March 14, 1986 is a day I’ll always remember. I had been serving in the United States Air Force for more than 12 years and was stationed in South Korea.
That morning I walked into the living room of my small apartment and found the room filled with a cloud. I wasn’t afraid or shocked; rather, I was extremely calm. In the center of the cloud I saw my 11-year-old son’s face, and I heard the Lord say, “Go home.”
Immediately, I rushed to my workplace to tell my supervisor that I needed to return home to Denver. With his permission, I took the first flight headed to the United States.
While I waited for the plane to depart, I stepped into a bookstore and picked up a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. I had settled in for my long flight and started reading when something caught my attention.
Peale stated that if you’re tired of the way you’re living, and you want peace in your life, you should ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and become your Lord and Savior. Without hesitation, I asked Jesus to come into my heart; and He did.
Suddenly, I was crying uncontrollably and repenting for all the bad things I had said and done. I told God how sorry I was and asked Him to forgive me.
I felt completely cleansed, and I knew I was changed. But I did not know I’d been born again until my girlfriend picked me up at the airport, and I shared with her what had happened to me.
Later I understood that it was God who had told me to return home. Soon I discovered that while I was away, my son and daughter had been abused, neglected and placed in the Denver Crisis Center. I spoke with my supervisor in South Korea and was granted a humanitarian assignment in Denver, but I needed to return to Korea for two weeks to finish my work.
Before I could return to Denver, my children were placed in foster care, and I had to hire an attorney to regain custody of them. But God’s presence was always with me.
Our family has gone through many years of healing and forgiving. But since then, both of my children have accepted Jesus Christ. They are married and have given me four grandchildren.
Today my son and his wife run a group home for teenage boys. My daughter and her husband operate a child-placement agency and have three foster children.
I have remarried, and my husband and I are the pastors of Word of Faith and Deliverance. Recently, we opened the Word of Faith Women’s Home. It is the fulfillment of a God-given dream I’ve had to provide a safe haven for women and children facing circumstances similar to those I faced years ago.
