The Day that I Knew there is a God and He Answers Prayers

I lived in a small mountain village in Korea until I was about 9 years old.  our small village was located between a small town and a city but I never went to the city and I went to small town only a couple of times.  That small town had a movie theater and shops but it wasn't a part of my world. Because we had to walk everywhere it wasn't worth the effort or time to go there, and what was the point of going there since I never had any money to spent on anything.

The only entertainment beside the ones that I came up with on my own was weekly Bible story time.  There was a lady who would gather all the children from the village and read stories and tried to save our souls and make us believe in Jesus.  I enjoyed these story times very much.  My favorite story was when Jesus cast evil spirits from men's bodies and they asked Him to allow them to enter into the bodies of swine.  Then they all rush over the cliff and fell into the water(Matthew 8:28-32).  It left me with a vivid impression of all these pigs running to their death. I wish I was there to witness that.

I can not say that I believed in Jesus because of all these Bible stories.  I treated them like fairy tales or Aesop's fables, just good stories.  But time had come that I had to try out and see if this Jesus is real.

One afternoon, I lost my homework and even though I looked all over the place I couldn't find it.  Now this was a very serious problem.  If I showed up at school without my homework my teacher would punish me in whatever form he sees fit.  Often it included getting my hands hit with a stick, getting spanked, standing in a corner and facing public humiliation.  I was really worried about going to school the next day without my homework.  Then I remembered that the lady with the Bible said if you ask Jesus he will help you with everything.  I was desperate; what was there to lose?  I never said a prayer in my life before and I don't remember what words I used, but I did ask for help.  After the prayer I am not sure if it was a voice or a thought that came to me, but I heard/felt that I should look behind our mill stone that was leaning against the wall of the deck where I was sitting.  I reached back and there it was.  

I didn't run down to the house of the lady with the Bible and confess that I was a born again Christian.  Come to think about it, I don't think I ever told her about my experience.  But I knew that there was a God and that he cared about me enough to help me find my homework.  Me! a small girl up in a mountain village in Korea.  I was a nobody, I was less than a nobody, but He knew me.

It took another 10 years for me to say another prayer, but that is another story.