I wrote at the end of my last blog this paragraph, and I want to elaborate:
“Angie and I had watched a movie on human trafficking prior to our visit at Samaraitana. I have heard of several of the women on my squad watching this movie and being completely broken afterward and I seemed concerned that I didn’t have the same reaction. I processed this with Angie and realized that my heart may be more softened to the offenders. (Not all of you know, but for my master’s in counseling I did my internship with developmentally disabled sex-offenders). I think it is very important to have this experience, but Angie seemed to be correct in her assumption that people can have their hearts broken for the victims or the offenders but that it is often difficult to maintain both. I think I agree with this assessment. I am definitely disturbed and distraught about the world of prostitution but I have more of a heart for reaching and healing the offenders to lead to redemption.”
I wanted to explain this a little more. I think the whole reason I thought about this and even ended up in this line of thinking, is that I was placing judgment on what was impacting me and how it was impacting me. This may have come across that I was placing blame on the prostitutes themselves or even putting them in the light as victimizing their customers. This is not at all what I wanted to portray.
I believe that prostitution is an evil in this world that does not need to exist. I believe that people need to rise up and fight for justice for all parties involved. I just personally believe that my conviction and passion is more for the offenders. I realize that customers are not always offenders. However, when you start to enter into sexual sin I think it often is a slippery slope.
All of this to say, I believe that God is showing me and my squad many of the horrors of this world during this year. I believe that being heart-broken for the things that break God’s heart is a good thing. However, just having a broken heart is not good enough – it needs to be accompanied by action. I hope that in my experiences I can accurately portray what I am thinking and feeling and I hope that it will touch various heart strings of the readers of this blog, but I also pray that it will lead you to action. I pray that you will notice the injustices in this world and rise up to be the hands and feet of Christ to those who need it.
