Just Do It Scared

“Their faces look the same!”

Kristin and I are not unaccustomed to this comment overheard as we go about our daily lives in Cambodia; in fact we have random strangers from America now coming up to us to ask if we are sisters. This time I heard a woman selling coffee remark to her friend on our similar faces as we joined Jeremy, a colleague in town and Dacey, a friend from the home office, to walk and pray.

The little alleyway-turned-street was packed with various food and drink vendors, shop owners selling goodies in front of their homes and motos fending for space among the throngs of early morning coffee-drinkers.

I laughed a bit when I heard the woman’s comment and paused to report the news to the rest of the group. “Go sit by her!” Jeremy said, and my insides twisted up. “Wait, what?” I thought. “What do I say?” But then I remembered a phrase that has stuck with me for the last several months: “Just do it scared”. Too often we think we need to wait to share until we have it all together, and the fear has faded. Nope!

So, I turned around, and slid into the plastic chair next to the woman at the table as she sipped her iced coffee. Before I could get much farther than, “Hello, aunt!”, she asked, “Do you know Jesus?” I smiled. “Yes, do you?” She went on to speak of who Jesus was to her, how He had healed her and her family and provided for their needs. She told us about the little group that met in her home and invited us to share Jesus along the river front with her. We delighted in getting to know her and praying a prayer of blessing over her as we departed.

God does not ask us to be brave because of our own ability, but to trust Him and hang on when He throws open the door so His glory can shine through!

* I am thankful for my friend Amie who orginally shared the phrase “Just do it scared” with me back in March.