Do you feel lost and alone?

It's a scary thing to be lost in a country where you don't know the language or the culture.  As I travelled through Phnom Penh (Cambodia) by Tuk Tuk just recently, It felt like the local Tuk Tuk drivers are always getting lost.  Talk about the blind leading the blind.

I remember the first time I came here with my family, I loved it, but it was an incredible culture shock. The Cambodian people are beautiful. They always smile and say ‘yes – I know where you want to go’ – even when they don’t, because they always want to be helpful! You explain where you want to go, and they confidently respond yes and then we inevitably get lost.

 I remember one day when I had my children with me; they were travelling in the other Tuk Tuk (with an adult friend who was Australian). We got separated and lost and I had no idea where I was let alone where my kids were. It was a scary 15 minutes that felt like forever. When we finally found each other, even my friend was scared. It’s that feeling of being completely lost, helpless and vulnerable.

As a result of visiting Cambodia over the past 5 years we have made good friends. So now travelling around, even when I don't know where I am going, is now a different experience altogether. I have learned to rely on locals who have become wonderful friends.

So on this recent trip, when travelling the streets that still are foreign to me, once I realised my driver was lost, I was at peace. I could even enjoy the adventure because I knew my friend Pheakdey (a Cambodian local) was only one phone call away. But even then, it was amazing how quickly you can find yourself in a situation you hadn't expected.

This day we had to ring Pheakdey, 4 times and by the 4th time we were still no closer to our destination. But for me, I was feeling at peace and enjoying the ride. As we travelled through a completely unknown area of the city I was just watching the view, which is enlightening, feeling calm, until my phone went dead.

I hadn't charged it when I left home - it was only on two bars when I left home. So very quickly I find myself sitting with my sweet Tuk Tuk driver, who is still smiling and nodding on the side of the road, together and waiting. I thought to myself, at the very worst I can go back to my hotel. I think I can find my way there. As I was thinking what I should do, I could not help but think if this was 4 years ago I may not feel so calm. I am a white woman, all on my own, in the back streets of a big foreign city, with Cambodian men talking all around me, no one looking any the wiser as to where we are.

I wondered how it might feel to be truly lost, feeling all alone, helpless, with certain options taken away and being at the mercy of a foreign outside force. Some people find themselves in this place by choice; others don't have a choice at all.

It can be a scary place to feel that you might not know how to get to a safe place; it is scary not to know who to call or who to trust or who can really help you. It is scary not to have the assurance of a higher power that will never leave you.

Of course this day I learned that my part to play in this situation is to make sure I am fully connected, always charged with His presence and in constant communication with the one who can help me best. If I had done this, on this day I wouldn't have been in this position.

But the underlying comfort for me was that I had heard my friend’s voice only 5 minutes before and after 10 minutes waiting and wondering what to do, my friend came and found me. He was my savior, rescuing me that day.

God is like that. We need never feel alone. We may get lost but if we seek Him He will find us. If you feel helpless He will comfort you. We may be like a foreigner in this world, but walking with Him means it can become an adventure, not a scary ride, until we finally come to the place where we live with Him forever and never have to feel foreign again.

It was just a Tuk Tuk ride in a foreign land, but this adventure could have been so different if I didn’t know where I had come from, if I didn't have a friend who was only a call away, if he wasn't tracking me and if I had my method of communication to Him fully charged.