Mission to the World recently featured Sokha on their MTW One Child webpage:
Her mother didn’t want her and couldn’t—or wouldn’t—take care of her.
So an aunt took in Sokha and her three siblings and did her best to lovingly provide food and shelter and give them a decent life. But tragedy struck and the aunt herself could no longer care for these children. They were put in an orphanage and found themselves alone, abandoned, and very afraid.
Yet it was in this Christian orphanage that Sokha began to experience the love of a Father, a love she had never known. And at the age of 15, she accepted Jesus into her heart and her life changed forever.
Sokha now lives with her husband and baby girl in a small village outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There they teach children English through Bible lessons and songs, feed those who are hungry, counsel those who are lonely, and help those who hurting. Sokha and her husband tell people about hope and redemption in Jesus but more profoundly, they show it.
Such is the heart of mercy. Such is the heart of a woman who, through such profound pain and hurt in her own life, now ministers out of a place of understanding, empathy, and love. Sokha said “In His arms, my wounds are healed. In His arms, I found the meaning of life, true hope and true joy. I want to tell everyone I meet what He has done in my life through speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity so that my fellow believers can celebrate this indescribable joy with me, and the lost, the hopeless, and the weary can hear and be saved according to His gracious will and plan.”
There is a little boy, Samnang, who rides around the village on his bike. Only 10 years old, he was left behind when his parents divorced and moved away. He, like Sokha, was abandoned. But in this tiny village, he is being introduced to the Lord who created Him, who offers hope, and has wonderful plans for his life. And that message—the same that Sokha once heard—will change his life forever. Who knows? Maybe, through the grace of God, he will be the next Sokha.
http://www.mtw.org/Pages/OneChild_Stories.aspx (accessed April, 18th, 2013)
