Let me tell you about this girl.

What do you want to know?

Was she trafficked into a brothel? Was she sold for sex? Did her father beat her, did her mother sell her? 

Is this what you want to know about this girl? Would it change the way you looked at her if you knew?

The answers: I have no idea. I do not know what this girl has been through in her life... it would probably crush my heart to know... Asking these questions may give you insight into a young girl's past, but they do not tell you anything about who she IS. We are not a compilation of our past experiences, just as we are not a compilation of our past mistakes. Yes, they affect us, even in traumatic ways. Yes, we must work through past experiences and allow God to bring restoration to painful and dark places in our lives. But the point of this restoration is not so that we can think about these painful memories without cringing- the point is that God wants to bring restoration to our hearts. Our hearts are affected by experiences but are not the same as our experiences. You want to know who someone really is- put on your heart vision. 

Let me tell you about this girl. 

She is 17. She is beautiful. Long, dark brown hair with subtle red streaks. Smoothe brown skin, chocolate colored eyes and a smile that warms your soul. She is a leader; an initiator. She wants to be an accountant and a translator. She is a follower of Jesus. She is the daughter of the most high King: The King of the universe!

NO ONE can take these things away from her. NO ONE can sell them for profit. NO ONE can steal her heart from Jesus.

Her experiences on this earth are only a microcosm when compared to the eternity she will spend living in the real kindgom of wonder- God's kingdom. Her pain is real but so is her hope. I mourn with her in her pain, but I rejoice with her in her hope!

"[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3:9)

I am meeting beautiful hearts here in Cambodia.