Paralysis drew musician to God

Courtesy of ASSIST www.assistnews.net

AUCKLAND, NZ (ANS) -- Accomplished electric violinist Hanna Lee, of Auckland, is heading for an illustrious international career.

MUSICAL GIFT: Hanna Lee of Auckland performing solo with her electric violin, has a testimony that has moved many.

However, five years ago, it seemed her career was in tatters after her left hand became mysteriously paralysed.

Miss Lee, now 24, emigrated to New Zealand with her family from Korea in 1994. The whole family was musical so it was natural for Hanna to pursue a career in music, majoring in classical violin at the University of Auckland.

Just a few days before her recital for her performance papers at the end of her second-year, Miss Lee was practising with her accompanist when suddenly her left hand became paralysed.

“I was very shocked,” she said. “It was very painful.”

Miss Lee, who describes herself as a “churchgoer” at the time, visited an acupuncturist and thought the pain would go away.

“But it didn’t. So I got all sorts of treatments, even an injection from a nerve specialist. But nothing cured my hand. The pain always returned.”

Miss Lee could no longer play her violin so she pursued other studies. But she didn’t give up her hope of making it in the music world.

“I am a fifth generation Christian but I really hadn’t met God,” she said. “People told me I should pray for healing.”

So Miss Lee started attending the Auckland Methodist Church Korean congregation prayer meetings at 5.30am each day in Takapuna.

“I went every day for two years,” she said. “I knew I had to have 100 per cent faith in God so he would heal my hand.”

Then the church had a three-night rally in which a Korean pastor with a gift for healing spoke.

“She said people’s pain would be healed if they had faith in God. I thought ‘yes, my hand will be healed’. Then I felt something like electricity in my arm and the pain disappeared.

“I tested it by lifting a Bible, which would normally have hurt, and it wasn’t painful.”

Since that day, the pain has gone, returning only a little in wet weather. This does not affect her performance.

During her time away from serious music study Miss Lee took up an unusual instrument, the electric violin, and became one of the few proficient players of the instrument in New Zealand.

“I was playing in bands at the time and I liked the opportunity to improvise, something you don’t do with classical music,” she said. “I thought God would one day use my musical talent so I persisted.”

The experience of nearly losing her career taught Miss Lee a powerful lesson.

“I didn’t have a strong faith in God because everything in my life had gone well up to then,” she said. “God used that experience to teach me that he wanted me to use my musical gift for him and not for myself.”

Miss Lee moved back to Korea last year to give solo performances in churches and universities, finishing each performance with the testimony of her healing.

“The young people come because they have never seen anyone play an electric violin,” she said. “They say ‘Wow!’ Then I give my testimony and people are very moved by it.”

The faith of the many people who prayed for Miss Lee’s healing has been strengthened and God is now being glorified through her music.

In 1995 she wrote and directed a musical based on her life and her healing. It was performed before an audience of 600 in Auckland.

“It was my story and only I could write it,” she said.