I found my happy place unexpectedly this week. I was getting uneasy because I’m not great with kids, I’m not the best person for teaching others about the Bible and I’m not musically inclined enough to give lessons. These are all things that people on our team are so gifted with and I’m very thankful to be experiencing Cambodia with them. However, I was stuck. I had reached the point where I wasn’t sure how God could use me this week as we worked with kids and young adults at Rahab’s House. I don’t suppose I’ll ever know if I made an impact on these wonderful people, but I do know one thing: I had one of the best days ever on our fourth day at Rahab’s House.
As an exercise science major, I love the human body. All the classes I’ve had to take concerning the body has only reaffirmed my belief in the Creator. Our bodies do incredible things and I am absolutely fascinated by it. I knew that the there was a clinic at RH and I knew I wanted to see what went on. I got a small glimpse of it on Tuesday, but Thursday was even better. I had met the doctor, Dr. Carla, and she had let me sit with her while she saw patients on Tuesday. Since I had other duties to attend to, I could only spend a short time there and I was sad to go. On Thursday, I got permission to spend even more time with her, her assistant and a nurse who also saw patients. Before they started seeing patients on Thursday, the nurse put me to work. He set me up with sorting some OTC medicines from the bottles into labeled pouches for easy access. As someone who is very task-oriented, I was in heaven. Dr. Carla showed up and we got situated.
The clinic at RH is put on twice a week. It is open to the whole community and is free. This week, before they started seeing patients, they asked Calvin to do a short devotion and they loved it! Not only that, but after seeing each person, the clinic staff prayed over that person. This was really special because not everyone who came were Christians. In fact, there is a Muslim community nor far from RH and I saw many of them there. Most of them accepted prayer from this Christian woman. I appreciate the fact that the clinic staff are dedicated to integrating Christ into their medical work. It’s easy to separate God from science but to me, they go hand in hand ao it was cool to see that being practiced.
I appreciated Dr. Carla not only for letting me sit next to her while she worked, but she also took the time to explain what was going on with the patient, and what she would give to them and why. It wasn’t something that I expected her to do but it made the experience even better. I love infirmation and learning new things, especially when it has to do with the body. I had been having a hard time connecting with the children but I found something different to connect to. Does this mean I want to go into medicine someday? Not necessarily. But it is a beautiful reminder that we are all geared differently because our Creator made us unique. Not everyone can work with kids and not everyone can work in medicine. I’m slowly learning the lesson that we are all equipped differently and just because I have different skills from someone else doesn’t make either one lesser or bad in any way. I’m very grateful for this opportunity and so far it has been the icing on the cake during my time here in Cambodia!
-Sarah Lawhorn, NCU Student