That’s right, this month, I have a job. I am an English teacher to many Cambodian children. I even have been given my own marker. For three full weeks I will be teaching them about animals, numbers, sentence structure, and practicing their pronunciations.
I just made it through my first week of classes. I have been asked what kind of man I like by teenage boys, Hollis and I have misspelled the word penguin, and we have all started over-annunciating every word to each other. It has been quite the experience.
This month has been a sharp contrast to the last. Once more, God has taken me out to bring me in. Let me explain. In Vietnam, I had many things that brought me security. I had a bed, I had internet, I had air conditioning, I had oreos everyday (my obsession in Vietnam), and I always had people to do things with. This month God took all of that away, even my oreos…haha!
Beth Moore challenged me with this question: “Do you have peace in times of aloneness, or do you tend to require the security others provide?”
Although I had many things that brought me security in Vietnam, I had many sleepless nights of tossing and turning. I felt out of control, many fears swept over me, and hopelessness overwhelmed me. I seemed to have a lack of peace.
Here in Cambodia, my team got dropped off in a village one hour from Phnom Penh. We are basically living in a tree house with not much around us. I think God chose this place for us because it is quiet, peaceful, and we are all alone (most of our squad is in the city). He has provided me with a place and the time to spend with Him. God is giving me peace with the times of aloneness. I am learning to appreciate those times where I am all by myself to seek Him.
I have found that sometimes when life is just “dandy,” like in Vietnam, I can have such a lack of peace. And when I find myself in difficult circumstances, like where we are living in Cambodia, I have experienced much peace. Peace is a characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit that is produced in a believer. Something that all of us need, but very few have. My prayer is to have more peace in times of aloneness, peace in His provision for me, peace in the storms, peace in the waiting, and peace in the tears.
Proverbs 14:30 says, “A heart at peace gives life to the body.”
