Sokreaksa S. Himm was a member of a large family in Siem Reap City, Cambodia when the country fell to the Khmer Rouge on April 17, 1975. Forced to join the exodus to the jungle villages, the whole family was marched to a grave and killed, one by one. Young Reaksa, gravely wounded, was covered by the bodies of his brothers and sisters. In time, he escaped the Killing Fields and fled to a Thai refugee camp.
He eventually made his way to Canada and attended Tyndale University, graduating with a Bachelor of Religious Studies degree in 1993. Continuing his studies, he earned a Master of Arts in Christian Education (Providence Theological Seminary, 1996) and a Doctor of Psychology (Southern California University, 2004). He was awarded an honourary doctorate from Providence Theological Seminary in 2007. He is the author of The Tears of my Soul, which describes his journey to freedom, faith, and purpose, and After the Heavy Rain, which tells of his journey of forgiveness and reconciliation to the people who killed his family.
In his book, Shepherd of My Soul he describes his journey from the deep dark valley of his life to recovery. As an ex-PTSD sufferer, life after a major loss is a matter of learning how to cope with emotional and psychological crises and traumas. The more he learns about his own emotional and psychological crises the more he becomes aware of his need to depend on the sufficient grace of the Good Shepherd.
A moving and profoundly insightful meditation on Psalm 23 by one who journeyed through the terrible valley of the shadow of death in the Killing Fields, where he witnessed and barely escaped the cruel slaughter of his father, mother, and siblings, emerging as a broken and deeply wounded orphan. Anyone who has read this story in the author's Tears of My Soul (Monarch 2003) and After the Heavy Rain (2007 Monarch) will be stirred and spiritually nourished in reading this book. I highly recommend it.
Dr. Jonathan Bonk,
Research Professor of Mission
You will treasure insights that will lift you from our own shallowness, into deeper regions of a life where accompanying grace both nurtured and liberated.
Dr. Brian C Stiller,
Global Ambassador, the World Evangelical Alliance
This is the story of how God's love rescued and resuscitated an orphan of genocide. It will give anyone who has felt broken by trauma hope they can recover too.
Dr. Grant Mullen,
Author of Emotionally Free
Reaksa's own life and pain-- an account which he generously shares with us in the hope that we too will discover a Shepherd of our soul when we face our deepest sorrows and trauma. It invites us to face our pains in the light of Psalm 23, and in doing so, is a gift to us all.
Dr. Brian Harris,
Former Principal, Vose Seminary, Perth Australia; Director AVENIR Leadership Institute
Sokreaksa (Reaksa) Himm was a member of a large family in Siem Reap City, Cambodia when the country fell to the Khmer Rouge on April 17, 1975. Forced to join the exodus to the jungle villages, the whole family was marched to a mass grave and killed, one by one. Young Reaksa, gravely wounded, was covered by the bodies of his brothers and sisters. Life after a major loss is a matter of learning how to cope with emotional and psychological crises and traumas. The more he learns about his own emotional and psychological crises, the more he becomes aware of his need to depend on the sufficient grace of the Good Shepherd.
