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By Mi Ran Tanner
Are there many ways to God? People are searching in vain for a relationship with God by trying one religion after another. I am thankful to God that I found the one true way.
I was born into a religious family and brought up to be a Buddhist. My mother and I would rise at 3:00 A.M. and go up the mountain with our sacrifice of rice cakes and pig meat. My father, the treasurer of the temple, gave a lot of money to the temple. Although we were faithful Buddhists, there was no peace, unity or love among us.
My father’s parents had been ancestor worshipers but my father did not want the responsibility, so he refused the family inheritance and left. He went to work in the city where he met and married my mother.
My parents had ten children, five boys and five girls. I am the youngest. One brother and one sister lost their lives in the Korean war. My oldest brother was traumatized by the war and he turned to alcohol. His drinking brought shame to our family and relationship problems. Unconsciously I hated him.
When I was in primary school, the fisherman’s children invited me to Sunday school. The stories I heard were so interesting. However, when I was in middle school, my mother told me I could no longer attend the church because my family would be cursed. I stopped going; I did not want to be responsible for bringing a curse on my family.
After completing high school, I went into nurses’ training. Upon graduating, I worked for a while as assistant to the professor and then went back another year to study district nursing.
One day I saw an advertisement in a newspaper offering opportunities for nursing in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The salary was excellent and I needed the money, so I applied for the position. I was among the 65 that were chosen.
When we arrived in Medina, we were taken from the plane to the hospital on a small bus that traveled for two hours along a narrow, rocky road used mostly by animals. This road skirted the city because they were not allowed to take foreigners through the holy city. The hospital compound consisted of huge buildings and a 700-bed hospital in the desert.
Instead of wearing our Korean uniforms we had to abide by the local dress code: long sleeves and baggy trousers. We were also not allowed to show our hair. When we went to the supermarket in the compound, we wore the traditional black covering. I was going through culture shock, but I didn’t know where to turn or on whom I could lean. My heart felt empty.
After work the first day, I was going to my room when I heard some singing. I immediately recognized the group was Christian. Those of us who were Buddhists decided to get together like the Christians. We didn’t have a temple, so we just shared food together.
About a year later, a co-worker, a non-Christian, invited me to go for a two-week holiday to England to visit her sister. I flew to Korea first, then to England.
My co-worker’s sister had been nursing in Germany where she met her American husband, a pastor. Together they were called to serve in England. She also came from a Buddhist family. As we talked, she asked, “What can Buddhism do for you? Nothing.” Then she explained the gospel to me and told me how to become a Christian. She said, “You just confess your sin and tell the Lord that you accept Him as your Savior and Lord. It is between you and Him.” It seemed very easy, but I wondered how I could do that because I didn’t think I was a sinner.
The sister then quoted Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” As she shared God’s Word with me, her eyes sparkled.
I thought to myself, “How can she say that Jesus is alive, when they are so poor and her daughter has cerebral palsy?” But I knew she had something wonderful and I was curious about it.
We next visited with a foreign christian lady and her five children. How that family cared for each other amazed me. They loved each other and were concerned for one another. (My family was always competing against each other.) I thought, “If I marry, I want to marry a Christian. I want to lead my life like that.” Somehow a warmness began in my heart and I could see that Christians were different.
When we returned to my co-worker’s sister she said she wanted to give me a gift. She took me to a Christian bookshop and bought me a little Bible. She said, “You can take it with you.”
I said, “No, I can’t take it. If I get caught with it, I’ll be in trouble.” She replied that the Lord had spoken to her and I must take it and hide it.
I thanked her for it and took it because it was a gift. I thought I could throw it away later. On the plane back to Saudi Arabia I said, “If there is a God, let this Bible get through customs.”
When we arrived at the airport the officials said, “We can’t check your baggage because the plane for Medina is just leaving. You have to run with your bag.” I just couldn’t believe it! I ran to catch my plane.
