[1]The first time God caught Peace Joo’s attention, she was in high school at a summer youth retreat in Texas. While rafting down a river, her raft overturned. The current was too strong. She felt herself being pulled under. But her youth pastor’s hand reached out and pulled her to safety.
Once back on dry land, she realized that in that moment she wasn’t just drowning in the rapids. She was also drowning in her sin. And she didn’t want to be.
“I felt it was God who reached out to me that day,” Joo said. “I repented, and I was saved. That’s when I met Jesus Christ for the first time.”
Joo moved to the U.S. from Korea as a child, with her family. Though Buddhist, her parents encouraged her to get involved in a Christian church. There, she could make friends and have a community, they said.
After college, Joo dove headfirst into a career in hotel management. She loved the freedom and experience her career gave her, managing five-star hotels and opening new ones across the U.S.
She admits that, as her career took off, “I was more focused on building my kingdom.”
Her perspective shifted in September 2001. She was scheduled to open a Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the heart of New York City, right in front of the Twin Towers. She changed her plans to take a short, unplanned vacation and go home to Houston, Texas, first. That was at the beginning of September.
While home, she and her family were glued to their TV screens as they watched the devastation of September 11, 2001, unfold barely a block from where Joo was scheduled to be working.
“The tragedy of 9/11 opened my eyes to clearly see the lost souls that needed to hear the Gospel. Things in the world were just vain and insecure,” she said. “God opened my eyes to His plans for me, which was not to build my own kingdom, but to build His Kingdom in the name of Jesus Christ. At that time, I realized His authority in my life, and I acknowledged His complete control over me.”
After this, she knew that chasing money and importance 
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