I may have only gotten to spend a month of my life here, but Cambodia has captured my heart. Living at an orphanage with 22 orphans has brought my heart so much joy and has filled up my life with sunshine. Each morning I wake up to kids playing outside my window eager for us to come and join them. We have a beautiful little piece of land here with a dirt field out back where I play soccer with the kids during the week, one of my most favorite things. The kids always come hang out with us and give us good company during the day. The children here are some of the most talented people I have ever met, good at just about everything whether it be soccer or music. We have taken nightly trips to the rice field next to our home at the orphanage to watch God paint the sky with beautiful colors. We have learned about Pastor Kimeng and his wife Sreybon’s hearts and their answer to God’s call to leave everything to make a home for these children who need it.
With each day that I am here, in Cambodia, just standing with both feet on this earth, God is teaching me something. Each day, He is teaching me how to love harder, to give more thanks, and to find joy where there appears to be none. He is teaching me what the love he has for me looks like through the love he has for these children in this orphanage in Cambodia. That loving isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it. Sometimes, more often than not, loving well is making a sacrifice. It hurts to put your whole heart into something because you are agreeing to letting your heart go. You are agreeing to putting it out there with the possibility of it becoming broken, but there is something so beautiful in that. He is teaching me that joy is a choice, something you continually have to choose each and every day. Life is so much sweeter when you let that joy in and there is great beauty in the simplicity of every day life here. The children have taught me what a life of trusting the Lord looks like. Every single one of them has been through more in their short lives than I have in my 18 years on this earth. He has showed me what having child-like faith truly looks like through these kids who have given their whole lives to the Lord and continue to place them at His feet each day. He has taught me that it doesn’t take long to fall in love with people or a place when you have a heart overflowing with love straight from the Father. He has taught me that there is so much life and beauty packed into each day if only we are willing to look for it. He is teaching me that there is always something to be thankful for even if it is just the fact that He put air in my lungs for another day.
I have fallen in love with this place. Just like Thailand, these people and this place have become home. The funny thing is, it wasn’t originally part of our plan to come to Cambodia, but it was always a part of God’s plan. He knew that Cambodia is where I needed to be during this season of my life. I thank God so much for my time here and for letting this place and these people become part of my story.
I am finding over and over again that God puts you exactly where you need to be, when you need to be there. He always provides us with what we need; more love, new places, new beautiful people to pour into and to learn from.
Lots of love,
Reya
