Faith & Life

Love Is Patience

I’ve been preaching to my family and friends for years, but they didn’t respond. As I had no fruit for a long time, though being a young adult like the dew of the dawn as prophesied in the Bible, I worried that I might become like a fruitless autumn tree. Then one day, I came to realize what’s the most important element in saving a soul. When a preaching festival was in full swing, I met a woman who was taking a walk with her dog. The sister who was with me and I said hello to her, and when we asked her if she had time to listen to our preaching through the Bible, she readily said yes. After…

Noh Min-ah from Anyang, Korea

Serving With the Strength God Provides

“If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Pe 4:11 Thanks to God’s grace, I’ve received much blessing by serving in Zion. However, I sometimes felt a little burdened with the duties. One day, I asked myself a question after reading this verse. ‘Did I serve in Zion with the strength God provides?’ If I did with the strength God provides, I would not feel tired but rather be joyful. How much more thanks I…

Kang Seon-yeong from Jinju, Korea

Revering God the Mother

Since receiving the truth, I have often seen and heard Heavenly Mother through church meetings. I always took this blessing for granted. However, a sermon I heard at the worship service gave me a sudden realization about what a great blessing it was. “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” Rev 21:2 The New Jerusalem, who came down from heaven, is Heavenly Mother. God the Mother, who is almighty, has come down to this earth to be with Her children. Hearing Heavenly Mother’s voice directly and seeing Her, our holy Mother, with our own eyes! How can this be regarded as a small…

Mi-ju Seo from Incheon, Korea

In the Love of Mother

My dad was the oldest son. After my mom got married to my dad, she looked after her parents-in-law, brothers and sisters-in-law, and her five children, and also did the farming work. I think she was destined to work a lot in life. To make matters worse, my family got in difficulty in living; my older sister got a big operation and my dad became sick, and so my mom had to even work in a factory. Whenever she came back home late at night, she couldn’t rest, doing house chores. Back in those days, we didn’t have a washing machine. So the biggest problem was doing laundry in winter. Whenever the water pipe froze due to cold weather, she…

Kim Sun-ho from Incheon, Korea

Father’s Hometown

“When we get a chance, I want to go visit my hometown with you all.” My father used to say this all the time. Whenever he said that, my sister and I would always answer indifferently, “Okay. Let’s go some day.” It took a long time for “that some day” to come. After getting married, I visited my father regularly, but I couldn’t afford to take him to his hometown. My father’s physical disability also played a part. As each year went by, he missed his hometown more and more. “I need to go there before I die. I miss my sister . . .” My father’s sad eyes seemed to be telling me that I shouldn’t delay any longer.…

Seo Jin-hee from Busan, Korea

God Is Patient With Us, Wanting Everyone to Be Saved

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Pe 3:9 This is a scripture that made me cry during the second study after receiving the truth. The sister who was teaching me the Bible thought I was crying because I got scared of disasters, and she tried to comfort me, but that’s not why I was crying. Tears welled up in my eyes, because I felt so thankful to realize that God had been patiently waiting for me in order to save me. God’s patient love, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance! I,…

Kim Ok-gyeong from Uijeongbu, Korea

Whether They Listen or Fail to Listen

I flew to Europe to fulfill God’s word to preach the gospel to the whole world. Whenever I ask people here, “Have you heard of God the Mother?” many of them walk away, waving their hands as if they don’t care. I sometimes feel discouraged, but I have a source of energy that wells up. “Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.” Eze 3:11 Every single word in the Bible is fulfilled without fail. It is the same with preaching the news of salvation to all the peoples of the world. That’s why I boldly preach Heavenly Mother today,…

Jeong Hye-in from Guri, Korea

One Shot

There was once an exceptionally talented archery athlete who, despite his skill, found himself faltering in competitions after a single mistake. Frustrated by his inability to showcase his full potential, he sought guidance from his coach. In response, the coach offered a seemingly perplexing instruction: “Henceforth, you shall shoot only one arrow each day.” Though initially bewildered by the directive, the athlete complied, trusting in his coach’s wisdom. Day after day, he honed his craft with just a single shot at the target. In due course, the athlete emerged victorious in a crucial competition, finally breaking free from his string of setbacks. Grateful for his success, he approached his coach, seeking an explanation for the unorthodox training regimen. The coach,…

Exercise Keeps Family Happy

In our modern lives, we can receive the items we want at home without going to the market, and we can get documents without going to a government office. We can go anywhere by various means of transportation like car. Thus, the development of civilization has brought convenience and leisure to our lives, but this reduced the chance to move our bodies. Even the most basic exercise, walking, is not done properly. Lack of exercise leads to obesity as well as various diseases such as metabolic syndrome and chronic illnesses. Medicine is developing, but the number of patients with heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and cancer is increasing; this is because of lack of exercise. The diseases caused…

Why Was It Considered Impossible Back Then Even Though It Can Be Done Now?

Once deemed impossible to scale Mount Everest without an oxygen mask, this belief endured until the late 1970s. However, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler defied this notion in 1978, accomplishing the unprecedented feat of ascending Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Their success was the culmination of rigorous training to acclimate to the high-altitude, oxygen-deprived conditions of alpine environments. Since then, over 150 climbers globally have conquered Everest's towering summit, exceeding 8,000 meters, forsaking the use of oxygen apparatus. Why was it considered impossible back then even though it can be done now?