When I arrived back at the compound I told my roommate what had happened. She said, “Mi Ran, I feel I have to give you my Korean Bible. I think God is doing something in your life. What you are talking about is called a testimony.” Of course, I had no idea what she was talking about.
That evening my supervisor called to say I would be moving to another hospital the following day. My new assignment was co-ordinator of the Emergency Room of the new hospital. I didn’t want to go.
Regardless of how I felt, I had to move. Since I was promoted in position, I had a room to myself. I didn’t know what to do with the two Bibles. I wondered if I should throw them away, but I put them on my desk. I had been taught that if I touched a Bible I would be cursed. So I felt uneasy. However, I decided to have a look.
I began to read and to my surprise found the Ten Commandments. I had seen the video by that name, but I had no idea it was from the Bible. Then I found that Samson was in the Bible, too. I was fascinated. I thought a book such as this one must be very important.
I decided I would ask God about all that was happening. Being a good Buddhist I had a shower first. I knelt down and said, “God, I said I would know You were alive if I got through the airport with the Bible. You did that. I want to know how to go about it from now on.”
The Christian lady in England told me to confess my sins. She said I had sinned against God, but I couldn’t think of anything to confess. For about an hour I tried to think what sins I had committed. Then the Lord reminded me that I hated my brother. I also said I would never marry for fear the man would be like my brother. It hit me hard that I had never forgiven him for the way he treated his wife, our parents and us siblings.
I said, “Lord, I’m really a bad girl. I have held this sin of unforgiveness against my brother for many years.” Then one by one the Lord brought more sins to mind. I cried and cried and said, “I don’t deserve it, but the woman said You would come into my life.” I talked and cried for so long, I fell asleep on the floor.
When I woke up I saw the back of a man wearing a white garment sitting in my room. It looked like he was praying. I thought I must be dreaming. I trembled thinking it was Jesus, God’s Son. I felt God’s presence and I knew He was alive. I wanted to belong to Him.
I remembered the woman saying that Jesus died for my sins. Shedding His blood didn’t make sense to me, but I didn’t question it. Maybe my sins would be taken away. I had read in the book of Isaiah that sins though red like crimson would be made white as wool (Isa.1:18).
It was about 4:00 A.M. when I went outside. I stood near the swimming pool and looked up at the sky. I said, “God, the lady said it is between You and me. Jesus died for me, so my sins are all gone.”
I wanted to be baptized, but there was no pastor or witness there. I knew about water baptism from my Sunday school days and from the Christian lady that preached to me. I said, “God, I want baptism. You be my witness.” So I went into the water myself. When I came out, I said, “That’s it. Now I follow You.”
I went inside and prayed, “You have to teach me the Bible and what the Christian life is. I want You to lead me. I give you my life and my money to use however you want. I will follow Your way. My life is totally open to you.”
I continued to read the Bible. In time I was a totally changed person. I had been very hot tempered and tough. (I worked with many different nationalities in the Emergency Room.) Now I was very calm and often cried. People wondered why. I wrote to my father that I had become a Christian. He said it was a sect like the Moonies and he didn’t want me to get hooked into such.
When my work contract expired after three years, I went to England to go to Bible College. My spiritual mentor in England challenged me that there are many places in the world that need trained nurses. I didn’t know where the Lord wanted me to go, but I was open to His leading.
In Bible College I had a desire to serve in Africa because it is the place most in need of medical work. At the College I met a fellow student, Brian Tanner, from Ireland. We married the second year and then studied another year together. The Lord has blessed our marriage with two fine sons, Benjamin and Paul. They are happy children and are a joy to us.
In 1992 we left for The Gambia, West Africa, to help out in the medical work. After several years the Lord gave us a vision to do literacy work. We are now engaged in that outreach. It is a great privilege to teach others to read so we can put the living Word of God into their hands.
When I became a Christian, God totally changed my life. Later, He changed the lives of nearly all of my family as they accepted Him. Our love now is genuine and we stick together. Only Jesus living in our hearts can do that. We have found the words of Jesus to be true when He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6).
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