Waiting for a Heavy Rain

A Letter from Myoungho Yang and Jiyeon Yoo, serving in Hong Kong

December 2018

Dear Friends in Christ,

Grace and peace to you in Christ.

Thank you for all your concern and prayers. Your love has been encouraging Jiyeon and me as we have been going through our difficult time. We have been told that more than a few of our friends fasted and prayed for Jiyeon’s healing. A couple changed their vacation schedule and went to a prayer house to pray for her when they heard about her serious situation. Many friends in Christ continue sending prayer notes, emails, and texts to support us and share love with us. Five months have passed since Jiyeon was attacked by Moyamoya Disease and cerebral infarction in July. As we look back over these five months, we give thanks to God. God has been walking with us as always.

Every day, we pray for God’s mercy and grace, which are new every morning. I believe we have lived by this mercy and grace, and we will continue to live only by them. Everything that was taken for granted in our daily life has become our reason for thanksgiving: the ability to breathe, eat, sleep, speak, move fingers, think and so on. There was a time when Jiyeon was not able to sleep, speak, or move her fingers. Although she is getting better and better every day, she still has difficulty in many areas. But we encourage each other in saying, “Do not be controlled by what is seen, but hold onto what is unseen. Do not fear or be anxious. Do not let our hearts become sensitive to any physical symptoms, but let them focus on and ¬¬respond to what God is doing and will do. Enjoy being still even in the storm.”

Storm sea in Haifa.

When Jiyeon’s left fingers started moving a little bit and she began to speak a sentence instead of a few words, these tiny changes reminded us of the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). God, through Elijah, showed who is the true God who reigns over everything. God answered Elijah’s prayer and let the fire fall and consume not only the burnt offering but also the wood and the stones, so that all the people said, “Jehovah, he is God! Jehovah, he is God!” (1 Kings 8:39) Right after this victorious event, Elijah ordered his servant to go and look toward the sea. His servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea” (1 Kings 18:44). For Elijah, this was more than enough to believe that God would soon bring a heavy rain to end the three-and-a-half-year drought. Indeed, the sky soon darkened, and a heavy rainstorm burst forth. As we saw these tiny changes in Jiyeon’s condition, we confessed that these were like the small cloud Elijah’s servant saw, and we are also waiting for “a heavy rain.”

One day when Jiyeon was in the hospital awaiting her surgery, I prayed, “Lord, I love your daughter Jiyeon. Lord, save her, protect her. If you want to call her to come to see you face to face, then take my life instead.” As I was praying, I could feel a bit of God’s heart when God became flesh and came to the world to die in our place. I once again realized how God loved us. That God so loved her that he came and died for her. And that God loves her more than I do. That God is almighty and is in control. Can my hope, thoughts, and ways be compared with God’s? God said through Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I cannot but confess just as one little girl recited Psalm 23 differently from its original version, saying, “The Lord is my shepherd, that’s all I want.” We are praying that we will confess later that the time we are passing through now is God’s blessed time in our life because we have God “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). We pray only that God will be glorified through this journey we are walking now.

We deeply thank you for walking together with us on this journey of our life. Please continue to pray for Jiyeon’s healing. Only God’s mighty power can heal her and restore her. We also thank you for your partnership with us in our ministry in Hong Kong. Your prayers and support have encouraged us to keep going. Thank you for your faithfulness in supporting us. We have been greatly loved by you.

Grace and peace to you in Christ our Lord,

Myoungho and Jiyeon