Two weeks back, Sister Danya Kim unexpectedly became hospitalized at a hospital in New York. As the days till her discharge grew longer, Sister Danya and Brother IkSu were faced to endure a difficult situation by themselves in a foreign environment.
I’m so thankful that my wife and I were able to spend time with them at the hospital from Wednesday till Friday. Mokja Soonwoo Hong, Moknyeo Young Mi Woo, Mokja Hoon Yoojoung, and Moknyeo Jooyoung Lee also came to visit them. I'm thankful that we were able to hold our hands and walk together on this lonely, tiresome journey.
Although we had to leave, the experiences and scenes I experienced during that short fragment of time continued to ring in my heart. We walk together on the journey that Mokja Sungjin Kim and Sister Danya Kim are taking. I have been hearing from here and there that our Hanmaum church members have been praying and fasting.
As we continue on this journey, I believe that our congregation will be shaped to become more like Isiah 61, the passage that our church has prayed on for numerous years. We will become a community in Christ that fulfills this word.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
(Isaiah 61:1-3)
Following the shepherd…
Pastor JiWon Choi