“If you don’t seek Him first, you are not seeking Him at all,” Vinny Hu of Hoboken, New Jersey, told the audience at the 2024 Generous Giving Conference. While Vinny and his wife Soomin had very different backgrounds, their love of the Lord and trust in His provision is a bond that continues to grow.
Soomin and Vinny Hu / Video screenshot
“I was born in South Korea and lived with my parents and my younger brother,” said Soomin. “When I was 14, we immigrated to the United States. A year later, my dad died in an accident involving a hit and run driver. He died on the scene.”
Soomin still fights back tears recalling the night she received the devastating phone call. “I remember clearly asking God that night, ‘How am I supposed to live without my dad?’” She felt like God answered her, “I am going to be your earthly Dad and heavenly Dad.”
At 15 years old, Soomin took care of the funeral arrangements and police reports. Her family was still learning the language and culture, and did not have life insurance. Soomins’s mother spiraled into a deep depression until she was not able to care for Soomin and her brother.
“I became the sole breadwinner. I was able to get a job at minimum wage as an office assistant. We lived on what I could make,” said Soomin. “But, during that time I was still tithing out of habit since I had nothing else to hold onto, except God. If there was no money, I knew it would be God that would take care of me. If there was money, I knew that God would still take care of me.”
Soomin continued to work as many hours as she could while going to school and looking at colleges. “Thanks to God, I got a perfect score on my SAT,” said Soomin. “I was given a full scholarship to New York University.”
Access to MinistryWatch content is free. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.
During her freshman year she received an email from a company she had never heard of offering her an internship she hadn’t applied for which paid her double what she was making. The email was from the multinational investment banking and financial services, Goldman Sachs. After she graduated, she was offered a job with the Fortune 500 company.
During training in New York she met Vinny, who worked for Goldman Sachs in their London office and was in New York for the same training.
Vinny was born and raised in Taiwan until he was eight. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mom, who married an Englishman, to Canterbury, England.
“Although I grew up in church, I was really living a dual lifestyle,” said Vinny. “I wasn’t really a Christian until a few months after I graduated.”
There were several times Vinny felt led to let go of possessions or relationships. Each time, the Lord showed him the value of putting Him first.
“I found security in the only one who could provide it,” said Vinny. “God showed me that when He calls us to something, it’s not because He wants something from us, it’s because He wants something for us.”
Eventually, the two got married. “We decided to give half of our annual bonus away in addition to our tithe,” said Soomin.
On their 10th anniversary, they spent a day working with spreadsheets to create a plan to provide for their parents, college for their two daughters, and have enough to live on. This enabled them to evaluate annually how they were doing on their calculated projections.
They were living in a small two-bedroom apartment and began to save in order to upgrade their home. When COVID shut down the country, day-to-day living became more difficult.
“To be honest, it was tough,” said Vinny. “On several occasions I would have to take Zoom calls in the bathroom because every room in the house was already being used for Zoom meetings and calls. We tried to make the best of the situation, but I was ready to get into a bigger space.”
But then their church, Hoboken Grace in Hoboken, New Jersey, began looking for a new permanent building. The couple had watched the congregation grow from 150 to over a thousand.
“We had saved about $500,000,” said Soomin. “It became clear to us that God was asking us to invest in his home and not ours.” They gave the entire amount to the church.
“It was a massive step outside our comfort zone for us,” said Soomin. “We were excited to see God at work.”
It meant they had to stay in their two-bedroom apartment, so they rearranged their space to make it as efficient as possible. Then, out of the blue, they received a phone call from a realtor, who offered them a double apartment in the same building for much less than market value.
“I think God has used money to demonstrate to me that He is God and I am not,” said Vinny. “There is no mountain that stands as tall as His faithfulness. There is no river that runs as wide as His goodness.”
Main photo:
TO OUR READERS: Do you have a story idea, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? Please email us: info@ministrywatch.com