Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Walking In the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death - Part 4



Walking In the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death - Part 4
Yesterday, we shared about Yong Sook’s arrest and imprisonment. Today, we continue.
To Yong Sook’s surprise the authorities decided to release her and her son. Her husband had already died of starvation in prison. The day that she and her younger son walked out of the prison together she weighed only 50 pounds. Now constantly on the run, weak but resilient, they wanted desperately to live. 
Yong Sook discovered that her older son was in China, and that her daughter had been sold into marriage to a man in China when she tried to cross the river on her own. Feeling incomplete, Yong Sook desperately tried to find them.
She and her younger son were finally reunited with her son in China and, to her surprise, he was enrolled in a Bible school. He warmly welcomed them into his home… and his life with Christ. This was the first time Yong Sook had ever walked into a church, and the first time she felt safe. “Grace came over me. I closed my eyes and had an image of myself crying.” Careful not to reveal her identity as she did not want anyone to know she was a defector, she held back tears.
Standing frozen until her jaws hurt from the tension a woman gently approached her. “God really loves you,” the woman told her. Yong Sook did not believe it. But God refused to let her go. After almost 40 years of running, hiding, sorrow and hardships she felt herself surrender to Him. Recalling many stores from the Bible that her grandfather used to tell she cried out, “Grandfather had been right all along.”
From that day on, God’s provision and protection was working in her life. A South Korean broker in China arranged safe passage for her whole family. Travelling through Laos and Thailand, the family sought asylum at the South Korean embassy in Thailand. “God is so faithful. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. My life testifies it. Thanks to the prayers of my grandfather before he died and my prayers in prison, I am in South Korea. God brought me here.”
One With Them
The 200,000 – 400,000 secret North Korean Christians are in desperate need of our prayer, especially those who have been sent to a remote area, prison or labor camp. Each one of them has their own story. Yong Sook was saved from prison for the glory of God; others die for the glory of God. Let’s be One With Them in this prayer today:
Our Heavenly Father, thank You for who You are. You are who You say You are and You will do what You say You will do. We praise You and love You. We thank You for the gift of Your Son, for making a way that we could reconcile with You. Thank You, God, for saving us. Father, we come to Your Throne right now on behalf of Yong Sook, her family, and all the believers suffering in North Korea. You know each of them by name. You have counted the hairs on each of their heads. You are collecting their tears in Your bottle. We know You love them more than anyone else. Father, we don’t know what You will do through Your precious children to glorify Your Name. But we do know what You will do in them, and that’s to conform them to the image of Jesus. Father, we pray Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We pray for peace that is beyond understanding for all Your children. And we pray in the Name above all names, the King above all kings, the Lord above all lords, Your Precious Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

2013.06.30


Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Psalm 23:6)
 

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