At the end of our time in Malaysia, my team and I spent the day before our flight to Cambodia in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city. We ate a good meal, watched a movie in theaters, saw some of the city, had a hot shower, got caught up on emails, and enjoyed the air conditioning in our hostel room. I climbed into bed that night ready to head into month 10 of ministry.
My watch alarm went off at 4:45 the next morning, announcing the beginning of yet another travel day. Six hours later, after a short flight, I landed with my squad in Cambodia. A two hour van ride took my team to a remote village where we’d be teaching English for the month. We quickly realize we have brown water to shower with, no store nearby for even the simplest groceries, and certainly no a/c or movie theaters!
How quickly my situation changes…
Later that day I was able to spend some time with the Lord. As I was running along one of the many dirt roads talking with Him, I began to think of how amazing it is that He’s constant no matter what. No matter what’s happening around me, no matter where I’m at, who I’m with, what I’m doing, He’s always there and always with me.
Throughout this year I’ve experienced so many changes- in the food, cultures, living situations, people, locations, ministries, teammates – and all of those changes make me even more thankful and aware of the Lord always by my side.
I can have the same conversation with him in a remote village in Cambodia that I can in a bustling city in India that I can in my backyard at home. His character is the same and will never change.
This makes me think of Joseph in the Bible. He was in so many different places and situations but the Lord was always with him.
In Egypt, thousands of miles away from his home after being sold into slavery, in Potiphar’s house in, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.” (Genesis 39:2)
Later, when he was thrown in prison “the Lord was with him; He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden” (Gen 39:21) and “the Lord was with him and gave him success in whatever he did” (Gen 39:23)
When people asked him to interpret their dreams for him he knew God was with him and would give him the words to say because he told his fellow prisoners, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Gen 40:8) and told Pharaoh he could not interpret his dream but, “God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires” (Gen 41:16).
Years passed and he knew that God was still with him and had been his whole life. He told his brothers, the very ones that had sold him into slavery, that “it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you” (Gen 45:5) and “God sent me ahead of you to preserve a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance so it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen 45:7-8).
Joseph knew that God had been working all along and had orchestrated all the moments in his life.
This year I’ve enjoyed experiencing so many new things and it’s shown me even more that God will always be with me no matter how much things change or where I go.
I’ve seen His promise come true more than ever before that He will “never leave us and never forsake us” (Hebrews 13:5).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
