Telling Her Story

She was a missing child at the age of 13. With her face on
the side of a milk cartoon, she was no longer an innocent little girl, but
rather a victim of modern day sex slavery. 
Sold for a price to men, this is the life she learned to live.  Drugs soon entered her world as a means to
cope and block out the pain.  She awoke
to this life everyday. This was her normal.

 

But my point is that it WAS her normal.

 

One day battered and bruised she finally turned to the Lord
with open hands and an open heart.  She learned
to surrender in order to survive. And everyday since then she has been taking
steps from surviving to thriving.  Clean
and sober, she is making her way in this dark world, learning the worth of the
light that only she can carry.

 

I met her in March at a street church for the homeless in
Dallas.  My heart broke as she shared her
story with me.  She makes candles for the
two children she bore but has never known. 
Each candle is prayed over in the name of those two sweet faces that her
heart so longs for. We became instant friends one night as the Lord gave me
words of beauty, worth, grace and hope to speak over her.  And being the Father that He is, the Lord
gave her words that spoke and hit a tender part of my heart as well. As we both
sat in tears, my heart took a snapshot of the moment and I haven’t been able to
let go of it ever since.

 

This week I went back to visit her at the church. We
screamed with excitement when we first saw each other.  That night I sat in tears yet again as she
shared her testimony of where she now stands. A graduate of the Christian
Women’s Job Corps, and living in her own apartment, this woman is transformed
in the name of Jesus Christ.  She was
hired on full time at the church and is leading other woman into the hands of the
Lord with a confidence that just oozes of the Holy Spirit. 

 

That night after sharing her testimony, she went outside to
the parking lot where she found a young girl selling herself into the
night.  My dear friend simply brought her
inside, got her a plate of food and a change of clothes, and then offered to
bring her home with her that night.  My
heart broke all over again as I sat in awe of how the story comes full
circle.  What a loving God we serve.

 

The youth group I brought to the church that night was
amazed by my friend’s story, and were awakened to the truth of modern day slavery.  The reality of her story shook them in a way
that they were not expecting. They were expecting to come and be busy with “do”
work: building, cleaning, tangible things to do with their hands to make a
difference.  What they soon learned is
that relationships are so very valuable. 
The learned the power of a person’s story.  The tangible thing was no longer their hands
but rather ears to listen and a voice to continue to tell the story.