~ Senior Deaconess In-soon Jang (Gwangju Manmin Church; Manager, Health Administration, Gwangju Metropolitan City Southern District)

In distress from family discord

Born in Young-gwang, Jeollanam-do as the eldest of a family of a boy and six girls, I had always been an exemplary student at school. During the second semester of my final year in high school, I wanted to be of help to my family and began working. The desires of my heart to support my parents and younger siblings by working and making money soon gave way to marriage.
My husband's expenses on drinking with his coworkers began to drain our finances and we soon found ourselves in a huge debt. From unbearable anguish, my family as a whole even attempted group suicide and I tried to forget the pains of life by drinking hard liquor late into the night.

Joining Gwangju Manmin Church, repenting of the past

At the urging of my sister Deaconess Eun-sook Jang, I joined and began attending Gwangju Manmin Church that had been founded in 1995. On the way home with fellow Gwangju Manmin members after attending the 15th Anniversary Service of Manmin Joong-ang Church in Seoul in October 1997, I learned that they had been praying for a new sanctuary.
Immediately I began participating in "The Daniel Prayer Meeting" and I received overflowing grace from the first day. I rent my heart in repentance every day as I realized that family discord had all started out with me. I sought God's forgiveness for having compared my husband to other people, having placed blame on him and not having been more caring to my children. Soon afterwards, my husband and mother-in-law began attending church with me and I began receiving blessings in unexpected areas of my life.

Walking in the path of righteousness, living by God's Word

I'd been a civil servant since 1983 and as I was in charge of licensing liquor stores and bars, threats and temptations of bribes from store owners always accompanied me. As I strove to walk in the path of righteousness according to the teachings of Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee and remained impartial in my work, store owners began to understand me without quarreling or holding any grudges against me.
In 2004, my husband and I brought my mother-in-law, who was unable to move about on her own at the time, to live with us. We helped her participate in worship services every Sunday and "The Daniel Prayer Meetings" every day. Before long, God did His work and my mother-in-law threw away her crutches, was able to move about comfortably, and received the blessing of good health.
As my husband took notice of things that transpired, he began striving to be of help to the church and the Senior Pastor and in January of this year, he was promoted to the position of "Chief of the District Office," the same district in which Gwangju Manmin was located. In gratitude of His grace, I am also carrying out a variety of my God-given duties and offering assistance to mission work by sowing whenever I can.

Family evangelization and unusual promotion

Prior to "The 2006 New York Crusade" held in July, I sowed my mission offerings and received the Senior Pastor's prayer. Because he said, "Be promoted!" after praying for me, my heart was a peace.
On July 1, 2006, as I was getting ready to leave work for the day, I realized I had been promoted to the managerial position at the Health Administration of Gwangju Metropolitan City Southern District. Because of the difficulty that came with this particular position, although charged with both administrative and health-related issues, all my predecessors had been male mainly because there were more male civil servants than there were female. There were a limited number of workers in charge of health-related issues and the fact that a woman was promoted to the position itself was unprecedented. It was a sensational promotion that became well-known throughout all of the five district offices in Gwangju Metropolitan City.
Today, 30 members of my extended family are leading faithful lives as workers of Our Lord at Manmin Joong-ang Church and other branch churches. I give all thanks and glory to God and would also like to express heartfelt gratitude to Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee for nurturing me spiritually with messages of life.