I was born as the third daughter at a Buddhist Zen temple in 1934. My father trained at Eiheiji Temple, the headquarters of the Sotoshu a sect of Zen. He always instructed his children to strive after virtue and be an example to others.<\/p>\n
My father taught me that a temple is a place of comfort for village people, but temple people have no home, so I played in nature until dark and the moon on the lake chased after me as if to say, \u201ccome home.\u201d<\/p>\n
With this strict upbringing, I became a model child, wearing thick moral armour.<\/p>\n
I worked in social services where my success on the frontier of innovation made me feel good every day.<\/p>\n
Then, the deepest sadness of my life happened: my only son passed away in 1983.<\/p>\n
This is when the Lord came near to me for the first time.<\/p>\n
However, I wouldn\u2019t change my selfish attitude. I worked hard not to show weakness.<\/p>\n
For the second time, the Lord came near to me in 1989. On a sweltering hot summer night after I battled with my boss, I drove away angrily in my car. I stopped in front of a church at midnight. I was furious enough to demand to see to the pastor.<\/p>\n
At 2 am, suddenly I heard a crack of thunder and was silenced with terror. The pastor talked with me gently. \u201cAre you okay? May I read the Bible?\u201d<\/p>\n
Amazingly, the Bible talked about advocating my righteousness. It was Romans 12:10\u201320, and 13:1\u201313.<\/p>\n
I understood that the Lord came near to me again.<\/p>\n
I went home in a fresh, good feeling, watching sunrise in the east. Because this morning was Sunday, I went to church. On Monday, at my job, everything had changed.<\/p>\n
Three months later, in 1990, I was baptized on Easter.<\/p>\n
Two months after my baptism, the Lord came near a third time. While I was praying at a 5 a.m. prayer meeting, I felt as if somebody touched my shoulder. I turned backward to notice a poster. \u201cThe harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest field\u201d (Luke 10:2).<\/p>\n
When I asked what it meant, the pastor answered that the Lord expected my service. In spite of my experience, I questioned whether I could do it. Then, the pastor asked if I could quit my job and I answered that I would resign my job with confidence.<\/p>\n
Three years later, I retired, entered the Evangelical Biblical Seminary of the Japan Mennonite Brethren Conference, and started my full-time ministry.<\/p>\n
I had not noticed the Lord\u2019s calling with his presence, but he prepared a new way for me 10 years after my son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Again, the Lord came close to me when I had a life threatening disease, fulminant hepatitis. After my doctor sentenced me with three-days to live, I had a vision that the Lord removed the coagulated blood of my damaged liver.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s love and mercy overwhelmed me, and he saved my life. I realized that many sins remained such as arrogance, selfish and hypocrisy.<\/p>\n
Practically speaking, it took five year to be cured. Yet through this suffering, I watched the image of God and heard God\u2019s voice which strengthened my faith.<\/p>\n
How beautiful God\u2019s treatment is! Maybe it was impossible for me to have certain faith without suffering.<\/p>\n
At the end, I remember the call to \u201ccome home.\u201d<\/p>\n
My family is beginning to draw near to God. When my elder brother (who is a monk at a Buddhist temple) had a surgery in a Christian hospital, I talked to him about Jesus caring him. My niece became a Christian, and my father and other brother also had faith in the church.<\/p>\n
My dream is to open my house to welcome guests like the temple of my childhood. (Psalm 133).<\/p>\n