Recently I found myself mourning the absence of a father figure in my life. I know the healing powers of the Lord, so I brought my wounded heart to Him. I felt Him mourn with me over the lack of relationship I have with my father; but despite feeling less alone, my heart was not healing.
The Holy Spirit met me throughout training camp — He showed me the image of God as Father and this started a process of healing.
On Friday, September 8th, we arrived at the New Hope for Orphans home in Banteay Meanchey, Cambodia. In the middle of a jungle, three hours away from any “major city”, over twenty children are parented by one Cambodian couple. These children are surrounded by buddhist temples that chant over speakers at 4am, brown recluse spiders that are so big you’d pee your pants, and flea-ridden animals. (One of their cows — yes, cows — is jumping on and off our porch as I write) Each of these children have their own story. Some of their parents have passed, but some parents were impoverished and couldn’t offer their child what he or she needed.
At the end of our first day of ministry, I was sweeping the classroom. A younger girl came in and insisted on taking the broom. I let her have it and began to pick things up with my hands. Then, I hear her start to hum the song “Good Good Father” by Chris Tomlin. I’ve always laughed at this song for how simple and repetitive it is, but hearing the tune come from the heart of a child who was being raised apart from her biological parents completely transformed the song for me in the matter of seconds. I began to sing out the words, and she sang them with me as we cleaned the room.
My teammate Jenna Jay and I teach a class of 7th-12th graders together. We decided to play a song and have them identify what was being said during the song. We selected “Good Good Father” for its simplicity. As we played it through during class, they sang along to every word. We paused to do the assignment, but then restarted and the whole class began to worship. As I looked out into my class, I began to cry. What a beautiful thing it is that they can proclaim with their whole heart they have a Father and that He is in fact good. They’ve been hurt much differently than I have, and can still rely on God as a Father.
Psalms 27:10 reads, “Though my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will receive me”.
I think one of the most common mistakes when doing ministry in a children’s home is to pity the children. What you find in these children is a powerful presence of God. Each of the children in this home has given his or her life to God, which means they have been adopted into His family. These children call on God as their Father with their entire hearts. They have inspired a change in me by making me aware of my hesitance to call God “Father”. But I truly am His daughter. A 14-year-old Cambodian girl taught me that when she showed me Psalms 27:10 tucked in a photo album alongside one of the few pictures she has of herself as a baby.
You’re a good, good father It’s who You are, it’s who You are, it’s who You are
And I’m loved by You, It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am
You are perfect in all of Your ways, You are perfect in all of Your ways, You are perfect in all of Your ways to us.