Good Energy of Voluntary Service

The day before the street cleanup in Namyang-eup, my body felt heavy and my head ached; it seemed that I caught a cold. However, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to do voluntary service after a long time. The next day, when I arrived at the gathering place and put on the yellow vest, I felt energized somehow. As it was the day when a five-day interval Namyang village market was opened, there were lots of people, and the crowded streets were dirty with trash. While we were picking up trash with no time to stand up, sweat rolled down my back. The breeze that blew once in a while didn’t feel cold but refreshing. During the street cleanup, the…

Hong Hyeon-ja from Hwaseong, Korea

Demonstration of God’s Love

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Ro 5:8 No one would dare to die for someone else. It’s even harder to give up one’s life for a sinner. However, there is One who demonstrated His sure love for us by being crucified in our stead while we were still unforgivable sinners. He is our Heavenly Father. Is there a greater demonstration of love than this? Now, we want to demonstrate our sure love to our Heavenly Father who loved us even to the point of death, by completely changing under His grace.

Lee Eun-suk from Saket, New Delhi, DL, India

Habit

I am ever-present by your side. Observing your actions attentively, I instinctively step in to manage affairs on your behalf. When cultivated effectively, I become your pathway to a priceless asset: success. Yet, if allowed to govern unchecked, I can lead you to the precipice of failure, a painful descent. I serve the triumphant, yet reign over the defeated. I am known as “Habit.”

The Angelic World, Overflowing With Delight Day After Day

“Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence.” Pr 8:30 Proverbs 8 shows us that Solomon existed in the angelic world even before God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them in the beginning. We can also learn that it is a place full of delight and joy day after day. No matter how much delight and joy we experience on this earth, it fades quickly, often followed by hardships and sorrows. Perhaps the reason the heavenly world is eternally delightful is because new joys are continuously created. Similarly, our ability to rejoice always may stem from the constant creation of new joy. While…

Lee Sun-ju from Gwangju, Korea

Sowing the Seed of Positives

If you plant lettuce in a field, it becomes a lettuce field; if you plant cabbage, it turns to a cabbage field; if you plant flowers, it becomes a flower field. It depends on what kind of seeds you plant. The field of our heart is the same. Just as a good seed produces good fruit, in order to bear fruits of joy, gratitude, and hope, we must first sow the seed of positives in our heart. This month, let’s sow the seed of positives, which may be small but will bear rich fruits. Remember that after sowing, you have to take good care of them! Tip Practice smiling before the mirror every morning. Try to discover other people’s strengths.…

Talents Borne from Work Mission

It had not been long before I started a new job at a big company after I transferred to New Windsor. I became excited at the thought of starting a new career and being able to move up in a large corporation. The money that I could make, the position I could reach, and the respect I could gain were all thoughts that I had when I started the job. These kinds of worldly thoughts took over my mind as I began to work there. While I knew that preaching is something we should do in our given situations, in reality it was not at the forefront of my mind when I thought about my new job. I was discouraged…

Duane Edward from New Windsor, NY, U.S.

Here Comes the Sparkling!

As the Bible teaches us to display God’s glory through our good deeds, we formed a voluntary service team to show Heavenly Father and Mother’s glory to our neighbors. Our team was named “The Sparkling”; we wanted to clean not only the shopping area around the church but also the broad streets and narrow alleys to make them all sparkle. We decided to clean up every Thursday. “Sparkling loving hearts! Sparkling smiles! Here we go! Yay!” During our first cleanup day, we started cleaning the streets with a powerful chant. Our church was located in a shopping area, and the streets were rather dirty. Every street, especially each corner of the alleys, was full of trash that had been sitting…

Shin Gab-seon from Gwangju, Korea

God’s Will in Entrusting Me with the Gospel Mission

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” Jn 8:32 God granted the truth of the new covenant in order to give true freedom to us, who sinned in heaven and came to this earth. Ever since I received the truth when I was a student, I enjoyed God’s blessing of spiritual freedom to the full extent. However, I started to change after getting into college. I found more and more things that I wanted to try, and God’s commands and teachings felt like chains that shackled me. Complaints and grumbles began to bud and became huge enough to be out of my control. The love and emotions that I felt at first gradually disappeared.…

Im Hye-min from Hwaseong, Korea

With My Youth and Passion

The Philippines is a country consisting of about 7,000 islands. The major islands are Luzon in the northernmost part, Visayas in the middle, and Mindanao in the southernmost part. Last summer, I went on a short-term mission to Roxas City in Visayas. In Roxas City where I preached for a short-term mission, there were many Catholics. In a square nearby Zion, there was an old Catholic Church; every Sunday evening, there was a crowd of people attending mass. Due to their strong religious sentiment, people in Roxas City were closed-minded. They insisted that God is only one, and strongly denied God the Mother though seeing definite testimonies of the Bible. One day, a middle-aged man who studied the truth asked,…

Kang Tae-wu from Incheon, Korea

A Warm Day

One day, I had a sudden pain on my back; I couldn’t even move or talk. When evening came, the pain got worse. There were pile of dishes and housework to do but I had to lie down on bed. Though I tried to go to sleep, I couldn’t. It was difficult to lie either on my back or sideways because my back hurt. Later, I even started to cough and had fever as well. When I moaned in pain alone, my mother came across my mind. I was almost in sleep, thinking of my mother who used to nurse me by my side, putting on wet towel on my forehead, then I felt cold wet towel covering my forehead.…

Seo Hyeon-ju from Incheon, Korea