‘A humble servant to the disabled’: how a top athlete built a new life out of tragedy
Then, less than three weeks before the Asian Games, she was attempting a difficult routine on the uneven bars when everything went out of control. She flew through the air, bounced off a bar or two and landed upside down on the floor. Paralysed Shaking her head to clear it she found she could not move her arms or legs. She had broken her neck and was paralysed. While she lay helpless and hopeless in the Intensive Care Unit, her aunt left her a note with a verse from the Bible : “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2).
“I felt peace flood my soul,” she says. “For the first
time in my life, I sensed that there was a God who cared for me and
wanted to heal me. Then, after that moment, I accepted Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Saviour.”
Her father had other ideas, however. His side of the family were Buddhists
and he hated Christianity, decrying it as a myth. So Young had always
had struggles to go to church and once he tore her Bible up in front
of her.
“But whenever I felt tempted to give up my faith, God whispered
to me through the Word in Isaiah 43:1, “But now, thus says the
Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, “‘Do
not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name; you are
mine’.”
Before things improved, however, they got worse. Her boyfriend left
her and her response was an attempt at suicide with an overdose of drugs.
Then her father suddenly died of a heart attack, leaving her feeling
guilty because it seemed as though he had died instead of her
Without Jesus
“At the same time I was angry with God. I had been able to endure
those times of hardship from my father because I was borne up by the
expectation that God would save him, too. But suddenly he had gone –
without Jesus, as far as I knew: it seemed as though God enjoyed taking
special things away from me.”
Looking back, she feels he was clearing the way for her to get closer
to him.
“Through those difficult times,” she says, “I found
the way to God. There were times when I didn’t understand why he
made me quadriplegic. At first, I believed he would heal my body, but
he didn’t; he healed me in a totally different way. When I found
his purpose for my disability, it became no longer a disability, but
the gift of understanding those who are in the same situation.”
For three years she organised ski camps for disabled Koreans, and
now one of her aims is to provide wheelchairs for disabled people who
cannot afford them – and thus are “prisoners in their own
homes” – and encourage them to go to church.
Obstacles
At the moment she is in the United States, studying Biblical Counselling
at Master’s College, in Los Angeles. The many practical obstacles
to getting there included raising finances (neither the government nor
any sports association granted her financial assistance), finding a
caregiver, and a van for her and her wheelchair – essential in
Los Angeles. Gradually, God has met all these needs.
But there were other obstacles, too.
“I thought that because I was 32,” she says, “it was
too late for me to come to college. It was also difficult because I
don’t have a proper educational background. When I was doing gymnastics,
I missed more than half of the school hours because we were forced to
practise. I became disabled in the first year of high school and then
stayed in hospital for two and a half years. When I came here, I didn’t
even know how to write a research paper, or a book report.”
She says she knew it wouldn’t be easy and that there would be
times when she would want to give up and so, to a degree, she was prepared.
“Just as when I was an athlete there were goals I refused to
give up on, I trust God and persevere until it is accomplished.”
A friend in the US put her in touch with Joni Eareckson, whose story
So Young had read in hospital after her accident.
My story
“Reading her book was almost like reading my story,” she
says. “I had the same struggles, and the same questions about God
as she did. The Joni and Friends ministry also granted me a scholarship,
which was a great help. I also received a scholarship from the school
and some support from friends in Korea. The school even provided a van,
which God provided miraculously several days before I came. When I actually
got here, I was so thankful. I thought I was dreaming. I couldn’t
believe it until I landed.”
Even now, of course, ‘ordinary routines’ take her a lot
of time and effort, from getting ready in the morning, to typing, writing,
and reading – because English is her second language.
Privileges
Her teachers, though, have been very understanding and there have
been “more privileges and blessings than I could have imagined.
God made me wait so long, and I didn’t understand, but he provided
everything through his people.”
At the moment, beyond being “a humble servant to the disabled,”
she is not sure what her future ministry will be. She is continuing
to pray that God will open a door for her into North Korea.
“The people are physically and spiritually imprisoned, confined
in their land without hope or freedom, but the opportunities for ministry
there are limited. |
