“Not Yet My Time to Go”

Along the North Korean border with China, smuggling was risky but common. Food, clothes, medicines and tools were all part of the cross-border commerce. It was a business that kept Eun-Ji’s family alive when the North Korean government stopped providing pay and rations during the terrible famine of the 1990s.

For Eun-Ji, smuggling brought an unexpected gift when she encountered members of a church in China who gave her food while sharing the gospel with her. Before she returned to North Korea, the church members gave her contact information for another church along her route. At that church, she began to learn more about Jesus Christ and eventually placed her faith in him. She was challenged to share the gospel with her whole family.

“Whenever I got something from smuggling, I always shared it with my family,” she said. “As a result, whenever I told them something, they trusted me more than Kim Il Sung.”

She went from sharing food and clothing to sharing more about the gospel, fostering her relatives’ faith slowly and secretly.

When Eun-Ji accepted the challenge to share the gospel, she also accepted the even riskier challenge of bringing Bibles into North Korea to distribute to others.

Then an informer identified Eun-Ji as a smuggler. She was arrested and interrogated. She knew that her Bible smuggling and evangelism were likely to be discovered and could lead to a death sentence. Left alone in a dark room, she prayed all night for strength and hope.

“Father God,” she prayed. “It is not yet my time to go to you. I have more work to do for you. Please deliver me from this.”

And deliverance came … in an unlikely form. While Eun-Ji was still in the room where she had been interrogated, a child from a nearby orphanage opened the door of her room and then ran off when he discovered it was occupied. Minutes passed as the door stood open and no guards came. Accepting the open door as a miracle, Eun-Ji slipped out of the room and out of the building. She remained in hiding until she and her family could escape from North Korea.

Now relocated to South Korea, Eun-Ji and her husband continue to seek out North Korean defectors with whom they can share the gospel. Their heart is to see North Koreans, wherever they are found, gain spiritual freedom and eternal salvation in Christ.