I just wanted to take a little bit to explain her story, and why it is hers to tell. You will not see any pictures of the 21 beautiful girls I am working with, nor will I share their names or pictures of the home where they are residing. Why? Well, as much as I know you may want to see photos of them, it is for their own protection and dignity. You see, these girls have been through a lot, much more horror than many of us will ever experience in our whole lives. Their story is one of the few things that they have left that is truly theirs. Who am I to take that away from them? And, really, it doesn’t matter one bit where these girls have been, but instead where they are going. I assure you that these girls are going places. They are brilliant and talented. They have opportunities available to them that their parents and grandparents did not. But, in order for these opportunities to remain available and for these girls to fulfill their dreams, they need to be protected. They need to remain in a safe place where they are loved, respected, and continually being healed by Jesus Christ.
As humans we want our good deeds to be noticed. We want to see tangible evidence of the difference we are making. Thus, I completely understand that people would want to see photos of these beautiful girls, know where they have come from, and see where they are going. However, I don’t really think any of that matters in the kingdom of God because our good deeds are not supposed to be done in an effort to give us a warm, fuzzy feeling but rather that people are brought into God’s kingdom. I assure you that God is working in this place, in this nation. There is still much work to be done, but He is here. I hear Him in the sound of little girls singing “Jesus loves me.” I see Him in the beautiful smiling faces of women who survived Pol Pot’s genocide and now want to give the next generation what they never had. I smell Him in the exhaust while riding in a tuk tuk driven by a man who is rising above the standard to be a Godly husband and father. I feel Him in the hugs and kisses of young women who will one day own their own beauty parlor. I can taste Him in the fried banana chips that someone brought from his village just to share. Believe me, God is here, and He is working, but because I know it is difficult to understand what you just can’t see (I think that’s called faith), I will post pictures of what I can and give you periodic glimpses into the world as I see it.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
“But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” Matthew 6:3-4
I caught the end of Oprah today and she had someone on named Nick Krowski (or something like that) who wrote a book called Half the Sky (ever heard of it?) about the sex trade in Cambodia. I cried. They showed footage of a young Cambodian girl who had been rescued and all I could think about was you and the 21 girls at She and I cried some more. Keep loving, Sissy. Love wins.
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