AHN'S MOTHER

I forgot to tell you--the end of 2022--Dec, 31, my COVID had cleared, and I did a last spurt on reading the Japanese translation of If I Perish, that book about Esther Ahn Kim. I finished all 609 pages of it. (Thank you for praying!)

Ahn not only made it over the border into free Korea, but the chapter ended with her leaving the country to give testimony, in the U.S., of God's unmistakable power. I couldn't help but cry when the last memory she had of her mother was how she urged Ahn to go for even a few short months to encourage the believers there. "We will always be meeting later SomeDay," the older woman had told her.

That was so consistent with the way she had lived. Few mothers would speak of their daughters needing to prepare to die, as did this one, the years before real persecution began--and she stood by and watched Ahn's choosing of rotten foods, even living in bacteria-ridden places to strengthen physical resistance. They were training themselves for the hardships of prison life! Years later, on the day her incarcerated daughter was about to be released from prison because of failing eyesight, this mother reminded her when she gave her life to God, she gave Him her eyes too! Ahn bows gratefully to her mother for the reminder and instead of seeking freedom, returns to her prison cell. The mother could not see Ahn's form disappearing behind those gray walls--as many other persecuted Christians, she herself had become blind.

This mother--who didn't know how to cry--but was entrusted with the gift of laughter to put the entire prison compound in stitches...this mother made a strong impression on me when I read the book decades ago in English, and the impact was just as great reading the book in Japanese this time around.

When Ahn and her mother meet in Heaven...and my moms and I will be there too...I wonder, what language will we be speaking in?