Our day started this morning sitting in a circle as a team, asking the Lord what He had for us today and listening for some guidance.
The outcome?
Fragments that didn’t make much sense as to how they might piece together. A big tree. Art. A picture of following a trail of “breadcrumbs” that led to a gate. Children. KTVs. Peace and freedom.
We decided to paint and listen to worship music by a big tree in the middle of town, knowing that people hang out by it and hopeful that we may be able to strike up a conversation or two. We set out to buy art supplies and snacks to potentially pass out.
Once we arrived at the tree, a few of us decided to go on a prayer walk. We began walking down a path covered in flowers that fell off the trees. We began picking some up as we walked, thinking we could maybe pass some out or put them to some other use. At the intersection we decided to keep going straight. A few more minutes down the road, two little girls sat in an empty store. We crossed the street and offered them each a packet of Oreos and a juice box. They accepted with a smile. As my teammate extended her arm to give the smaller of the two girls one of the flowers, we realized that the pattern of the girl’s dress was a sea of flowers identical to the one being offered to her.
Confirmation.
We said goodbye and continued down the road, still stopping every few feet to bend down and pick up these flowers off the sidewalk. Some looked wilted and worn down; others were still colored a pure white, not yet trampled by people walking over them. We picked up both types, regardless of their state. At the very end of the street, we looked up to see a gated KTV—places known in Cambodia as the prostitution hubs. We stood across the street staring at the KTV, our hearts aching for the women who are trapped in the seemingly endless cycle of being objectified. Treated as less than human. A cycle that holds no hope. For some women in the city we are living in, those very gates we stood across from served as the gates to their prison.
A trail of “breadcrumbs” that led to a gate. Our trail of flowers that led to the KTV.
We saw some boys rummaging through trash that lay in piles against the wall of the KTV. We crossed the street towards the prison to offer them the remaining Oreos and juice. They accepted gratefully and it became apparent that they had been in search of food. After they left, we stood there, inches from the gate. We knelt down and arranged the flowers in a cross on the sidewalk. This cross was built out of both the new-looking flowers and the trampled ones alike.
Then we put our hands on that gate and prayed for freedom and peace for the girls. We prayed that the walls would be torn down and for the girls to know the joy and hope that the Lord has for them.
We turned back around and started back up the road towards the tree. There were two more KTVs. Two more places of oppression and darkness. Three establishments on one strip. In between the gated KTV and the other two stood a church. God is already present and doing work here in Battambang. There is a spiritual battle between the light and the dark, but God has already won the war.
After collecting more flowers, we repeated the process of arranging the flowers in a cross and proclaiming the Lord’s goodness over each KTV. I know in my head that the Lord is good and I know that He is at work. It is so incredibly difficult to know that in my heart when all around I see hurting, lost, and broken.
Today I felt His peace and saw His provision in the midst of the spiritual darkness. The Lord is at work here and I am honored to be able to be a part of that.
Psalm 27:13 – Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.
