The transition into living life at an orphanage in the developing world of Cambodia has been quite the brutal awakening. But a really needed brutal awakening for me. Life in Banteay Meanchey includes living in constant heat and humidity with some crazy rainstorms now and again, waking up every morning at four am to Buddhist monks chanting because September just happens to be Holy month here in Cambodia, and the adjustment to having a lot of new roommates- rats, spiders, ants, mosquitos, lizards, lice ect (praise the Lord for mosquito nets and tea tree oil). However, living life at an orphanage in the developing world of Cambodia is also unbelievable. My team of seven radical women and I get to experience the simple life, like really really simple (we walk 10 minutes to get wifi once a week to tell our families we’re alive). Yet, the simple life offers us a somewhat new and uncomfortable freedom- time. Time to think deeply, time to pour into one another, time to listen for God’s voice, time to allow Jesus to unveil and give grace to darkness in my heart that I didn’t even know existed, time to learn how to teach to sweet Cambodian students who speak little to no English, and most importantly time to understand how to share the Father’s love in any and every form we can to over 20 orphans. Before coming here, I didn’t really understand what it meant to ‘choose joy’ and let me tell you, now I really do. The enemy has been so sneaky in the ways he has tried to steal our joy this past week or so. I have come to know truth in that the enemy will never win unless I let him, and if I don’t speak the name of Jesus against him. As each day comes I am able to find purpose in serving here because I choose the joy of the Lord inside my soul that is also anchored as the strength to pull me through anything. It’s permanent not passing. When I have moments of apathy or exhaustion, God simply picks up my face from my hands to see one of His orphaned children looking up at me with more love in their eyes than I could ever imagine and deserve. I hope these thoughts encourage you to keep praying and keep believing who Jesus really is!
