Reika in Japan

Like most people in Japan, Reika was a Buddhist. She and her very religious Buddhist husband quarreled about everything, she was constantly anxious and depressed, and she believed she was not worthy to continue living. She now understands that a powerful, spiritual darkness had been permeating her and her family.

One day Reika’s adult daughter invited Reika to accompany her to a church she had started attending. Even though Reika disliked religions in general and had no interest in Christianity, she agreed to go with her daughter to church.

That Sunday morning, she felt disinterested and did not want to go to church, but inexplicably her feelings changed. “I don’t know why I wanted to go,” she recalled, “but after that Sunday I continued to attend church, even though my heart was not always in it.”

At church Reika began to make new, revolutionary discoveries about Jesus. “Jesus knows every difficult thing in front of me, but He carries my burdens on His back,” she said. “I was so relieved. During that time, I learned the truth in Proverbs 3:6. The Lord will make the paths I walk straight. All I need to do is continue to walk forward. When I understood this, I was wrapped in great peace. I felt like God reached down and rescued me from the darkness, bringing me into the light. The relationship with my husband was restored, and peace came to my family.”

Soon after, Reika was baptized in water and now regularly teaches the kids in church. She also uses calligraphy to paint Scripture in a way that draws Japanese people to a saving knowledge of Jesus.