And so I shall. I shall lift up the cup of salvation and I will exalt the Name of Jesus Christ as I share how He chose me for Himself and with His great compassion, amazing grace and endless mercy, saved my depraved, wretched soul from the bondage of sin, Satan and eternal torment in the Lake of Fire - Hell.

I pray as I share this, that you will be encouraged and inspired to draw deeper into the wellspring of Life, who is the LORD God Almighty, through His Son, our Savior, Jesus the Christ. I also pray that your heart will be more stirred by God's salvation of my soul, His protection and every demonstration of His undeserved, loving-kindness lavished on me, more than you are moved by the pain and persecution I have been blessed to endure.

I want you to fully grasp the generosity and glory of God's salvation and His kindness in choosing to save me by first sharing with you who I was before.

You'll never really know and appreciate how sweet, sweet is, unless you've tasted sour.

My Life Before I Knew Christ

I am a Korean-born, citizen of Heaven and an ambassador of Christ here on earth. I am the youngest of three (3) children, to first generation immigrant parents. As can be imagined, it was very difficult growing up in the south during the 70's. Although segregation had been abolished by law, the people in the towns were still practicing it secretly. Sure, all the signs went down, but the hearts of the people remained just as stubborn and wicked as they had before the law to abolish segregation was passed.

My parents took lowly jobs in which they received much abuse from their employers and co-workers. They worked very hard, for very little money and endured much ridicule and exclusion. There seemed to be no escape from this torment as returning to Korea was worse. They were truly between a rock and a hard place and chose to stay in America as it was the lesser of two evils. My parents were Buddhists and did not know the LORD, therefore were very susceptible to the wiles of our enemy the devil. The devil seduced my parents into believing that it was "okay" to find their own escape from this very challenging life of being immigrants during our countries tumultuous times.....and so they did.

Up until the age of three I was "Daddy's little girl" and a complete spoiled brat. We were poor, but in my sin, I managed to demand my poor immigrant parents give me everything I wanted. I still remember being only 3 years old, wanting to go run an errand with my dad because I knew I could get him to buy me something. We barely had enough money for rent and food, but I didn't care, their struggle was their problem and I wanted stuff and lots of it! After causing much strife and dissension between my parents, my Daddy, once again, gave in and took me on his errand. He bought me a teddy bear....and I still have it! My teddy bear is probably older than most of you, he's 36, nearly 37 years old! And that was the last memory I have of being "Daddy's little girl", as my life drastically changed shortly after that day.

Something just happened today that has burdened my heart to pray for all our children!

A sister in Christ, who is a single mother, lives in my neighborhood and my heart truly hurts for her right now. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for her to raise her children in the Way they should go....alone. I know she's not alone, and that our Lord is always with her, but I do know that God allows challenges in the lives of single parents (different challenges), just as our gracious and good Father allows challenges and trials to take place in families with both parents in the home.

She is going through a very difficult thing, expressing "tough love" with one of her boys and truly, my heart hurts for her. I completely agree with her and support her, but I still can't help but want to just hold her for a bit and let her cry......or something. She's such a tough lady, and I imagine you'd have to be, as a single parent, but I know that she's hurting and I so much want to give her a safe place to just "let go" and rest. I'm sure she's doing that with God and I know His lap is a much better place than my arms so I'm grateful for that! BUT, that doesn't mean that we are not Jesus' hands and feet and should just say, "Well, God's got her, so I guess I don't need to do anything." I know that's just from the enemy who would LOVE for her to be kept alone so he can get to her....but I won't let him do that!

So, I'm going to reach out to her and see if maybe I can take her out to dinner or just sit with her in a quiet place and listen.

In the same way, it's wrong for me to tell my neighbor that I will pray for her, yet, not attempt to do anything to bring her any comfort from her trials.

Please pray for my neighbor, her family and for all our children! Pray that Satan be stripped of his influence on our children! And ask our Sovereign, and good Father God, who IS in Heaven to give us strength and endurance to battle for our kids on our knees; and to give us wisdom so that we may quickly recognize the schemes of our enemy so that our children are not deceived and led astray to do Satan's will.

I'm taking things a bit slower today and just really rethinking who I am and what matters most. As I was pondering this, I went to go visit my sweet sister, Darlene @ Live Well Wednesdays and was very encouraged!

We hit a huge milestone today in our family...our oldest son, Michael just got his driver's permit! We're so excited for him! And we're so proud of the young man of God he's becoming....as so is our youngest son, Kevin! We're blessed beyond measure and we're so grateful to our gracious, merciful and kind Father God for granting us so much joy on this side of Heaven!

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
~ Isaiah 43:18-19

Today also marks another victory in Christ I'd like to share....I've lost all the weight I wanted to! With the help of my physical illnesses (who'da thunk it!) I've lost all 15 lbs. I was striving to lose!

I've chosen to take Darlene's wise counsel and spend more time in God's Word, standing firm on His promises and worshiping Him in all His glory...and well, here I am...spiritually more fit and physically....well, less of me...in EVERY way! Praise be to the LORD God Almighty in whom alone is all victory and pure joy is found!

Be encouraged sisters to press on, especially when it's tough and choose to give glory and praise to God during your most painful moments and you too will see the shackles of this world and all its temptations break and fall before you, so that you can dance with joy in the presence of your Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord!

I've recently been thanking God constantly for the special relationship He has granted my boys. They've been best friends since the day our youngest was born and they're convinced they will be until the day they die. We believe them!

The middle picture is our youngest son's first day of Kindergarten and our oldest son's first day of 2^nd grade. Big brother was so proud to have his little brother finally attending school with him. And little brother was just as proud and excited to be going to the same school as his really cool, big brother! This picture was taken eight years ago and their not so little anymore.

The two pictures on the side were taken from our trip to CO a couple of summers ago. We'd have more recent photos, but I'm just not really quick with the camera and very rarely remember to bring one anywhere I go.

Our wonderful sons are now 13 ^1/2 and almost 16 years old. My how time flies when we're having fun....and we sure are! We rejoice in our Savior and thank God constantly for what He has done for us!

Soon, Michael will be getting his license and the first thing he said is, "I can't wait to take Kevin everywhere! We're going to have such a great time together! It's so great that we're brothers, and best friends too!" All of Michael's friends hang out with Kevin and have always welcomed him as part of their group. They always have. It's like Kevin's got a whole band of big brothers! His big brother wouldn't have it any other way. Michael has always had only one rule if you wanted to hang out with him, "My little brother comes too, or no one comes." And it's just always been that way!

For more blessings today in God's Word, visit Amydeanne at the 160 Acre Woods!

rejoicing in God's miracles
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