Cambodia

One of the coolest parts of my year has been Cambodia.  It's kind of a long story, so bear with me!  To start, at the end of the book Radical, the author recommends a series of steps to follow for the next year (confession, I didn't do most of them).  One of them is to pray for the entire world - a bit of a daunting task.  Enter Operation World, a handy website that will send you a daily e-mail with information about a country to pray for.  Easy enough for me.  The day that I got to Cambodia, I had this... feeling.  I didn't really know what it was, I just felt a special connection to that country, I guess.  I started googling things like "help Cambodia" and came across the International Justice Mission website.  They do a lot of work in different countries, and in Cambodia they have attorneys that do work with human trafficking.  Oh hey, I'm married to a lawyer!  So I tried really hard to convince the hubs to take a year-long unpaid internship with IJM in Cambodia, but for some reason he was hesitant to suspend his law practice for year and haul our whole family to a random Asian country we know nothing about.  Hmmph.  :)

After that, I sort of sat on the whole thing for a while.  We were in the home-buying process and I was wondering if it was all my imagination that God might have something for me in Cambodia.  Then in a study at church one day, I mentioned it and to my surprise, in that tiny room of maybe 10 people, one of them had been to Cambodia 4 times and another had started a church for Cambodian immigrants in Louisiana several years before.  Oh, and had just gotten in touch with the Cambodian pastor the week before.  What are the chances?  So now I'm really paying attention!  But again, nothing really *happened* so Cambodia is still simmering away in the back of my brain.

Over the next few months, Cambodia would continue to pop up every now and then.  And then one night I was searching on Pure Charity (a pretty cool social media-esque website for giving) for Cambodian charities, and the one and only one that popped up was Rescue Her, and where should they be located but Euless, TX, not far from me at all!  Their purpose is to fight against human trafficking, so they are partners with a rescue home in Cambodia (yay!), they work with local girls who are at risk of being drawn into the sex trade, and they are working to build a new safe home in India.  My first job is to help with their 5K walk/run that will go toward building the new safe home for rescued girls in Chennai, India.  I'm excited to see what God is going to do through this organization, and what other Cambodian adventures he might have in store for me.  :)

And since this post wouldn't be complete without a request for money (!), if you would like to donate to Rescue Her's efforts in India, here is a link to my fundraising page.  I'm also including a video that gives a little more info about human trafficking.  Rescue Her also sells locally roasted coffee, t-shirts and other goodies that all goes toward the fight against trafficking. 

Transformation

I have a blog already.  If you're here, you've probably been there too and maybe noticed that it hasn't been updated in months.  Here's why.  Lately I find my mind spinning with all sorts of spiritual musings.  I've gone through this awakening of sorts in the past year, and I want to share it so badly but never feel like I do it justice when I talk about it.  And it felt sort of strange to lob a bunch of deep spiritual/theological/political thoughts amongst pictures of the kids’ Halloween costumes and birthday parties.  So I thought I’d just give it its own space and see how it goes. 

Why “Transformation”?  As I mentioned, over the past year or two, God has changed my heart in a major way.  I found myself thinking things like “I feel born again” (which if I'm being honest made me feel a bit like a fundie weirdo).  But really, the change was so drastic that I began to wonder, was I even a Christian before?  That didn’t make sense because I know I’ve had faith in Jesus since I was a kid.  Then I read this passage in Jen Hatmaker’s book Interrupted and it all clicked. 

“I thought I was well beyond transformation.  A little refining?  Sanding some rough edges?  Sure.  But transformation? ... When what to my pious eyes should appear?  Transformation that interrupted my entire life.” 

BINGO.  Transformation!  (Funny side note, once that word showed up, it kept on showing up.  It seemed like everywhere I turned, someone was talking about transformation.  God is so clever.)  It’s not that I wasn’t saved before, I just hadn’t allowed myself to be transformed.  I wanted to look like everyone else.  I wanted the normal, safe life that we’re all taught to expect and desire.  Everything is different now, at least on the inside.  (I'm working on pushing all that change through to the outside!)  I don’t care so much about keeping up with the world around me anymore.  I want God to use me to accomplish something.  No matter what it is, no matter what it costs, let it be. 

Should you wonder what caused this transformation...  I believe God used two things.  First, a bible study that I’ve been attending for a couple of years now.  (Shout out to Community Bible Study - look for a group near you!)  It’s true that you can’t know God apart from knowing his word, and I’ve been able to dig into and discuss the Bible in a way that I never have before.  Second, a series of books and blogs that blew my mind and showed me a new way of looking at the Bible that I inexplicably managed to miss up to this point.  So on that note, I present to you My Highly Recommended Reading List:

Crazy Love by Francis Chan - I actually read this one several years ago and looking back, it was the first seed God planted in this journey.  There wasn't a huge impact at the time, but then God picked us up out of our life and moved us somewhere new.  Apparently He wanted to get my attention.
Radical by David Platt - This is the one that really started to mess me up.
Seven by Jen Hatmaker
Anything by Jennie Allen
This series of blogs from a trip to Haiti - especially My Heart Is Hot , Mopping Haiti, In Which God Doesn't Look The Same Anymore
Red Letter Revolution by Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo - This one my hubby affectionately refers to as ‘that hippie liberal book’.  Which it is.  I don’t necessarily agree with everything they put forward, but it is definitely interesting to read and makes you take a fresh look at your political ideals.
Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - Miller is a genius.  His writing is so poetic and different and deep. He makes you look at the Bible in a beautiful new way.
Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller

Takeaway message?  Well, there are a million, but first and foremost:  if you tell God that you will do anything he would ask of you (and mean it!), and ask him to raise up a holy passion in you, He will be faithful to transform you too.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:  The old has gone, the new is here!

I'm hopeful that this blog will chronicle my journey from the apathetic, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses style Christian I was to the radical, surrendered follower of Christ I want to be.  I've also got a major passion for social justice these days, so I hope to have some exciting adventures in that arena to share too.