Desert Rain: Karths Story

Karth awakened from a deep sleep and immediately felt a strong sense of urgency overcome his body. What he had experienced could not have been a dream. It was too real, too lifelike. No, it must have been a vision straight from God.
In the vision, Karth had been clothed in white and sitting in the middle of the desert. Yet he did not feel a single drop of sweat underneath the intense sun. Instead, he was cooled by falling rain and comforted by a soft music playing in the distance.

Karth kneeled by his bedside and began to pray. Oh God, I have suffered so long. But I know it is you who brings comfort. Come into my heart today, be my rain in the midst of the desert.

In the years preceding junior high, Karth had lived a peaceful life. He grew up in a happy Cambodian home, and his parents had always provided good care.

But his life was turned upside down in 1975, under the rule of the Pol Pot regime, when the people of Cambodia were thrown into a brutal civil war. It would rage on for more than two decades, and misery, destruction, and death were to become a daily reality.

The memories from the war are painful for Karth to recall. My whole family had lives of hopelessness, and we no longer saw anything beautiful, only blood, death, and hearing the sounds of weapons. After Pol Pots regime ended in 1979, only four members of my family were still alive.

As Karth grew older, he resolved to become a valued employee in the workforce.

He believed that if he worked hard enough, the government would be less likely to draft him into the military and face more death and misery on the Khmer Thai border.
It was as a manager of a restaurant that Karth first met Pastor Dara, a Christian trained for evangelism by the Bible Network. Pastor Dara was well liked and respected by all the employees of the restaurant, in all his visits he always exhibited joy and integrity.

Pastor Dara regularly shared the Gospel with Karth, and even led him through a Bible study. When Karth completed the Bible study, Pastor Dara gave him a brand new Bible to take home. In it he wrote, May you find wisdom and knowledge in this treasured book.

It was not long after receiving the Bible, that Karth had his life transforming vision. God had been working on his heart for quite some time, and he could no longer deny that it was Christ who could fill the void in his life.

After Karth had asked God to forgive him of his sins, he felt a sense of peace and joy that was beyond all worldly explanation. Unable to keep it inside, he began to praise God through song. He vowed to follow the Lord, wherever He might lead.

Today Karth is serving God as the National Coordinator of Evangelism and Discipleship for Bible Network in Cambodia. He has a passion for reaching his country through these Bible studies, that others may also know the hope that only comes from the Lord.

I am bringing lost souls to Christ, he says, to the One who brings love and fellowship, and unites people, and does not bring division to the people.

I thank the Lord, who saved me from the wickedness of the world. And for Pastor Dara, who brought salvation to my life, and also my whole family.