Standing Strong Through the Storm

GOD KNOWS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LOSE A CHILD

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Young Nam left his family behind in North Korea to search for money and food in China. Christians there helped him but on the way back he bumped into a North Korean patrol, and he was arrested on the spot. A prison official let Young Nam go after taking away all his money. Young Nam fled again to China, only to be arrested by Chinese policemen. And now he was back in the same prison with the same official who took a bat which was wrapped in newspaper. After Young Nam had taken the beating, the guards dragged him back to an overcrowded cell.

He convinced the prison official that he was not going to betray him and was released a second time. If he wanted to survive, the only option was to go back to China and stay there. He was able to secure a job working in the kitchen of a Beijing restaurant. There he met Eun Kyung who also came to work in the kitchen. Her husband had died in North Korea. Her sweet daughter died in her arms and her son was put in an orphanage. She and a bunch of other women were locked up in a house and sold into marriage to Chinese men.

Eun Kyung protested. “I have just lost my husband. Don’t force me to marry someone!” The human traffickers listened to her and placed her on a Chinese farm, where she had to work for room and board, but the family treated her very well. She ultimately came to Beijing and met Young Nam. There was chemistry between them. They took some secret Bible study classes together and they married, also in secret of course. After a while, the situation in Beijing became too tense for North Korean refugees, and the restaurant boss arranged false passports and put Young Nam and Eun Kyung on a plane to another country.

Now, Young Nam and Eun Kyung live in small apartment far away from their home country. There is little that reminds them of their painful past, unless it’s the eyes of their baby. Inevitably the eyes look similar to the eyes of the child she left behind in that wretched country with its love-wrecking system. Eun Kyung holds her few-months-old son tightly. The child is tense. Eun Kyung doesn’t seem to notice. She will protect this precious child with her life.

After their escape from China, Young Nam and Eun Kyung really got to know God by studying the Bible with a local pastor. They realized it was God who protected them. “God saved us, brought us together and gave us another child. We are very grateful for his love.”

Young Nam and Eun Kyung look to their son. For them, the child is a symbol of God’s hope and love. They know that God will not undo the past. However, God promises us that all tears will be wiped from our faces. That’s possible because the Son of God, out of love, let Himself be crucified. God Himself carried our pain. He knows what it is like to lose a child.

They conclude, “No matter what happened to us, we trust in God. We know that He is love.”

RESPONSE: Today I will forget the past, rejoice in God’s love and be thankful for all His gifts of life.

PRAYER: Thank You God that You can feel the pain of those who have lost a child. May Your love envelop them today and wipe the tears from their faces.