Thursday, December 04, 2008

An Early Christmas Present - Sung has been found!

Last night as I sit at my computer I was in shock and disbelief at what I read. My eyes filled with tears but not tears of sadness but tears of joy knowing what a great God we serve. He indeed is the God of the Impossible who can find a needle in a haystack. He is a God who hears the prayers of a man, my fellow ministry partner and the founder of the Ratanak Foundation Brian McConaghy who for years has been relentless in trying to track down a little girl named Sung who was brutally raped by a Canadian pedophile Donald Bakker who is the only Canadian ever charged under our country's sex tourism law. The email was telling me that 'Sung' had been found.


A rehabilitation centre that we fund in Cambodia called "New Song" is named after two girls 'Nhu' who is now working with another Christian agency and 'Sung' who for years has been missing and presumed to have either been trafficked into another country or dead. Yesterday, Brian found out that Sung has been found. In the future, we hope to be able to share more about this story.

For now, Sung's 'discovery' brings out many emotions in me. She is another child that represents hope to me. Hope in a God who does not forget those whom He has engraved on the palm of His hands. The world may forget her, the people who use and abuse her may see her as disposable, but He who died for her will never forget her, for her walls are ever before Him. These are the words from Isaiah 49:15-16 that I am reminded of at this time. For it was these very verses that the Lord impresed upon my heart some 4 years ago when I saw the plight of the Vietnamese children who lived along the riverbanks of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers in Cambodia. I remember wondering how they could ever have hope when they were so displaced and marginalized with no identity papers, ailens in a country that didn't want them and ignored by the country in which their ancestors were born. Yet God spoke to me very clearly that time saying He had not forgotten them. When I think of Sung, it is as if He is saying 'see, I have not forgotten them---now don't you forget them. Keep praying, keep persevering, keep speaking up, keep seeking justice on their behalf, keep moving forward, keep enduring, keep believing Me, keep trusting Me especially when the visible reality says otherwise, keep hoping, keep pressing on for your labors are not in vain, keep fighting the good fight, keep shining My light and you will see Me fulfill My promises in Isaiah 61:1-4.'

Sung's discovery has lit a fire under my heart in a way that I never could have anticipated. Thank You Jesus for these unexpected gifts. You are the ultimate Gift that keeps on giving.

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