Two Sisters

This morning in Svay Pak I met up with an another gal who I first met two years ago with the 2008 team. Her name is Lim and she is not able to speak. I used to think she was a self mute ---ie: someone who chose to speak when she wanted to but that is not the case. She apparently was born this way. Lim is now 20 years old and when we first met, she was helping us to serve the other little kids in Svay Pak. She is a bit rough on the edges and was a bit of a tom boy but yet there is a gentleness to her when it comes to helping the little ones. She comes back home to Svay Pak to visit her family once a month. Today when I saw her, I knew a lot more about her from the staff. The suspicions that I had were sadly true. In many ways the sadness in her big eyes displayed the pain that she lives through. Her parents sold her virginity when she was a teenager for US$300 and she has survived several rapes and is now working with her uncle and aunt at a furniture store here in Phnom Penh. In seeing her again, I can't help but wonder what it is like for someone who literally has no voice. How do they share their pains when they cannot verbally express it? How do they cope with the deep wounds and scars to their soul? How do they convey all that is going on in their hearts when they cannot speak? This is the world in which Lim lives in. She is held captive on so many levels. Trapped in layers of bondage that is betrayed by the pain in her eyes. O'Lord when will you repay her the years the locusts have eaten so that she will no longer live in shame?

Then there is Lim's sister Paulie. Paulie is a couple years younger and is one of the students that Pastor Chantha is discipling. She is a believer and is going to school and studying hard. I have had the privilege of praying for Paulie twice as she had a couple English exams last week. But Paulie is not immuned to what happens to girls in Svay Pak. She too has her own story---sold by her own parents at 13 years old, raped a few more times, verbally and physically abused by her parents. Yet if you were to see Paulie today, you would never know that. The Lord has been healing her heart since she became a believer, she is full of joy, full of laughter, loves to serve others and the kids love her. Despite her dysfunctional background, the other day I found her in the storage room with one of the toddlers, gently holding them as they fell asleep. While her parents have 'abandoned' her, Pastor Chantha and Bunthan have 'adopted' her as their older daughter. A few days ago, Paulie gave her testimony on video of how Christ has made a difference in her life despite the horrendous pain that she has had to endure. I saw her after that video, she had tears in her eyes, the memories of her past still hurt but the Lord has been her refuge and has given her the courage and boldness to speak of the hope she has in Him. I am thankful for Paulie. She gives a voice to the pain her sister Lim carries.

Today, I called them both aside. I felt the Lord leading me to pray for Lim's vocal chords and for her voice to return. I told Paulie that God had created Lim's voice to praise and worship Him and encouraged her to pray for Lim daily. I prayed asking Jesus for another miracle, to heal Lim's vocal chords, to open the wind pipes, to breathe new life and to bind any demonic forces that would want to keep her silent. Afterwards, I anointed her forehead with oil and as I looked at Paulie she had tears in her eyes. I asked her why she was crying. She said, 'I feel so much pity for my sister.' Two sisters, same pain, same experiences, one has a voice, the other doesn't, one has the Hope of Glory within her, the other desperately needs to know the Source of all hope. Pray for Lim that one day God will give her her voice so that she can finally speak and in so doing, praise and worship the healer of her heart and her soul!