I am in Cambodia. I still think it is crazy that I was in Thailand just 3 days ago, and now I am walking the busy, muddy streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Our September teams and the June teams are all staying at the YWAM base in Phnom Penh for a few days of Cambodia orientation. My team will be ministering for the month in a small, rural village an hour outside of Battambang, but even these few days in the capitol city have already been eye opening.
The biggest difference I have seen here in Cambodia so far is the massive amounts of begging going on all the time. Children that can’t be older than four or five follow me around asking for money, men and women who are missing legs from land mine accidents are standing on every corner begging, and whole families sit and wait for money as I walk by. The people of Cambodia are still trying to recover from thirty years of bondage and war. I want to give the children more than just a little money. Money will not last. I want to show them “not to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy”. But how do I truly show the light of Christ in a passing glance or a friendly smile and “hello” (which all the Cambodians love to say to us foreigners)? That doesn’t seem like enough. How will they know it is Christ shining through me and not just a foreigner looking for a cute picture? I have a feeling this sense of ‘what can I really do to make a difference’ will be a constant battle I face throughout the entire year. I hate that I cannot run up to each child and look into their beautiful brown eyes and tell them “Jesus Loves You more than anything else in the world!” and know that they truly understand the depth of those words.
But I do know…
“this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
I John 5:14-15
Thank you Father that I put my faith in you who is faithful to hear my prayers. Not only can I have confidence that you hear my prayers, but that you also answer the prayers I lift up to you. So I pray right now for the souls of the precious children I have met these past few days. I pray for little Ling and Yu and the beautiful little girl that always runs down the alley way to greet me every time I leave the house. May my smiles and time with these children show them your deep love. Bring people into their lives that know you, and let them also come to know you as Father and Savior. Thank you for always hearing my prayers and knowing the depths of my heart. Amen.
