Flashes of Hope
I walked down the street and I was flooded by flashes.
The neon lights were flashing the names of the bars. The 69 Bar. The Freedom Bar. The Mickey Mouse Bar. There are hundreds of them crammed into little side-streets off the main road. The main road has men, women, and children shoving flyers into your face. Everybody wants me to come to their bar. As I walk by the bar, the girls pretend to be excited to see me – they are desperate for me to come to their bar.
As I walked I heard the music pumping. It was good dance music. I am torn. My brain wants to revert back to the days I frequented the clubs and bars myself. I hear Sweet Child of Mine playing as I walk by a bar. I really had to resist the urge to throw my hands in the air and start singing along. I was struggling with flashbacks of myself when I used to think that dance clubs and bars were cool places to hang out. I kept flashing back to the way I was before and then flashing back to the present situation. I had to force myself to focus.
“Look around you, Amanda. Look at their faces.”
A different reality flashed in front of me when I looked through God’s eyes.
A reality of hopelessness. It was everywhere.
A HOT guy walked by me.
FLASH.
I looked down at my nasty, war-torn clothes and started to feel gross.
FLASH back to focus.
NO!!! I’m not here for that.
I looked up and saw some girls shaking their stuff on the bar tops.
FLASH to my 21st birthday. Did I really do that??? NO…stop thinking like that!!! Look at their faces, Amanda. Look at their faces. What do you see??
Hopelessness. Despair. Death.
Not just in the bar girls, but in the tourists who want so desperately to “fit in”, to “be cool”, and to “have a good time”.
I remember the days when I thought that is what life was all about. Maybe it wasn’t as dark of a scene, but it was still dark. Thank you, God, for your redeeming love!!!
Everywhere I looked, there were flashes of things that were wrong…dead wrong. I turn and see a girl holding a sign that says #1 in ass-smacking fun and then the name of the club. Really? Did I really just see that?? Is this reality?? I see a man watching a girl dancing with a nasty smirk on his face. Anger wanted to flash up in me. But I refused to let it. He is a precious creation of God – just like me. Just like the girl he is watching. God, what do you want me to do here?? How can I make a difference?? Please don’t let me leave here without being a FLASH OF HOPE!!!
I prayed and prayed and prayed.
God, protect me from judgement. God, show me what you are doing here. God, reveal to me your plan for me here tonight. God, give me opportunities to bring HOPE! That’s what you want me to do, right?? ….Bring hope to the hopeless, right?? That’s the cry of my heart right now. I know I’ve got your armor to protect me. Thank you Father, for the belt of truth. Thank you for giving me opportunities to speak the TRUTH to these people. Thank you, Dad, for making me righteous through your son. I can do all things because of your son, and I am perfectly qualified…I am RIGHTEOUS and REDEEMED. God I pray that you protect my mind with the helmet of the hope of salvation. These girls have HOPE. Do not let me believe the lies of the enemy that say that there is no point in what I am doing. There is HOPE.
Then it hit me. HOPE. That is what I want to bring them. We might as well be dead without hope. Ok, so how do I accomplish that?
As we walked, we were led to a bar to talk to some girls. They were AMAZING. They LOVED talking to us. We had a good 30 minutes playing games with them. A flash of hope. They were so easy to talk to. This isn’t as intimidating as I thought. We talked and exchanged some basic information. We were really having fun and enjoying each other.
FLASH.
Some men showed up and they got really distracted. We told them we would come back and I saw it….a flash of HOPE. Maybe they believe me, and maybe they don’t, but I intend on showing up again.
Please please please pray for us during these next few weeks. Pray that God moves in and through us in amazing ways. This is our last few weeks of ministry. I want to make it count!!
P.S. I also still need to raise about $1,038. PLEASE HELP support me to finish the Race!!
