Diakonia 2025 Volume 1
Hope in Times of Uncertainty
Annie Khoo
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day…” 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18
J. Campbell White, secretary of the Laymen’s Missionary Movement said in 1909: “Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world He came to redeem.
Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfilment of His eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.”
Since I was twenty-one, I have seen my parents and their generation, one by one, succumbing to the ‘outward wasting away’ spoken of in the Bible. What then should be the permanent output of my life that would offer me the sweetest and most priceless rewards?
By God’s Grace, may I bring a number of Cambodians into His Eternal Kingdom, and in the end, to have them stand with me before the throne of God, worshipping Him and enjoying the abundant life with Him in the new heaven and new earth that’s full of joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is the eternal joy set before me that keeps me going. Thank God we can begin to experience a foretaste of this joy in the present too.
I was involved in the church planting work at Suong, Cambodia, from 2004 to 2017. Later, due to lack of man-power, the work ceased during the Covid years.
Last Christmas, two of my first-generation-students from Suong came to spend Christmas with me in Penang. They were my best Christmas present. During the Christmas service at IGGC, I was filled with joy to have Rathy and Chanthy stand with me “again” to worship God. I say “again” because it happened first in Suong, last Christmas in Penang, and I envision us standing together again before the throne of God to worship Him in future.
Rathy and Chanthy’s been living in Phnom Penh since they left Suong for their tertiary education. Now, Rathy is a medical doctor with a Master in Hospital Management. Chanthy graduated with a degree in Law. Both of them got married and they’ve been working in Phnom Penh for a number of years. Meantime, back in Suong, when the church closed down, the members had dispersed. So, last Christmas, when Rathy and Chanthy shared their plan to return to Suong in 2 years’ time and to open their place for the believers at Suong to gather again, I was filled with joy to see how they have grown, and that they now have the desire to revive and continue the work in their hometown, Suong. Please pray for them that they will be kept on course and their plans to revive the work will be guided and blessed by God.
Back in Kampong Chhnang, after the grade 12 national exam, I had taught a few students from the book, “What the Bible Teaches”. Thank God that Ly Huot, who has gone to study in Phnom Penh since January this year, is now using the same book to teach a group of university friends. It gives me great joy to see how he is growing as a disciple and learning to make more disciples for Christ.
While we work with God for the fulfilment of His eternal plans, may we fix our eyes on Jesus; and for the joy set before us, endure the challenges along the way, being renewed day by day as we approach the finish line where joy unspeakable and full of glory awaits us.
