This month in Cambodia so far has been awesome and I have loved getting the opportunity to live and serve here for a month. It has been a month of new beginnings with team changes at the beginning of this month. It has been a month of building relationships with our hosts and the kids we are teaching. And it has been a month of exploration with our team going out and doing different things all over Battambang and the villages surrounding it.
However, I keep finding myself worried or upset with myself that what I am doing isn’t ministry although I know it is. I am not uncomfortable where my team is placed this month. Cambodia doesn’t feel extraordinarily foreign or scary like other countries can feel. I almost feel guilty for how much I enjoy our ministry and being in Cambodia. But I think most of all it might be that our ministry this month is not evangelism.
In other countries we did evangelism everyday. I suppose this felt more like ministry to me because I was constantly getting out of my comfort zone and constantly telling people about Jesus. Here in Cambodia we are volunteering, doing manual labor around Battambang, teaching kids English, and telling them about Jesus. That is ministry. That is absolutely ministry, and I can’t figure out why I keep having to shake the feeling that we are not doing ministry. Maybe I am just more comfortable with ministry now. Maybe in some way I am forgetting what ministry is.
Our squad verse is 1 Corinthians 10:31 which says, ” So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I think I need to relearn that verse. Just because I sometimes am unsure of whether what I am doing is making an impact on others does not mean that I should not do it. I should do it and continue to do it with all that I can so that the Lord can be glorified. Or just because I can’t see how the Lord is directly glorified through what I am doing doesn’t mean I should stop working for His glorification. The work my team and I are doing in Cambodia is glorifying the Lord. I can see it as we work with the children in school everyday and how we can encourage and guide them to Christ. I can see it as we do manual labor on the side of the road and people will stop on their motorcycles and thank us and ask us why we are doing what we are doing.
The Lord can be glorified in so many ways and I think sometimes, at least for me, it is hard to see Him being glorified if it is not the front lines of going out and boldly sharing the gospel. So much good and glorification comes out of simple tasks and tasks that may seem to be “behind the scenes.” Which is ironic because I prefer to work on the tasks that seem behind the scenes.
I think this may be why so many people today get tired and bored with their lives. They don’t think that what they are doing holds any value. Often it may not but it could if they acted as if every task the Lord had given them to do throughout their day could be used for His glory. Often the tasks that I do throughout my day end up filed under “the norm.” But I believe that if I constantly kept God’s glorification in my mind and worked to make everything that He gave me to do glorify Him then few tasks would be meaningless.
Even when it doesn’t feel like ministry or when I feel guilty because I am having a good time doing ministry, it is still ministry. It brings the Lord glory and helps our hosts who we came to serve and work alongside. No matter the task you can work through it to bring God glory.
Please continue to pray for my team and I as we continue in our ministry in Cambodia. Also, continue to pray for the people of The Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nepal, and India. Thank you so much for all your love and support!
Glory to God!
