So it’s around 10 PM and I’m just hanging out in my classroom upstairs at my home here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. My team and I have been here for about a week now. It’s beautiful, tropical, and HOT! It’s just like home. We’re teaching English classes and leading a Women’s bible study.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it looks to establish Kingdom here on Earth. What does it look like to be a Light in darkness? For me it’s looked different month to month. In Uganda and Rwanda it was preaching. In Ethiopia it was caring for the sick and the poor. In India it was caring for handicapped orphans. In Nepal it was building a school and an orphanage. In Cambodia, I’m now an English teacher! It’s cool how God can use different ministries all over the world to establish His Kingdom.
The coolest part of it all is that Kingdom work can be much simpler than any of that. Kingdom work can be shoveling manure for an old Nepali man (just ask Mardie and I about that one). Kingdom work can be playing soccer with streets kids. Kingdom work can be buying Starbucks for the person in front of you in line. Kingdom work can be so simple. It doesn’t need to be extravagant, well thought-out, or put together. Kingdom work is simply bringing Light into the darkness. It’s allowing the love of Christ to shine through us. You don’t have to go to Africa or Asia to reflect Jesus Christ. Sometimes God calls us overseas, and sometimes He says, “stay right where you are, I want you to be a Light in your workplace, school or home.”
As Christians, we’re all missionaries, High Priests, whatever you want to call us! We’re really just children of God, created to reflect God’s goodness and mercy. We can, and were designed to bring the Kingdom of God anywhere and everywhere we go. We read the New Testament and see that the Apostle Paul did it! He became all things to all people, and was constantly bringing the truth and simplicity of the Gospel everywhere he went.
While in Nepal, my team and I experienced an insane amount of change. Our ministry was constantly changing, and at times, fell through completely. We traveled all over the country for ministry and wondered when we would finally start “doing a set ministry schedule for the month”. Lol!
One morning I found myself walking through the field outside our village. I was antsy and it had been a few days since we had ministry. In my anxiousness I stopped, got on my hands and knees and finally said “God, where do YOU want us to go today? Who in this town needs to feel your presence today?” God gave me a picture of this restaurant/pharmacy(ish) right by our home (my first thought, yay food! Haha). I kinda just sat with this image and went on with my day. Later on, my squadmate Emily and I went for a walk towards the restaurant/pharmacy place and ran into the sweetest Nepali women working outside her home. She spoke zero English but she said “Jaymasee” which is a Christian greeting. So we hand motioned to her that we were also Christians and hugged her and giggled. This was crazy considering Nepal is like less than 1% percent Christian and on its way to becoming a closed country.
This woman, Jayanti is her name, motioned us into her home, so of course we followed her inside where she gave us Sprites and showed us her pictures. She prayed for us in Nepalese and then we prayed for her after. It was obvious that this moment was not a coincidence. Maybe she needed encouragement? Maybe she needed prayer? I don’t know and probably never will. But the Lord saw a need and sent us her way. After we prayed for her, she said “chow mien?” One of the few English words she knew. Emily and I were both so full from lunch already, but can you ever turn down fresh chow mien? I think not! So we again followed her to the restaurant/pharmacy place and she introduced us to a few Hindu girls there who spoke English. They were so sweet and intrigued by us (probably because we were two white girls in the middle of a random Nepali village hahaha). They gave us free samples and we continued to give their restaurant business while we were living there. These girls were fun, kind, and craving something deeper. They were intelligent and had amazing passions and dreams they wanted to pursue. I visited their place on my runs in the mornings and truly enjoyed their friendships. The Lord definitely intended for my team and I to meet these girls, love them, and plant seeds. It’s cool because had we not originally met Jayanti in the field, we would’ve likely never met our Hindu friends and had the opportunity to be a Light.
I look back and see the beauty and humility in asking the Lord where He wanted us to bring Kingdom. This is really what ministry is. Sure, having a schedule is great and usually necessary, but most of the time God doesn’t choose to operate under our time. I’m realizing more and more, that the times when I’ve seen God’s grace and God’s mercy displayed have typically been outside of our given ministry. It’s moments when we ask our flesh to take a back seat to the Holy Spirit in us and allow the Jesus Christ that lives inside of us to shine brightly anywhere we are. It’s moments when we humbly stand before the throne of the Father and ask, “God, where shall I go today? How can I exalt your name and bring Kingdom today?” When we courageously surrender the need to control our environment and circumstances and just allow the Holy Spirit to flow from within, God’s Kingdom grows in abundance.
