Mother's entrance into heaven - April 24, 2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Easter season becomes so much more meaningful, as Mrs. Kwi Ok Yeu, our beloved mother, president of KWCTU went into the glory of resurrection. Thank you very much for your letters, flowers, and emails, which all strengthened our family during our time of bereavement. I would like to inform you of Mrs. Kwi Ok Yeu's glorious entrance into heaven in more detail. At the departing of Mrs. Kwi Ok Yeu, I witnessed the glory of resurrection which our Lord promised to all His beloved. At the very hour, when she breathed her last, that was, at 12:17 on Mar. 20, 2006, she spoke to my heart, very clearly, "Rejoice!I am risen."Then the Lord filled my heart with great joy. When I followed her corpse to be kept in the resting place at the hospital, she spoke again very vividly to my heart as follows.
"Dear Jung Joo!I have fought the good fight, finished my race of faith, and kept my faith.
Now, a crown of righteousness is waiting for me.I urge you also to fight the good fight so to receive the crown of righteousness."
Because her voice was so clear in my heart, I talked to my first brother beside, "Let us use this passage as epitaph for mother."When I came home to change my dress to black suit to receive visitors, I got a phone call from David Young-hoon Kim my younger brother, then in New Zealand on business trip. He just heard the news and was about to take an airplane to come home as soon as possible. He spoke on the phone, "Dear sister, please have 2 Tim. 4:7-8 as the passage for mother's funeral service with title, ‘A Life of Victory’ and prepare a choir to sing ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus from Messiah."Without even hearing what I heard from Mom inwardly, he mentioned onsame passage which Mom spoke to me just before.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day
and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearing.”
When David returned home on Mar. 22, early in the morning, he had a homework to do.the adults of the family were filled with joy of assurance of mother's resurrection, the little children were too tender still to swallow the reality of grandmother's departure.I felt all the more so, because just 10 days before, when I spoke of grandmother being more sick and was in need of much prayer, the five year old Eui Jin shed tears for over 20 minutes, crying out, "I miss grandma.She should play with me." Therefore, I did not disclose mother's going to heaven until David, their father returned and let them know about it himself.David and his wife Esther, and Young Joo, my sister, and I prayed together how to let them know about mother's glorious entrance into heaven properly. Then the Lord gave to David, Hebrews 12:1. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
David said to his three children as follows."Dear children!Can you imagine a stadium, filled with cheering crowd, where athletes are running their races in the midst? Now grandmother is called to become a cheerleader so that we may run our race well here."By then, the youngest five year old one started crying, immediately recognizing what that meant.She asked, "Did grandma die?"Then David held her in his arms and comforted her saying, "Eui Jin!Would grandmotherbe happy in heaven if you smile or you cry?"She then tried to control herself.When we sat together for breakfast, 11 year old Eui Han, her brother prayed as follows. "Dear Lord!Bless us also to fight a good fight and run our race of faith so that we also may receive the crown of righteousness like grandma. In the name of Jesus, we pray.Amen."
When he finished his prayer, he started singing inspired by the Holy Spirit,
"Bugle calls are ringing out, forward is the battle shout,
See where floats the conquering sign, onward to the war divine.”
By that time, the youngest one started to dance, singing its refrain with great joy of resurrection.
“And when the battle’s over,
we shall wear a crown (3x).
And when the battle’s over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem.
Wear a crown (2x),
away over Jordan.
And when the battle’s over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem.”
We saw God pouring out His joy upon the three young children at grandmother's entrance into heaven. The following day, at funeral service, and all the ceremonies following, the children, the whole family, and all the guests were filled with great joy, coming from heaven.So much singing, so much joy, so much love, filled us and all the visitors. Over 2,000 people came to see her off, many of them, having received great love of the Lord through her ministry.
I witnessed the faithfulness of God in His covenant as written in Gal. 3:29, which says that those in Christ are heirs of Abraham, as thus becoming source of blessings to all nations. Truly, the Lord has blessed Mrs. Kwi Ok Yeu so much that she has been able to share the Gospel and serve Him through the temperance movement all her life. May the Lord bless you all with same great joy in the assurance of glorious resurrection ahead of us.

In Christ's Love,
Jung Joo Kim