from Yangsan, Korea

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