Her eyes met mine, and she didn’t break. I accepted the stare off and the wheels of my mind began to turn. What is it she wants from me? What could I possibly give her? The spirit speaks; It’s what the Father has that she’s after. This woman in is desperate need of Jesus. I don’t look away. She burst into tears. We don’t know this woman. All we did was buy her a meal and she told us the struggles of her life. We told her she was beautiful and we hadn’t stopped praying for her since we met her. The light prevailed, and the spirit embraced this woman on a level we never could.
Yesterday we met a woman on a path to a coffee shop. She asked us for money, but we invited her into community instead. We paid for a meal for her, and she poured out her heart to Jesus. She told us that her family owned the coffee shop and they beat her because she is strong. That the men there have sex with her and abuse her. She wanted out, and we wanted her situation to change. Before Jesus breathed his last he said “Telestai,” meaning it is finished. Everything we as humans do that is deplorable towards one another, was finished. Mental,physical, and emotional abuse, was put to rest at the cross. He gave us a choice to either accept our place in eternity with Him, or deny our rightful place. Just like we have a choice to use our free will for evil, or for good.
That whole situation sucked. It really did. Seeing the hurt overtake her stoic face, and melt over her entire body was HARD to watch. Trying to comfort her in a place where none of us had ever been close to was PAINFUL. But where sin and shame run deep, the Fathers grace is more.
To the world this could easily seem like a defeat. But to us, we had to remember that Jesus has already won. He carried the pain of this woman, and He marched. He marched with HIS sweat, and HIS blood, and hung with that pain on the cross. And guess what? He did the same for those men, and anyone who chooses to do evil in this world. The same Jesus who died for that woman, also died for those men. At first I was LIVID. Asking God why, and praying that God would reign down fire and deal out punishment among them. I wanted them to be desecrated and laid low beneath the earth into the fiery pits where they belonged. Those were my exact thoughts and even prayer. And you know what God told me?
Do you know nothing of my love?
I then thought about the song Behold by Hillsong and it sings “How great your love is.” I was silenced. Not only does my God love me whose no better than these men, but he has the capacity to love people who completely and utterly deny him in all that they do. He is able to look past the sinner and love the PERSON. HOW. In my mind it’s so difficult to separate, but my God does it. Your God does it. Our God does it. The blood of the lamb covers a MULTITUDE of sins.
The Lord was able to turn something so horrible into something where I could see the light at the tunnel, when it seemed like the darkness would overtake it. He opened my eyes to see how he loves this woman and his heart towards her and these men. It can be so hard to offer hope in such a dark place, but that’s where Jesus comes in and a Holy encounter takes place. He meets them there, and the darkness is broken.
Love,
Alisha
