Chiang Mai, Thailand
I stood six stories up on the roof of Zion Cafe overlooking the city of Chiang Mai. To my right were glaring billboards and advertisements. To my left the street was glowing from all the bar signs. And yet….
It was still so dark.
I looked up into the black sky in time to see several paper lanterns make their way up into the darkness. Their light was so small compared to the night, but it was enough to draw people's attention. I watched as the lanterns climbed higher and higher until they were too high. The fire was quenched and the paper began to fall back to the ground.
It is hard for me to imagine what the girls in the bars are going through. Some of them are in their teens and were sold into prostitution by their parents. Others decided to be there because of the illusion of glamor and the allure of money. But, as one former prostitute shared with us, "Nobody wants to make love with someone they don't love."
I thought of the girls that had been reached out to by various teams and staff from Zion. They were given a way out. They had truth spoken into their lives. They were learning. They were growing. Seventy percent of those girls returned to prostitution.
Seventy percent.
Why? The money? Their damaged sense of worth? It's all they know? Pressure from their families? Fear? I don't understand and I don't have the answers, but my prayer changed that night on the roof. I began to pray for an unquenchable fire. The love of my God is more than enough to pierce the darkness of Chiang Mai. He is raising up an army. An army of young woman who know who they are as daughters of the King. An army with a solid fire that cannot be snuffed out by the darkness. The higher they go, the brighter they will become until all of Thailand is lit up by the glory of the one true God.
"If, therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you." Luke 11:36
Entirely illuminated.
