Sometimes God asks us to do crazy things. But really, they’re not crazy at all.
A few weeks ago my mom was able to come visit me on the field in the Philippines for the Parent Vision Trip. I’m so glad she got to come work with me, but I’m even more glad that the ministry we were able to work with together was Wipe Every Tear.
Years ago God put the sex trade on my mom’s heart, and through this past year it became the ministry I wanted to do most. Doing something we are both passionate about made the PVT even more amazing than just seeing my mom.
Wipe Every Tear is easily my favourite ministry. What they do is so much more important than just going into the bars of the sex trade and praying for the girls. Many groups go in and pray for the girls, but what they need is a way out. Most of the girls are in the sex trade because they got tricked into it. A lot of them were offered a job and given money, but when they got to Manila there were no jobs for them, but they owe money so they are given skimpy outfits and told to dance onstage until they pay it off. Once the girls have sold themselves, they feel there is nothing better for them and they stay to keep making money even after their debt is paid off.
A lot of the girls are using the money to support their families back home because they come from places with almost no money. Some of them support their parents, some their siblings, and others have their own children to support. Their families, however, do not know that they are making the money by being prostituted. Being in the sex trade is a very shameful thing here in the Philippines. The girls never want their families to know so they tell their families they are waitresses or have other good jobs.
Almost all of the girls want a college education to get a better job, but they cannot afford it.
The girls here in the sex trade are all just normal girls. They are daughters and sisters. They are all very intelligent and hope for better, but often better does not come.
Wipe Every Tear is the ministry that is offering that ‘hope for better’. Wipe Every Tear takes those girls out of the bars, gives them a home, food, and clothing, and pays for their college education. When working with Wipe Every Tear we went into the bars, but we did NOT speak the gospel to the girls. We offered them a way out. We SHOWED them Jesus without ever saying His name. We brought the Kingdom of God TO the bars.
While in one of the bars, some girls came over and asked us to dance, and God told us to go for it and love His daughters by having fun with them. We ended up POLE DANCING with them ON STAGE! And I didn’t think it would make a difference, but the atmosphere changed. A PLACE OF PAIN MOMENTARILY BECAME A CELEBRATION OF JOY. We danced and we laughed. We talked to the girls and we showed them that someone really did care about their happiness. We weren’t just there to use them like their normal customers were.
We talked to many girls and told them the hope that was offered by Wipe Every Tear, and at the end of the week, even though only a few came to see the safe houses, I know God is pleased that those few were saved. And the ones who didn’t show up: God is still working in their lives and there is still a place for them when they are ready. Sometimes it takes months and sometimes years. And that’s because what Wipe Every Tear is too good to be true. But it’s not. It is true. And it’s waiting to offer hope to every one of those girls until all God’s daughters are free.
Working with my mom and Wipe Every Tear was definitely one of the best weeks of my live. God is doing so much through this ministry.
I’ve done many crazy things, like coming on this 9 month trip, or pole dancing on stage in a bar; but when God tells us to do something crazy, it’s usually for a better purpose than the ‘crazy’ you may think it is.
Next time God asks you to do something ‘crazy’, don’t question it, just do it, and you may be surprised what comes out of it.
[You can extend my journey with Wipe Every Tear. I’m working with them May 24th thru June 4th. . They’re having a girls retreat to work with the Ladyboys who are also in the sex trade. You can read about it more in my blog Loving Unconditionally: My New Mission]
