#201 - A God-ordained encounter and Happy Thanksgiving!

Vol.# 201

As I sat in the tuk tuk, I became not only a ‘back seat’ driver but also a right seat and a left seat driver! The random driver that I got through the tuk tuk App was driving as if he were the only one on the road, and the other drivers had to make way for him! Then, when I got to my destination and I asked him to wait for me, he said yes, but when I came out after finishing my errand, I discovered he had gone! 

Yup, that is part of the life here! 

The guards who were outside directing traffic were giving me reasons why he left, and all I could do was laugh, but then I thought, wait, I not only understood what the guards were saying as they were speaking in Khmer, but also this driver was not safe, so all good! Then I remembered I had not yet paid him, but he still left! However, he was a friend of my usual weekend tuk tuk driver, so I could give him the money and he could pay the guy!

This week this verse from Isaiah 61:1 took on a new meaning for me: ‘...the Lord has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners...” 

I received a text from a former student from Rescue who is now working part-time at New Life Foundation church office. (The Skills Centre where I teach is part of this organization as well as my church here). She was (is) going through a crisis of faith, questioning if Jesus is real or just a religion. She is beginning to doubt who Jesus is because she has been experiencing many hardships occurring at this one season in her life. I met with her early one morning and sat as she cried because she missed the intimacy of the presence of God. There was a darkness surrounding her and she had been imprisoned with these doubts and fears for the past 2 weeks. 

Well, wouldn’t you know it, I was just ‘happening’ to read Faith Under Fire, Reaching for the Invisible Godby Philip Yancey just before I got her text message. I had been feeling I needed to take a couple days of retreat with Him and the whole island was shut down for the Phchum Ben holiday. So, with no lessons to prepare, I ‘chose’ this book from a number of books that my friend Annette had given to me before she left to return to Vancouver. I sat with her and we talked about how she had made a decision just 2 months ago to read the whole Bible following a schedule, how she felt led to do a Bible study back at the orphanage. With a couple of her dorm mates she had travelled back from the city to the orphanage to do the study. She had never really sat down and thought about why she believed that God is real. It was a part of her experience growing up at the orphanage, so she accepted it, but now God was allowing her to go through this season to make her faith her decision to be His follower, her choice to follow Him. She has been in a Christian ‘bubble’ from the orphanage, to a Christian dorm, to working at the church. Now, since she started back at university, seeing others ‘prosper’ when her life has been and is so hard, she is beginning to wonder about Jesus. 

So many visiting preachers come and preach the prosperity gospel to the poor in resources here, and the expectations that God would wipe away all our earthly problems if we only have faith plays havoc with emotions of many. Yes, God can do that, but HE also gives us peace and joy amidst the hardships because we do live in a ‘fallen world’. I know that God has allowed me to be part of not only my younger sister’s life since 2011 but also the other kids from the orphanage who now live here in the city. 

Many of you ‘walked’ with me on my spiritual journey and still continue to do so now, and I want to say thank you for encouraging me, rebuking me when needed and showing me how to be His faithful servant!

Prayer: Please pray that I would listen to Him before I meet with anyone who wants my prayer and help.

Praise: I am thankful that my former students or spiritual kids feel free to come and ask me for prayer.

My microwave, kettle, washing machine, air conditioner plus the keyboard to this IPad on which I do all of my prep (it has the Khmer keyboard) all broke down these past 2 weeks! Yup, there was a flood on the top floor from the washing machine and there was no A/C for about 4 nights, so the mosquitoes were just loving me. However, I want to thank God for my housemate who called the A/C guys. I thought I would have to buy a new one but after they took it away, it cost only $45. So yay!!!! I had to buy a new kettle, I could only jiggle the wires so much and after 2 years it served me well!

Prayer: I am looking for a repairman for the microwave. I have had that for 5 years now, and my washing machine was bought second hand and I had that for 5 years as well! My housemate tried to fix it but I need to get the repairman to come in or I might just have to buy one!

It can be frustrating for all of this to happen at the same time. Added to this, it is the rainy season, very hot, and there are mini floods on the road as I go to work or just go out of my house! Then I thought, things must be happening in the heavenlies, so all good! AND, as I write this I am in tears because the keyboard that has not worked for the past 2 weeks (and yes, it was plugged in to those who will ask) has suddenly begun to work and that is why I can type this update right now! Thank you Father for this glimmer of light in all of the broken things happening this week! 

Pastor Samdy (head pastor at my church) has been doing a series on ‘relationships’ (yes, also at RAC!) and on Sunday he invited 2 couples to give a talk about married life, one couple married for 20 years and another for 13 years. They introduced the subject of ‘love languages’ and how important it is to know this for not only those contemplating marriage or already married but also for other relationships as well. I will be talking about this in my class, so can I ask for prayer and creativity as I introduce this because it is a new way of looking at relationships in this culture. I will be talking to students so I need to be relevant in the way I will be presenting this topic. If you have any ideas, please feel free to share with me! Thank you! 

Prayer: Please pray as I continue to intercede for the pastors here and be one of the marketing reps for the Global Leadership Summit team. I ask for your prayers for my words to be seasoned with His grace, that I would find favor with the secular organizations that we will be approaching to ask to participate for next year’s conference, and most importantly that I would not be a ‘false prophet’ to those He has given me to be a ‘fierce prayer warrior’!

Prayer: Please pray for a new home here as well as a better home for my parents in Toronto!

Please continue to send your prayer requests and snippets of life there! 

A shout out to Samuel Aragones and his bride who by this time you read this would have gotten married! Congrats to Pastor Sam, Colette and Liz!

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya