My teammate, our contact, and I met at 9:30 P.M last night to begin our red light district prayer walk here in Vietnam. Before heading out, the three of us spent an hour in prayer really focusing in on what God had for the night and to really unify us together.
I began my prayer with, “God, I thank you that you break my heart for what breaks yours”, but I didn’t realize that would be the outlying theme of the entire night.
The “red light district” here is actually the backpacking/ party area. Every street you walk down is FILLED with bars, massage and nail spas, and more hostels than you could ever imagine. On a two-block radius from where we stay, we counted at least 38 hostels the other day!! During the day, this area is BEAUTIFUL, after 10 P.M. it is a totally different story!
As we started our walk last night, the streets were immersed with intense smells of cologne, cigarettes, and booze. You couldn’t take one step without seeing huge, neon signs lighting the streets. By this time, people already had way too much to drink and were passed out in different bars. Within the first 5 minutes, I stepped over two piles of vomit and saw a women get her purse stolen by two men on a motorbike.
As the spirit led us to a bar, we witnessed one of the ladies finishing her shift and trying to hurry out quickly. She held her young son’s hand and tried to get him out of harms way fast. A large, white man forced himself at her to get her to pay attention and wouldn’t stop grabbing her arm. It started to heat up, so the woman and the boy started talking louder to get him to leave them alone. The man wouldn’t stop and continued to hassle and grab her! As they turned the corner, I lost sight of them, but it did open my eyes to what we potentially were walking into.
Still through it all, I was not afraid.
I knew that the Holy Spirit was with us, and that He called me for these exact moments. It made my heart beat even harder for these princesses!!
We sat down at a table outside of this bar and ordered two diet cokes so we could say that we are paying customers. As soon as we get seated, a young girl comes up and started talking to me. She had on a nothing but a black, tiny bra, black cheeky shorts, and extremely tall, gold, platform shoes. Her face was covered in caked on make-up and her lips coated with fire engine red lipstick.
As the young girl started talking, you could tell that she was wondering what we were doing in a bar like this. What could we possibly get from sitting in a bar with half naked women? As she continued to talk, she folded her arms over her stomach. It was obvious she started to get uncomfortable and wanted to cover herself as much as possible. As I noticed her beginning to recluse, I started telling her things that I found beautiful about her and she began to relax again.
That’s all these women want! They yearn for LOVE! They want to know that they are BEAUTIFUL, and that is what God has called me here to do!
After she walked off, another young girl came up whom I sat with for 3 hours and just spoke with one-on-one. During this time, she taught me Vietnamese and I taught her English. Through drawing pictures and the little verbal communication we had, I heard her life story. I learned about her two young children and how her husband left her after she got pregnant. She told me how her mother keeps her children while she works 2 hours away from them in the city, and that she has 4 sisters, one of which works with her there. The girl called her over, and all three of us continued to talk.
While speaking with the girl and her sister, there was a small fruit that sat on the table beside us. I picked it up and asked the younger girl what it was called. As she started to explain, I realized that it was in the shape of a heart. So I took my pen and drew a heart on a piece of paper and beside it wrote out the word heart in English and she told me how to say it in Vietnamese.
She then held the fruit up to where my heart is and said, ”Just like your heart”.
I replied, “And just like yours”.
She looked away quickly and said, “I don’t have a heart. The one I had was broken”.
When I asked her why her heart was broken, she told me it was because her boyfriend left her here years ago. After she said this she started to shy away, so I changed the subject quickly to bring her back. Afterward, we gave hugs and said our final goodbyes.
When I got home around 2:15 A.M, I logged onto facebook, and my friend posted this Bible verse as her status.
Psalm 34:17-18:
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;?he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted ?and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
This completely reaffirmed what I knew this night was about.
These broken hearts need restoration.
They need to know the love of our Heavenly Father.
God has an incredible way of meeting us wherever we are. He knows all of our pain and chains that we continue to hold onto daily. It isn’t just these women that He cares about. He cares about YOU! While we continue to hold onto our our past, our anger, struggles of everyday life, or whatever it may be, God is telling you it’s time to give them over to Him. He will bear those chains for you!
God IS close to the brokenhearted and WILL save those who are crushed in spirit.
I only have 2 weeks to be fully funded and have about $750 left to raise! Again, I want to say thank you all SO MUCH for all the help you have already given! WE ARE SO CLOSE! I ask that if you are led to, please donate a tax-deductible amount under the SUPPORT ME! tab. I can not tell you how extremely humbled and grateful I am for the help I have already received this far! I love you guys!!!!!
