This is a especial story for everyone who has touched my heart with their generous and sacrificial giving, praying, and love. Over the last few days, I’ve been over filled with love that it’s brought me to tears. As a thank you, I want to share one of the most impacting nights of my life since leaving home six months ago.
The story takes place in the red light district of Pattyay, Thailand. I was with my squad leaders Jenni and Caitlin making our way down to Walking Street.
Past the men with the flyers and the girls standing outside the go-go bars we marched on. I looked around to see what the spirit would lead me to but found nothing. Just than, an old lady caught my eye. As we passed each other, she fell behind me. I turned and saw someone struggling to get her up on the curb. She seemed to be talking to herself unable to get up. When she did manage to stand on her feet, she couldn’t balance herself. To every side people just looked and walked by. I held her up as I asked the stand keepers what she was saying. They informed me that she was drunk, that she was known for doing this sort of thing. They continued amusing themselves.
I asked Caitlin to watch over the old lady as I got her some water. With the bottle opened and pressed to her lips, she attempted to chug and spill the water over herself. People smiled and laughed all the same. She stepped away and tried to dance in a way to almost embarrasse herself in front of others. She would come close to falling, and I never let her go to far. At one point she took a few steps and collapsed on the floor. I felt lost a helpless not knowing what she needed. As she sat there my squad leaders keeled reached out to her. She began to say something to them.
As I sat down beside the old lady, she grabbed my hand. I met her eyes. I don’t know Thai. I had never seen her before and I don’t know where she came from. Something happened when I held her hand. A bridge between our souls was the Holy Spirit. I saw years of hurt and pain through the the tears in her brown eyes. The suffering was physically pouring out as she spoke. Through her hands saw a cry for forgiveness, love, and redemption…. A cry for Jesus.
As her heart bleed before me, I lost sight of her through the tears that consumed my eyes and my soul. I cannot tell you if it was five or ten minutes that went by. I don’t know who walked by and who stood a watched. In that moment in time, I experienced and felt a pain that Jesus must have felt here on earth. Her heart became my heart. Her soul became my soul. In that union of compassion and love without words, we prayed. With an intensity and desperation, we seeked forgiveness and for freedom. As she cried and pleaded, she began taking all her money out. A symbol of abandonment, of surrender. She thought she had to pay for the prayer. She thought she had to pay for a gift she didn’t know she had. She didn’t know that someone already did that for her. With tears in my eyes and a broken heart, I prayed that I could tell her that “Jesus has set her free” with my eyes. I prayed that she would know that that moment wasn’t some guy that stopped, but God. That it wasn’t karma, it was Jesus that came to find her on the floor and left her up.
And like that she stood up, and walked away. There was a change in the air. It was as if she woke up. As if the Holy Spirit had transformed us. I saw her walk away without a word and I knew in my heart that whatever God needed to do, he did. That we were instruments for what God to tell deliver His message. The mission felt completed.
All this was possible because of you. That moment of prayer for healing and love, that was you. I don’t know if I could have been strong enough to do that if I didn’t have the example of love from you. You are God’s instructions to tell me what I need to know. I thank you. Just like the lady, over and over I find myself on the floor, than you come along and says “you are worthy of being loved, you are loved, and I love you.” I pray that through these words you know how you came to me in a moment of need. Thank you again. I love you.
I’m almost fully funded but know that I’m not the only that is down. I’ll continue to share and post the link for others who need the same help and love you’ve shown me. Please don’t stop praying for us too, lol. Thank you again.
