Today I am again on a bus from Phenom Penh to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I am super excited because this bus provides internet which allowed me to video call with one of my best friends at home! Devyn Horsely thank you for being up at 2 am to talk to me, seeing your face brought me so much joy! 🙂
I had shared that my team would be "Asking The Lord" this month and working to find new ministries and contacts for AIM to partner with and send future teams to, in hopes of furthering the gospel and expanding the kingdom. So this month there are two components for my team, Ask The Lord and Unsung Hero.
Sometimes you meet contacts who just simply blow your mind, as almost every contact strongly encourages and challenges you as you listen to their heart, dreams and visions God has given them. But sometimes, sometimes there are those contacts that give you goosebumps as they pour out their heart and life story. You sit in pure astonishment and yet are brutally convicted about your own life. Those contacts are like Toni and Chanla Roeung, a brother and sister dynamic duo, who I had the privilege of meeting last week.
Last sunday a few of us met up to venture out to a nearby village to meet Toni and Chanla for an interview. We rode in the back of a tuk – tuk driven by a local pastor, caught a ferry across the river, and made our way down a little dirt rode. With the city of phenom penh still in eyesight behind us, just a rock, skip and throw away, I felt like I was miles and miles away from anything I had ever experienced before. It supposedly is cooler in the village then the city, but the sweat that ran down ever inch of my body would beg to differ. We bounced our way in the back of the tuk tuk down a dusty, yet muddy road to this small little village church. With much excitement we were given a tour of the church and told about the different ministries that take place there throughout the week. As we made our way around to the back of the building there stood before us the most welcoming family I think I have ever encountered. Their smiles were inviting and their eyes pierced into my heart, allowing me to feel a love from complete strangers I have never felt or experienced before. The love felt can only simply be explained as the outpouring of the Heavenly fathers love in their lives.
We were quickly ushered in to see this huge, beautiful home that was being finished. With much joy and excitement, with complete humbleness, yet with such great pride we were given a tour of the new home of Toni and Chanla's older brother. Him and his wife are about to give birth to a little baby any day now, and they have been building a home for them to live in. This home will not only serve as their home, but they have built it with the hopes, plans and purposes of missionaries coming to work alongside of them. They felt God leading them to build a home that could house mission teams, families or individuals who would answer the call to missions and serve alongside them in the village. They have trusted God as he led them to build this home much bigger then needed, and they are trusting God that he will lead teams to them. And then I realized, us meeting with them, could be the answer to their prayer, and could possibly be why God led them to build such a house. So that future world race teams could make their way out to this village and minister alongside of Toni and Chanla, having a place to stay.
It began to rain, and we still had another place to visit. We climbed in the back of our tuk tuk and waved goodbye to Chanla, who was standing behind us soaking wet from the down pour of rain, with a huge smile on his face. He was going to finish his afternoon playing soccer with the local teenagers, as promised to happen, rain or shine after church on Sunday.
As I interviewed Toni, I listened to what appears to be a fearless, beautiful daughter of the most high king, who finds her confidence not in what she is, but in whose she is. As we were talking about all sorts of things, from how she trusted Christ, to how she is a teacher, to her hearts dreams and the details of potential future world race teams coming to work alongside her and Chanla, she made a comment that frazzled me at the core of my being. She shared with me how she has no money, how she has no source of income. As a teacher, when she gives her students a break, they run out to buy snacks, yet she has no money to get herself a snack. She shared with me how many people try to tell her that she should do something different with her life, that if she moved to the city she could make so much more money, and that she is simply stupid for not pursuing enough money to live. She told me that she shares with those people that she could not do that. Jesus has given her so much that she wants to give everything that she has to see that others know him. And that Jesus is the King of all kings, and that He, the God she serves is a rich man, and that He will take care of her every need.
This has bothered me since I have heard her make that statement,
Do I live my life with such great faith and trust in Jesus? Knowing that He will truly take care of my needs. Trusting that He is a rich man and if I am simply faithful to what he has called me to,
he will meet and provide for my every need.
And do I have enough faith and gumption to tell others who try to convince me otherwise,
that though I have nothing, The God I serve is the King of all Kings and Jesus is a rich man and will provide for my every need?
"And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19
