I have a quick story I want to share about listening and being able to do God’s work anywhere and the impact something so small can have.
My team decided to go out for breakfast in Siam Reap one morning, however most of us had stayed up doing a night watch prayer almost the entire night. Sleep was in short supply anyways over the last few days and that morning was a bit rough for most everyone at the table. We decided however to make a go at it and do some team time. Of course as always we are bombarded by children trying to sell us everything under the sun and feeding us sad stories that have been programmed into them. One little girl – maybe 9 years old, but operating with an unnatural confidence and forced maturity from years of selling things on the street performed her selling duties like a 20 year old. After a couple minutes of persistency my leader Carin who has quite a passionate heart asked the girl if she would join us for breakfast. She agreed and invited her friend as well. We were able to talk to her a bit about her family and understand a bit more of why she was out there. I looked over at her after awhile just to observe how she was taking all of this in. She had stopped engaging in conversation but was looking over my shoulder at a TV behind me while tearing apart toast to eat and sipping orange juice through a straw. She just sat there giggling and enjoying a break from the norm. It hit me – here is a child who has had her childhood ruthlessly stolen away to make a few dollars a day for hopefully her family but maybe worse a manipulative person using her. But here she was, getting at least, if only, an hour of her childhood back to sit and eat breakfast and watch some TV like a normal child. For three dollars we were able to bless her with this gift, I can’t think of a better use of that money. We prayed over her and asked the Lord for blessings of provision for her and let her carry on.
I feel like ministry is often fit into the box of creating big plans, spending a lot of money on flashy props and such to stage a big event. This isn’t wrong, but certainly isn’t the way Jesus went about his ministry, and not the way it has to be done. If we learn to meet people where they are, use what you have in front of you, and listen to what the Lord has to say in each situation we can fulfill our calling without often knowing what we are doing. We can give a child back an hour of their childhood, we can show a prostitute the next step on the path out, we can call someone into the fullness of who they are – all without breaking the bank or getting into a church setting.
