Meet Aaron.
A 16 year old Thai boy.
He doesn't look very Thai though does he?
He's actually half Thai. His mom had him with a client from The States.
His mom is a prostitute and Aaron was taken out of the industry less than a year ago and now lives at the Abba House Foundation.
I spend 1 to 2 hours every day with Aaron. We talk about the Bible, worship, and anything else that can translate through his broken English and my non-existent Thai.
He won't talk about his story though. None of the boys here will. We were told day one that you don't share your "shameful" past in the Thai culture. They are all about saving face and to share where you have come from would be considered a disgrace.
Interesting huh?
I get the saving face thing, that's common pride in America… But not sharing where you've come from? That was and still is a challenge for me to comprehend to be honest.
We, as a team, can't even share our stories with the people we meet here. To say, "I once was this but thanks to Jesus I am now this…" would only cause your Thai listeners to think "…she once did what?!" "Discredit all she says".
Challenging.
But yet God still moves, it just looks a little different.
Today we taught a class about worship. We explained how there are many ways to worship, not just with a song and instruments. We explained about God being Creator and how he is the author of creativity and because we are made in His image that we also have the capacity to create.
So the class activity for the day was this… we handed each boy a blank piece of paper and had pens and markers spread out on the table. We then told them, “Create. You can worship God even if all you have is a blank piece of paper and a pen.”
Some of the boys started writing, some begin drawing pictures, and others started folding the paper into shapes.
30 minutes later everyone was looking around the room done and ready to share what their worship was.
Aaron was last to share and this was what he created…
He then explained why this was his worship through a translator.
“This is a car. When you drive your car you have a destination and you drive yourself there. My worship is one of surrender. God knows my destination and he has a plan for my life, so I surrender my control to him in worship.”
After the translator finished, I was speechless and humbled. A 16 year old was laying down control of his life knowing that God was directing his path. I’m sorry, a 16 year old who has never met his father, who learned prostitution from his mother as a way of living and who has been recently rescued out of that life.
“God has a plan for my life, so I surrender my control to him in worship”. – Aaron
You never quite know where and when God will speak to you. And even more unexpected are the people He uses.
Today I sat around a table surrounded by six untold stories and heard the Lord tell me loud and clear… “Surrender. Trust. Worship.”
A popular verse and one we talk about often on my team is Jeremiah 29:11-13.
"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Today the teacher became the student, I needed the lesson Aaron.
Surrendering,
Jolene
