Exactly one week from today I will arrive back in Colorado Springs! The time has flown by.. just like I was told it would. But at the same time it feels like I’ve been here forever. I miss my family and my home. I miss Oklahoma! I miss driving my car through the streets of Edmond. I miss my friends and spending time with my sisters. But God has done so much through this trip and He has shaken things inside of me. I woke up this morning thinking about what a blast it has been.. me and my Jesus, hand in hand, as He shows me the world and where His heart is. His heart is in Phnom Penh, Cambodia at a little AIDS Orphanage where abandoned children fight for attention and acceptance everyday. It’s in Bangkok, Thailand breaking for the lost men who wander the streest of Nana Plaza looking for something that can’t be found. It’s in a little secluded village in the province of Chiangmai where the people live there with their families, working in the soy bean fields day in and day out.. for what? It’s in a little stretch of bars in downtown Chiangmai where the bargirls are selling themselves to make money to send home to their families.. they push their dreams aside and tell themselves that there is no other way. And I think.. Me? He chose me? What an honor, that He trusted me with this!
Right now we are in Pattaya, Thailand teaching a free english class for the bargirls who want to learn. And we have three days left until we finally get to go to the island where we will debrief for a few days before we head back to the States.. and it’s so easy to just want to give up now. We’re almost done. We’re tired. It’s been way too hot for way too long, and we just want to go home. And that’s how I’ve felt for the past few days... until today. I taught english for the first time this morning, and we start off with a prayer and then we just sit with the women while the English teacher teaches from the front, and in between new vocabulary we are given a page with the list of words on it and we are to quiz them throughout the calss. Then at the end of the class, one of our girls brought her guitar out and played a song that we had written in english and thai so that they could sing along, while learning new words. The song was Amazing Love, and we sang it first in english and then they sang it in thai as we listened...
“I’m forgiven, because You were forsaken. I’m accepted.. You were condemned. And I’m alive and well, Your spirit lives within me because You died and rose again. Amazing Love, how can it be? That You, my King, would die for me? Amazing Love, I know it’s true. And it’s my joy to honor You. In all I do, I honor You.”
Now, I’m probably gonna sound kind of sappy..silly.. cleche.. whatever you want to call it. But God really spoke to me through this. I looked around the room and listened to these broken women singing of their forgiveness and of God’s great love for them in their own language. They didn’t even understand the weight of what they were singing about. The truth that was ringing out from the open windows of that building, down the streets and into the bars and massage parlors. Who IS this King of glory? How amazing is God when He can cause a gathering of bargirls in the middle of one of the harshest streets of bars in the city of Pattaya and have them singing of His Amazing Love and forgiveness. They don’t even know Him. After the song we prayed a covering over all the women together and then asked if anyone would like to be prayed for one-on-one and I watched one woman raised her hand. One of the Thai staff stood over her chair and put her hands on top of her head and began praying for her in Thai. I don’t know what she was saying, but the woman had tears rolling down her cheeks... and so did I. Who was she? What’s her story? What horrible things has she seen or been through? What kind of fear does she live with? Does she have hope for anything? I’m just a small American girl. I can’t speak their language or relate to the things they’ve been through. But the Holy Spirit lives in me. And He knows her. He knows about the day she was born and how she grew up. He knows how she got stuck working in the redlight district and He knows the desires of her heart. And He loves her.. exactly the same as He loves me. His heart breaks for her hoplessness and lonliness. And in that moment He gave me just a small glimpse of His heart for these women. What a blessing for me to get to play just a small part in God’s huge plan to bring His truth to the lost and broken. When I got home He gave me this verse and song as a promise...
“The sufferings we have now are nothing, compared to the great glory that will be shown to us.” Romans 8:18
“He will allure her. He will pursue her, call her out to wilderness with flowers in His hand. She is responding, beat up and hurting, deserving death. But offerings of life are found instead. She will sing, she will sing, oh to You. She will sing, as in the days of youth. As you lead her away to valleys low.. oh to acres of hope. Here in the valley, walk close beside me. Don’t look back. For, love is growing vineyards up ahead. You have called me Master, and though your in the dark here call me Friend, and call me Lover. Marry me for good. She will sing, she will sing, oh to You. She will sing as in the days of youth, and as You lead her away to valleys low.. to acres of hope. How the story ends is love and tenderness in Him.. not safe, but worth it. So worth it.”
-Acres of Hope by Shane and Shane
So this is our last bit of ministry, then we are going to rest on a little island while we debrief and then we are coming home! Pray for perseverance through the enemy’s plan to discourage us and keep us from finishing what we’ve started. I love you guys and I will be home so soon!
