How God Saved My Father
My father had worked in Japan for seven years and was fluent in Japanese. He disapproved of my mother attending church and persecuted her for it. One Sunday evening, after she returned from church, he threw a small piece of wood at her while drunk. Though it did not hit her, my mother was deeply hurt in her heart. That night, feeling overwhelmed by the hardships of life, she prayed, asking God to take her life. At that moment, my father heard a voice speaking fluent Japanese through my mother’s mouth three times: “Because you persecute Me and your wife, I will take your life.” Along with this voice, my father felt as if he were experiencing an earthquake like those he had witnessed in Japan, and he could not stand. He crawled to the room where my mother was praying, and in repentance, he confessed, “I will attend early morning prayers with my wife, give up the drinking and smoking I love, and live a life of faith alongside her. Please forgive me and do not take my life.”
Then, once again through my mother’s mouth in Japanese, he heard, “I am pleased with your confession of repentance. As a sign of forgiveness, I will let you hear the hymn sung by angels after the flood of Noah.” My father, knowing well that my mother did not know a single word of Japanese, could not doubt what was happening. The hymn that came through her mouth was indescribably beautiful, unlike anything he had ever heard before.