After praying to God for a moment in my heart,

I received the answer …

Nehemiah, who served wine to the king (Nehemiah 1:11),

when asked by King Artaxerxes, "What is it you want?" replied,

"After praying to the God of heaven, if it pleases the king to favor me

and allow me to return to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried," (2:4-5).

When I reflect on these words,

I recall a memory from my days in internet ministry,

chatting with brothers and sisters through messenger or KakaoTalk,

or meeting them one-on-one in Korea, unsure how to respond to their words.

Many times, I silently prayed to God for a moment and then received answered.

At those times, the Holy Spirit dwelling within me often brought to mind

passages from Scripture, memories of sharing God's words faithfully.

One unforgettable memory is when a sister in Korea,

whom I didn't know, read a reflection

on my Naver blog and sent a long message on KakaoTalk,

asking me this question:

"Does God love even someone like me?"

At that moment, the words brought to mind

by the Holy Spirit were from Romans 8:35-39:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,

neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God

that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

At that moment, when these words came to mind, the Holy Spirit also reminded me

of a pastor who, after the loss of our first baby,

had personally written a letter to us with a pen.

At the end of that letter, he had written Romans 8:35-39.