Day 4 of living in Cambodia and we have had rice every day, twice a day.
Today a group of 5 others from my team and I walked about a mile to a Buddhist temple to pray over it. Before we left our house, we prayed for our time and that God would move through us. During this time, I felt kinda defeated. I felt as though I had been successful in following Gods call overseas, but was inadequate to communicate to these people. God showed me in Romans that although we may not have words to pray or know what we are praying for, the spirit does and He goes with us everywhere. I went into this expecting to see God move in big ways.
When we were at the temple, we prayed and read scripture aloud. After singing songs of praise and praying together, we walked around the temple 7 times just like they did at the tower of Jericho. We prayed that the idols would be brought down and that eyes would be opened to the grace of the Lord. Even though we did not speak to the monks that were going to school there, they definitely noticed what we were doing. As we were leaving, we noticed piles of rice that needed to shelled. I made the comment, “wow if we had to harvest rice, we would eat a lot less of it.” Others around me agreed. It seemed a grueling task and not enjoyable, especially in the Cambodian heat.
We continued walking towards home, with intentions to maybe stop at the new orphanage and pray over the foundation and then meet up with the rest of our group for lunch. As we walked along the dirt road home, women were walking in the rice parties on the side. We passed a group of women and the Lord said “stop“. I wasn’t sure why He was asking me to stop, so I didn’t at first. As we walked a little further I knew I had to go back. I told my group I felt the Lord leading me to pray over them or for them. I didn’t know why because they wouldn’t understand my English, but I did anyways. We all walked back and I was going to pray over them from the road, but then one of the ladies in the rice patty motioned toward us. Without really knowing what we got ourselves into, we began to help them harvest. We cleared a whole field and the women expressed their gratitude through smiles and hugs.
Today I learned ministry can look very different. Sometimes it looks like praying over a blind man, or praying for healing over a sick person. Some days you are leading worship with an orphanage full of kids, and some days you pick rice. The amazing thing about our God is He works through all of it.
As for my fear of not being able to communicate with the people, you don’t need a translator for acts of kindness. I was expecting God to provide someone who spoke Khmer and English throughout my ministry, but He chose to work through my actions instead.
My challenge to you is this: be aware of who God is telling you to stop and pray for. It may bring them more encouragement than you realize.
