Unblocking the Wells

Sandra Wade

Autumn 2016, The Clarion Call

My time at BCW in Autumn of 2016 was one of the most memorable times not only in my spiritual walk but in my whole personal life. The fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the BCW team and the other students changed me so much and I know I will never be the same again.

God has given my husband, Grahame, and I the privilege of leading Open Arms, an organization based in Cambodia that trains underprivileged and rescued young Cambodian people with practical skills. We have been serving there for the last fifteen years but I was always doing it in my own strength. As a result, I was close to burnout and my physical body was exhausted. However, after attending the course, I came away refreshed, full of excitement at the future and honestly burning with passion to serve God out of a much more personal relationship with God.

I now feel the presence of the Holy Spirit again, something that I haven’t felt for many years. In the last week of school, Pastor Daphne asked us to write something that she would commit to pray for us for six months, and mine was that I would feel God’s presence, and I have! Isn’t prayer a wonderful thing?

While I was at the BCW, I also started to receive a greater vision for Open Arms, and felt that the Lord was leading me to open a House of Prayer in Phnom Penh where the Cambodians would learn the blessing of praying for the peace of Israel. We have since began the prayer room and named it ‘Rehoboth’ as it was whilst my husband and I sat beside the Rehoboth well in the gardens of BCW that God started to talk to me about unblocking the wells of my heart. Now, we are believing that many people will come not only to pray for Israel and the nations, but that God will use that time of intercession to heal their hearts so that their relationship with Him and others will be full of love and joy.

Moreover, as part of our ministry, we reach out to sex workers and street children based in the red light district. Since returning from the BCW, God has given me the courage to extend our work to the night hours, though it may seem dangerous or even perilous to some. We have witnessed two miracles where God has healed two women of severe mental health issues! They are now living independently, praise the Lord! The street children have also blossomed being off the streets at night in God’s love and care when they are with us. I know that God gave me more of His passion for these at-risk Cambodians while I was at the BCW and I cannot be more thankful for that.

I recommend BCW to all whom I meet as I am convinced that the presence of God is there and that the healing power of God is just waiting for whosoever will come and take of it. Truly, I had the time of my life; I laughed, danced, cried, learnt so much and made lifelong friends with some of the most wonderful young people I have ever met.

God bless you, Pastor Yang and Daphne, and all your team who listened to the Holy Spirit and restored this beautiful place to its former glory. I will never forget my time at the college and am forever grateful for my time there.