And just like that our 4 months in Asia is over! Wow what an incredible 4 months it has been. So many ups and downs, highs and lows. I am really thankful for this past month especially. My time in The Philippines has been truly life giving. The first part of the month I got help at a KIDS MINISTRY. We did a lot of feedings for the impoverished communities, I got to DELIVER A BABY!!!, and we worked a lot with their local kids home. We got to love on and play with the kids there. I’m not gonna lie I have done some extensive research into adoption after seeing those babies. To end the month a group of us went to a different part of The Philippines and worked with an amazing organization. This organization helps rescue girls out of human/sex trafficking.
We were able to go into bars and do bar ministry to the girls we saw. This organization offers the girls a free education and place to stay. So, they can get out of where they are and start a new life. This past week was honestly one of the best weeks of my life, and also one of the saddest. I went into those bars and saw girls my age and younger having to give themselves to men well into their 60s. I saw BROKENESS. I saw women that were broken working in the bars, and I saw men broken who were buying the girls. I saw broken bar owners, broken people walking the street of “walking street” where the red light district is. I saw people who were/are simply hurting in a deep way and in need of hope and healing.
After talking to some of the bar girls and hearing their stories I discovered they are just like me and you. Totally normal, and have dreams. They are in their 20s trying to send money home to their families in order to send their younger siblings to school. Some of them have little babies they are trying to support. They are just trying to love and honor their families, and in exchange they are having to give themselves away. A lot of them think this is their only option, because you have to have a degree to get any job in The Philippines, except being a bar girl or waitress. They are promised better lives by their traffickers and then are left stuck in a cycle of darkness. I talked to one girl who had a little boy and her dream was to be a secretary. A secretary. That’s her dream. Her dream is just to take care of her son. My heart was so broken. I saw a man try to buy a little boy off the street. My heart was broken. There was so much darkness and corruption on that street. However, there was also so much of the power of God.
We would do worship nights before we did bar ministry every night, and I’ve never felt the presence of God so strong as I did in those nights of worship. The devil thinks he is slick, but he is just stupid and is DEFEATED. As hard as he tried to show his power in that area of The Philippines the power of God was SO MUCH MORE. There was honestly no scale and no comparison. We serve a God of the IMPOSSIBLE. THERE IS NO WALL HE CAN’T BREAK DOWN. THERE IS NO LIE HE CAN’T BREAK DOWN. We serve a God who thrives in the IMPOSSIBLE. We serve a God who is most glorified in our weaknesses. When we are weak we are completely dependent on HIM. That dependence when things seem overwhelming and we don’t know what we can really do to help, that dependence is where God shows up and shows out.
The thing that God just kept telling me as we walked into those bars was that He loved every single person there. I’m not gonna lie I wanted to punch all of those men in the face. When I saw the main guy who traffics under aged girls I literally devised a plan that I would punch him in the mouth, one of my friend knee him where the sun don’t shine and my other friend kick him in the stomach. haha!! But then I remembered that’s not GRACE and that’s not the love of God. This past week really opened my eyes to see that every single person around me, around us is broken and needs love, and needs to be seen and heard. That annoying lady you work with who gets on your last nerve needs grace. The guy behind you in line rushing you to go needs grace. The super rude cashier needs grace. Your sister needs grace. You need grace. I need grace. We all need a little dang grace! This past week has shown me that. It has shown me that we are all completely broken and just need grace and we need to give it to those around us.
Christ a literally a part of who you are when you are a Christian. Every interaction you have with people is Christ having it with people, because He is literally a part of your being. Is how you are interacting with people a way you would want Christ to interact with people? Show more grace, give more love. I know I need to too.
Liv
