Last week, Vuthy (our ministry host) asked if anyone would like to preach, and if anyone would like to say their testimony. We hadn’t attended Vuthy’s church before, but I felt confident enough to share my testimony so I volunteered. One of my teammates was picked to preach and that was that. Everything was going according to plan. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday all went by until Saturday dawned into a new morning. Since it was our off day, my team went into the big city to see the sites and have internet for the week. I knew I needed to plan my testimony for the next morning, but I figured I would say my testimony depending on what my teammate would preach. In his letters, Paul says his testimony three times, each a little bit different depending on who he was talking to and what he wanted to say. I thought, “I’ll just say my testimony like Paul. I’ll shape it around the message and wrap it up in a little bow, nice and perfect.”
Then, things didn’t go according to plan. My teammate had forgotten about her sermon until Saturday night. Overwhelmed, she begged and pleaded for someone else to take the sermon tomorrow. She just wasn’t ready to preach yet. My team leader told her that she didn’t have to preach tomorrow, but then she had to find someone else. As I observed this moment, the Lord placed the desire on my heart to take her place, so I volunteered.
I stayed up late writing my testimony and woke up early to write the sermon. In between I had some restless sleep in which I heard strange noises and wondered if something was in our room. I had to take our stray dog Jackie Chan out of our room three times because he kept wandering in. I was exhausted, it was now an hour before I had to be ready, and I still had no sermon. I prayed and asked God for just a direction, just an idea and maybe I can make something work.
Then my teammate Sara walked through the room. When I told her that I still didn’t know what to preach, she offered to sit down and help me out. (She also happened to mention that God told her to pray for me in the middle of the night when I was trying to sleep, and she did. Sara didn’t know that I was fighting some spiritual warfare to find rest, she just obeyed God. Thank you Sara <3) After reading my testimony, Sara suggested that I talk about the prodigal son and compare him to my story. I had never compared myself the the prodigal son. Personally, I thought I was more like the older brother, but it was a good idea so I ran with it.
As I wrote, I realized that we all have moments of being like the prodigal son and his entitled brother. Sometimes we take all the blessings God gave us and waste them on unimportant things. Sometimes we get mad because we don’t get the same blessings as someone else. I believe that everyone has their turn being both brothers, but only rooted in God can be like the father. Therefore, we should all strive to love each other like the father in the parable and like our heavenly father. We should be bold and stand out in crazy Jesus love.
I can’t take any credit for this sermon. God pushed me into this role, Sara gave me the entire sermon, Corbyn (my team leader) told me to combine my testimony with the sermon (instead of preaching them separately), my man So Phea translated everything into Khmer on the fly, and God dragged every word together (title reference anyone?). It was an honor to speak, but all the honor belongs to God. Ministry isn’t one big decision- its a life of little decisions day by day. I have to choose to pour into my class, the community, my teammates, and anyone else God sends my way. Or I have to choose to go out of my way to see those people. In the end its just a bunch of choices and I chose to obey God’s call this week in a public way. My favorite moments of service are the little ones, the moments that don’t make it into a blog. Those are the moments that bring the kingdom to earth, and I pray that each of you make the best little choices.
There is a video of me preaching, but I don’t have it right now so my voice memo have to do. I’ll let you know when it gets posted. Also, thank you to everyone who has continued to financially support this trip. I still have some money to raise by the end of 2018, so if you feel led please feel free to donate. Finally, thank you to everyone who has been praying and pouring into me over these last few months. I know you have been interceding for me to the Lord in a powerful way and He has not let you down. One blog a week cannot convey what He is doing here for His kingdom and in me. Keep up the good work, I love you all <3
~CLS
