Rainbows ...

After class today I was talking to Tear-E. It rained today! Praise the Lord! That brought up the rainbow, and she's read the story about Noah, but she said she doesn't remember anything about the rainbow. I was telling her it was in Genesis so she can read about it. I LOVE this story, because before I became a Christian, I read the Bible in secret, and read about the rainbow. I thought it was SO AMAZING that it's not just some random thing that happens, but it is a sign from God! WOW!

Gen. 9:11 "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth."

Gen 9:13 "I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth."

...

For some reason, she told me that she only has an English Bible. Of course, I asked "why?"
- The main translation of the Khmer Bible is old Khmer ... I think it is basically like the King James Version of the Khmer Bible, so it's harder to understand.
- Her parents don't know English, so she can read the Bible without them knowing that she is reading the Bible.

She went on to explain about this, and it helped me a lot to understand a lot of the difficulties that our Christian students face here. If she has a Khmer Bible then her parents may find out that she is reading the Bible, and therefore make her stop. She made a comment that she is a crazy child because she is "secretly" reading the Bible, knowing that her parents would disapprove. Also, her parents don't know that she is a Christian. She has told them a lot about Jesus before she even believed, but she hasn't told them that now she believes. She said she thinks her mom might know, but she's not sure. Then she told me how after she believed, God changed her heart (2 Cor. 5:17) and she became a better child. We would think this is great. Her mom noticed and asked Tear-E about it, so she told her mom it is because of God. Her mom actually got a little angry because before she would fight with her brothers ..., but now because of God she is a better child, and in her mom's eyes this shows that she doesn't respect her mom and that God is more important than her mom, which He IS, but everyone wants to be the most important, especially moms! WOW, who would've thought that being a better child could be used against us?

The main reason she doesn't want to tell her parents, especially her dad, that she now believes in Jesus is because if he doesn't agree, he will prevent her from going to church, going to the student center, reading the Bible ...

Tear-E has grown a lot in the past two months since she has become a Christian, but there are still many obstacles to being obedient to God!

>> Remember her, and so many other Cambodians who will deal with this every day, and for them while they go to their home land from the next few days until around the 20th of April. Our family are the people we WANT to share with the most, but they are definitely the HARDEST to share with! Pray that God would open eyes, ears, hearts, and doors to share! And that He would give His children strength and courage to be obedient as He opens doors!

>> Also, Tear-E will be sharing her testimony tomorrow night, which will be about 5:30am Friday (CST). She is SO excited to share, and nervous too. Pray for her and that God would use her story to reach other students. Even if you don't read this for several weeks, God can still remind them of what He did in Tear-E's life, so please pray!

Thank you all for taking the time to read these posts, for your prayers, and for all that God is doing though you to bring Cambodia to Him.

One last praise: As it was raining this afternoon, I was sitting outside under the porch. It was raining pretty consistently and I was praying that He would rain down on Cambodia and bring many people to believe and follow Him alone! Then I just asked that each drop that hit the ground would represent one Cambodian that would come to follow Him ... it started to rain more and more!!!!! :'-) God's vision is so much greater than mine!