I got to celebrate my birthday and thanksgiving on the same day, while in Cambodia! Wow what a crazy cool life and a crazy cool God who knows exactly what makes my heart smile and has surrounded me with a team who loves me so stinking well.
Thursday morning I woke up way too early and could not go back to bed but I think it was the Lord’s way of ensuring that I had a front row seat to the beautiful and unique sunrise that he had crafted for me that morning! Then my sweet teammate Grace and I hopped on our bikes to get my favorite chai latte at Kinyei. When we got home, my team handed me my first clue- “The place where we sing under the stars” I walked up to the roof to find a picnic breakfast set up with pillows(Cambodian fried dough) and bananas and tons of bright yellow flowers! It was all so sweet, then they handed me the next clue- “Des Moines” and of course Des Moines= Iowa and Iowa= the movie theatre man who by now knows us as regulars. We watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 just for me! I had been seriously missing my Harry Potter marathons with my brother! The next clue- “Zumba, corn, and old people” The park across the street! They surprised me with another picnic which was something I had been wanting to do for so long! We had tofu with mushroom stuffing and street corn some of my favorite foods and some of my teams least favorite foods, but sacrificial love my dude!
As we were sitting there enjoying our lunch and some good music there was this man exercising in the park and he kept coming over to us and just kind of hanging around so Moriah said if he comes over to us again we should ask him if he knows Jesus! And sure enough he came back again and we started asking him about what he believed and he sat down and just talked and listened! We told him about prayer and about the God that listens and answers us and then Grace remembered that she had an app on her phone that translates the good news into whatever language you need and he sat there and read in Khmer as we all sat and silently prayed that he was understanding it. He looked up and asked if he could get it on his phone so we downloaded the app as well as a Khmer Bible onto his phone. We asked him if he wanted to know more and he said yes, so we asked him to come to church with us on Sunday and put the address into his phone! He was so nice and so happy and asked us to friend him on Facebook and then wanted to take a selfie with us. You could just tell he was so interested and so hungry to know more. We asked if we could pray over him before we left and he said yes and we all walked away praying that the seed that God allowed us to plant in him would be continually watered even if we aren’t the ones who get to reap the harvest. The crazy part was that he said he never works out at that time of day but for some reason just changed up his schedule, and we never go to the park! God is such a careful and intentional planner in all He does and the intricacy of it all doesn’t cease to amaze me! There was no better way for my Father to remind me that He is constantly using us to bring His kingdom even when we don’t know it, than to use my birthday to make this encounter possible. He so good to me!
Later that night all 45 of us gathered around the longest thanksgiving table I have ever witnessed and it was such a special time to sit with so many brothers and sisters and just feast together in gratitude, thankful for the fact that we all have a seat at this table and at His table. We ended the night with worship, praising the God of the hills and valleys, the God whose plans are to prosper us and never to harm us because He is the God that loves us beyond words. And man am I thankful that I get to know this God who is good even when circumstances are not.
