The no good, terrible, very bad day.
This is the story of how a crappy day can turn out to one of the best as long as you let God in. The day started out and I was pretty exhausted. We had been up the night before killing a rat, which was actually pretty funny but I was pretty tired from that. And I don’t know about you but when I am tired everything seems to get slightly exaggerated and I turn into a slightly more emotional person. To start I woke up with a cold. Blah. But church went great and I was able to share my testimony for the first time. That was great. Then we walked to lunch. This is when my day started to take a turn for the worse. Now before I write the rest of this I want you to know that I am NOT accident prone. I am kind of a clumsy person but it usually doesn’t not result in injury. That you know that, I can continue. We were walking to lunch and I thought I had stepped over the metal thing sticking out (it was sorta like a pot hole cover) but I stubbed my toe. And ya it hurt but when I looked down I realized that I had cut the front of my toe and it was bleeding. Awesome. We tried to clean it and finished lunch. When we got back to our humble abode birthday girl Katie fixed me up and we were ready to head to my favorite village. This is a village that you drive to a remote part of town, cross a cool bamboo bridge, and then take a boat to the island village. I was still in an angry mood because my toe had a heartbeat.
We were on our way to cross the bridge when we encountered a man who had just been in a motor bike accident and had cuts on his knuckles and split his chin open. My team jumped into action like we were doctors. Katie, Chase, and Carli administered first aid as best as they know how, which is actually a lot of knowledge. Andrea was the nurse that handed the needed supplies. Scott and I prayerfully looked on. I was able to just stand back and look at the incredible people that God has blessed me to take this journey with. It was a cool moment for me to be humbled. But it was still an emotional experience of some guy bleeding pretty bad and knowing that he won’t be able to get the proper medical attention he needs. Once we get the guy to a safe place to lie down, we continue on to the bridge. And no joke, the first step I take a rusty Cambodian nail goes through my shoe and into my foot. It didn’t go very deep thankfully but it was still a freaking rusty nail in my foot after already cutting my toe open and seeing some guy bleed all over my teammates. Once we got off the bridge Katie, once again coming to my rescue, helps me. At this point I’m frustrated and I think I cried more because of that frustration rather than the pain that was happening. Thankfully Andrea was there to stabilize me while I had my foot propped up and gave me a shoulder to cry on. My team is awesome. The Cambodians we were with insisted on putting garlic juice on the cut so we did and it stung but we were in a remote village, I’d try anything. Here comes the redemptive part of the story.
We get on the boat and I swear to you it is one of the most peaceful places in the entire world. As we are going down the river I look to my left and there is a beautiful rainbow. A sign of God’s promise. A sign to me that says I am still here and I am still working. We had been to this village the week before and I had made a bond with the sweetest girl. I was hoping to see her again but wasn’t sure if I could remember what she looked like after a week filled with new smiling precious faces. But as I stepped off the boat she looked straight at me and smiled and I knew. She was mine. I have never felt God’s love so much in my entire life. It was as if He knew my day sucked and he gave me this precious girl to love and laugh with just to say that I am here for a purpose and a reason. Just for a moment I want to brag on my sweet Monita. She has a big smile that makes me smile and has such a sweet spirit about her. Once the bible story started she crossed the crowd just so she could grab my hands and stand in front of me. She did not say anything just simply held my hands and listened. After the story we played and she loves when you grab her arms and lift her as she jumps. She loved it so much that she would make sure that other kids were able to experience the same joy. She would push the other little ones in front of me to make sure they got their turn. A selfless act that was an example to me. She led me around and showed me all her friends and made sure that I was ok. It was almost as if she knew my day had been bad and she wanted to make it better. And she did that and more. The kids also would pull little yellow flowers off the trees and throw it like confetti as us. Great fun but our hair was covered in this stuff. Once the fun died down, she grabbed my face, pulled it down and proceeded to pull all the flowers out of my hair. Before letting me go she looks at me, pushes my glasses back on face and smiles. She made me feel so loved. I can’t really express my love for this child. Part of my heart will always be in Cambodia with that precious child of the King. I prayed over her before we left and pleaded with God that some day I would be able to see her face again in heaven. Although there is a language barrier between us, my heart still fell in love with that sweet smile and selfless character. Had I just sat around and dwelt in my frustration and anger I would not have been able to see the love of the Father through Monita. There will be times in this life when our flesh nature wants to do nothing more than sit on the ground and cry but know that God is still working and still has a plan to show himself to you. He will also show himself to you in the most unlikely ways. Don’t miss it.
And that is how my no good, terrible, very bad day turned into one of the best memories that I have.
