You know it, but do you know it?

So, Christian or not, I bet you have heard Jeremiah 29:11, or seen it on a tapestry or a coffee mug or something..

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Well, this was my first big moment where God peeled open my eyes to one of His truths in Cambodia. I read this verse, but I wasn't focused on me -- I was focused on Cambodia. Get ready for this.

God says to me, "I know the plans I have for Cambodia! I will bring welfare to Cambodia and not evil! I will give this place a future and a hope!" Is your heart racing yet? Are you excited? God made a promise. Even in this dark, dark place, God, the light of the world, is working for good!

One of my teammates used the best analogy for this: When we were on the airplane, they dimmed the lights so that everyone could sleep. Every now and then someone would crack a window to see what was outside. White light would flood in and fill the entire airplane from the smallest crack in the window.

The darkness was slain by the light.

Back to Jeremiah. God is in Cambodia. His light is already slaying the darkness, and it continues to do so right now! He is flooding into that country like the light was flooding into the airplane from just a cracked window! Darkness doesn't stand a chance against my God! He is hope for Cambodia! There is a bright future ahead there!

I know this because God promised. I know this because I can feel Him there. I know this because I saw it in the faces and the hearts of the people He is using at IJM and at Rahab's House.

As I was writing this, a song came onto Pandora (my addiction). The Earth is Yours // Gungor

It goes like this:
Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord // The earth is Yours // The earth is Yours

Praise God! He is in control! This was not a trip for me to do anything for God; this was a trip for me to watch what God is already doing. I got to watch an see how He is the God of this country -- how He has a plan, a hope, a future!

Here's another passage to read with a heart towards Cambodia:

"O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up ... You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ... If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,' even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as day, for darkness is as light with you ... I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well ... in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! ... Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see is there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"  Excerpts from Psalm 139