I want to share everything that happened 2 nights ago because it’s something that I never want to forget. January 24, 2015 was the most scary, intense, special, and and memorable night I have ever experienced. It was the night God allowed my team to be a part of an amazing woman’s brave choice to walk away from her old life of abuse, prostitution, and sin, and step into a new life of freedom, safety, and God’s love.
Every Saturday evening, my team goes out to the streets where prostitutes wait for customers. We engage in conversation, pray over them, listen to their stories, and share the gospel with them. The goal is to build trusting relationships with them, and offer them a way out by inviting them to stay at a safe place.(The name can not be disclosed for safety reasons.) The place is safe for these women and provides a place to live, clothing, basic needs, and training to start a career.
Last week, we met a middle aged woman who had spent the majority of her life selling her body in order to satisfy her abusive husband. As we all surrounded her, placed our hands on her body, and prayed blessings over her, a fight broke out a few yards away from us. A group of young adults and teenagers were beating a boy to the ground. We later found out they were fighting over drugs. We left the park that night with heavy hearts.
But this night was different; we met a woman named Nut (pronounced Newt). She was open from the beginning and immediately told us her story. She had been living in an extremely abusive relationship for a year. She has nerve damage in her shoulder and arm from multiple beatings. She has scars down her arms from cigarettes being put out on her skin, clouded vision from alcohol being tossed in her eyes, and bruises on her scalp after being hit by a shovel and rocks. He followed her everywhere, even after she started working on the street, making sure she had no way to escape. She told us multiple times she wanted to leave him, but she felt trapped, and feared for her life. She said she never had more than 30 baht (less than a dollar) to her name at a time, so she didn’t know how she would survive if she left him. Every time she did try to run away, he followed her, and beat her. 3 months ago, she began to sell her body on the streets of Yamo Park to try to provide for herself better.
Tears welled up in all of my teammate’s eyes as we listened to her heartbreaking story. After she finished, her voice changed to a whisper and she told us not to turn around and look, because the abusive man in her story was sitting behind us on a bench. In that moment, I felt so much anger towards him, it took everything I had not to turn around and glare at him. I did not see a dirty prostitute in front of me. I saw a beautiful, broken woman who was desperately seeking to be rescued from this life. God gave me the ability to see her with His eyes; eyes full of abundant love. After our prayer, she told us she wanted out, and she was ready to leave him if we could help her. She said she was honestly scared for her life, and could not handle living with this much fear and pain daily. It was time for Nut to finally escape this life, and move to another city with the safe place for a fresh start.
But it wasn’t that easy. There was no way for us to sneak Nut out of the park without the man following her to attack us. We developed a plan to leave Nut for an hour so the man would leave for dinner around 8, and then we would come back and sneak her away before he returned. My team spent the next hour in prayer. We prayed Nut would be safe for the next hour, she wouldn’t change her mind, and we would find a safe place for her to stay that night. However, when we returned, the man had not left for dinner. He was still there; waiting and watching. But it was time to leave and Nut made the brave choice to leave him anyways. My team formed a circle around her in protection, and we proudly walked out of Yamo Park for the last time. As we made it onto our Songthaew safely, we all cheered with joy because our sister was free. She was finally free from her life of constant fear.
It was so surreal that God allowed us to play such a part in rescuing this woman. We found a nice hotel for
her to stay at and split the cost between my teammates and I. She told us over and over again how happy and free she felt. We spent the next two hours singing hymns, praying, and loving this woman as best as we could. I have never been more proud of my team as I watched them humble themselves before God in this moment. Two of my teammates kneeled on the floor and washed her feet, as some of us sang hymns. To represent the beginning of her new life, Nut snapped the SIM card from her cellphone in half. As we fellowshipped with each other, Nut told us a story about her dream from a couple days ago. She dreamed that a group of elephants came to rescue her saying, “We have come to save you, Nut!” And she rode away to freedom on their backs.
She looked at all of us and said, “You are the elephants who saved me!”
I still get chills when I think about this night because the presence of God was so clearly evident. God had been there from the beginning; fighting for Nut, and she was finally chosing Him. My teammate, Shelby, led her in prayer, and she gave her life to Him right in front of us. There were tears of joy in all of our hearts that night, and I feel so blessed to have been a part of this woman’s journey.
The next morning, she was safely transported to the safe place in another city to begin her new life of freedom. That afternoon, we all sat around the coffee shop after church. I was actually starting this blog. I glanced up from my computer, and the abusive man was standing at the door, staring directly at us. His eyes were full of anger. Since Nut never returned to him that night, he was livid. I have never felt fear like that before. But I can’t help but think the fear I felt in that moment, was just a tiny sliver of the fear Nut lived with everyday. I thanked God she was already safe at Pattaya. God was really watching over us that day because we never lock the coffe shop door, but by the grace of God, it was locked and everyone was safe inside. He angryly tried to open it multiple times, and eventually left down the street. We were afraid he would return drunk and angry in the middle of the night, but again, God wrapped His loving and safe arms around us through the night.
I am so amazed that God allowed me to play a part in this story, and humbled by His goodness. We need to continue to pray for Nut and all the women at Yamo park.
