Testimonies from 2019

Love is Patient—June 2019

It was early June and I was in the midst of a challenging semester at language school. A visit to the spa one afternoon was certainly not for the purpose of evangelism in my mind, but God seemed to have other ideas. I’ve learned, you never know where He may want to use you!

I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to talk to an upper 20’s Caucasian man. I obeyed and he was friendly and open to talking. He was from Western Europe and was touring Asia by himself and seemed pleased to have someone he could communicate with. After a few minutes of talking, I sensed I should give him time and space and so I told him that I would be upstairs near the restaurant if he wanted to talk more. He was interested and we set a time to meet.

We ended up having dinner together that night, though I did not “blast him” with my Christianity. I was not showy with my short silent prayer before the meal and did not share too much about my role as a spiritual trainer. We had a lot to talk about just with him traveling in Asia and such. It was good to just share casual conversation.

When the night ended, we exchanged contact information and went our separate ways. I shared I’d be open to meeting him again during his time in Seoul and he expressed interest. Yet nothing was set when we left.

Later I texted him and we agreed to meet a few days later near my home.  He showed up and we had a great “third” meeting. But before I share more about that, notice something in this story. Two times, I left this man’s presence and gave him a choice whether to meet me again or not. Both times he responded by choosing to meet. He could have been a “no-show” or said he was “busy.” But he did not. This took faith on my end to trust God’s process, because I sensed God wanted to do something with him spiritually but I had to be patient. We hadn’t really shared a spiritual conversation yet and it was easy to want to rush things. Yet I had to trust God’s timing. The gaps between meetings also gave me some more time to pray for him.

In our “third” meeting, we walked around a while and eventually sat on a dock by the Han River. He asked me more about how I started doing what I was doing. I shared much of my life story, including me receiving the gospel of Jesus and learning to hear God’s voice and he was intrigued. It led to a very interesting discussion that was not animated but friendly and thoughtful.

Eventually we went to dinner and at that time, I felt led to ask if I could say a prayer for our meal. He agreed and I included for him and his travels in the prayer. When I finished praying, I could see he was touched by the prayer.

Later as we parted ways, I told him to send me photos and keep me informed of how he was doing as he planned to travel Asia for several weeks. He did and we ended up dialoguing several times back and forth over chat. On one occasion, I was led to send him a video of a rather animated Korean prayer meeting when I was at a conference. This seemed like odd guidance to me, but I obeyed and he was intrigued by the prayer meeting. It was “different” than his image of “church” from Europe. He even made the comment, “I may have to convert.” I told him I was there for him if he ever wanted to :).

We continued chatting randomly here and there during the weeks of the summer as both of us love nature and the outdoors. A few weeks ago, I checked in with him and he was back in Europe. We talked about the adjustments back after time in Asia and I told him I’d pray for his new stage of life. Again, I received some rather surprising guidance from God “to send him a link to sermons” from my English speaking church in Seoul. I shared how the sermons offered good counsel on life, and he was grateful and said he may check them out. He was also surprised that churches put sermons “online.” I never really thought about this, but for someone who is not a Christian, perhaps this is surprising.

This story is not over, and I believe the best is yet to come. But this blog post is over. Almost.

I encourage you to reflect on this post. God is teaching me a lot through these types of encounters and there are many interesting truths to be gleaned here.  Perhaps one very interesting point is this: Love is patient.  The world is not patient.  Neither is the devil.  But Love is patient.  Let’s all keep learning to love others better with patience (especially with those who do not know Jesus). As we do, others may find themselves wanting our Jesus, and not even knowing why :).

Healing Near Itaewon in Seoul!–February 2019

After meeting Sunghoe, we went to the mountain to intercede and listen as we had the week before.  Sunhoe shared how he had a good feeling about today and I agreed.  As we prayed, God showed Sunghoe a picture of an underground walkway under the street.  It just happened to be located very near the place I had seen earlier in the Spirit.  Confirmation!  The Lord also gave me a few words, including “bad back/stiff back.”

We left the mountain and walked around the area we were guided to.  It took a bit to figure out exactly where to go in the area, but eventually we found a spot that was suitable where people were walking.   I think we may have missed some opportunities with a few of the words God showed us–as we were hesitant at first.  But eventually we saw an elderly Korean woman walk past who seemed a little stiff as she walked.  We approached her and Sunghoe translated for me.  I told her what we were doing and asked if her back was ok.  She shared that her back was not doing well and allowed us to pray for her as she took a seat.  We also learned she was a Christian and coming back from church in the middle of the afternoon.  Very interesting!

As we prayed, I paused and waited for the Lord’s guidance.  Lately since coming back to Korea, I have been able to see (in the Spirit) Jesus with me (see Matthew 28:18-20).  I have also been struck by the verse from John 5:19-20 where Jesus says that He only does what He sees the Father doing.  As a follower of Jesus, I have desired to only do what I see Him doing through the Holy Spirit.  That day, I waited and remembered to look for Jesus.  I saw Him off to my left and soon after He went behind the woman and touched her back.  When He did this, I felt the power of God go through me and I announced that Jesus was touching her back.  We prayed a bit more for her, including that burdens she may be carrying with her own family would be lifted off in Jesus’ name.

When we finished, her face seemed to have a shine to it.  I believe she smiled!  I asked her how she was doing and she said in Korean she was “good!”  She thanked us and headed off.  As she walked, She seemed more upright and Sunghoe noticed it and commented on it.  Jesus had shown up!