“Remember those in prison as if you were in prison with them. Remember those who are mistreated
as if you were being mistreated.” Hebrews 13:3
I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was in my bunk at the Global Institute… staring at the clock…sobbing. I’m not talking “glistening water drops quietly shimmering down my face” sobbing. I’m talking nasty, ugly, mouth wide open sobbing. I had just gotten back from a training seminar where I was informed and educated on the horrific, ugly thing that is sex trafficking. I began to watch a video on sex trafficking in Cambodia and my world came to a complete stop.
Girls as young as 4 years old.
Did you catch that?
Let me say it one more time.
Girls as young as 4 YEARS old being forced to have sex with grown men.
Right now… while you are tucking in your beautiful daughter or son, there are children being forced into bed.
As I watched this video with a heavy heart and weary eyes, I shuddered and turned away only to turn back at two precious little eyes looking at me inside the screen begging to get out. Within the shattered, abused, broken shell of a young girl…
I can see HER. Who she really is. I can see a princess.
I see a beautiful girl who is treasured, adored, and whose Father delights in her. I see her twirling around in a princess dress, and making up silly rhymes with her new wand (like the 4 year old I nanny likes to do) I see her packing her favorite stuffed animal for show-n-tell, and then climbing up in her bed asking for another story, another glass of water, and another chance to get up and go to the bathroom in hopes to stay awake a little longer. I see her for who she was made to be and the way she was supposed to be treated. She’s supposed be loved, she’s supposed to cherished, and she’s supposed to be safe.
So while the world sees destruction and pain… I see her.
That night on my bunk bed.. I promised God I would go to Cambodia and tell these girls about their Father who loves them and calls them His princess.
So.. why the World Race? God is calling me… and come to find out… Cambodia is one of the destinations.
It’s crazy actually that now three years later I got the opportunity again to work with the organization I did training with. Last Saturday we drove down to Atlanta to hand out roses to the women/children in prostitution or sex trafficking in hopes to share the Gospel with them and give them a chance to be rescued and taken away from the life they are forced to live. As we walked down the isles of the hotels I noticed men being taken up to different rooms… grown men.. or can I call them boys? Because as I am trying to extend love and grace in the name of Jesus, I don’t think they deserve to be called men.
I couldn’t physically place my eyes on the girl the men were being taken up to.. but I could see her. I closed my eyes for a brief second and pictured her… and she was beautiful. She was made for more, so much more. She was kind, she believed in her value and worth, and the beauty of her heart shone on her face.
That day… I made another promise to God. Wherever He called me day to day I would be ALL there. Meaning i’m not living for 7 months from now when I actually leave. I’m living for today and what God is calling me to TODAY. The reality of it is there are people suffering and being held in bondage right in our back yard, but how will they know the hope they can have if no one tells them?
How can they know that we see them for who they REALLY are and who God made them to be?
I can see her…
Because I see HER.
I see a lost 17 year old girl who so desperately searched for love in all the wrong places. She thought another drug, another drink, or another boy would cure the pain that she experienced in her heart but it only left her empty, dry, lonely. She was mistreated, abused, and was her own worst enemy. I see her back then, and I see her now… because she was me.
I see how God can bring beauty from destruction. I see how He can save someone who believes in their heart they are “too far gone to be reached.”
While the world sees heartache, pain, hurt… God sees a purpose, a plan, and a princess.
How will they know if they have not heard? Who will tell them? Whether its here in Atlanta or across the world to Cambodia…
Do we really, truly, genuinely hurt for the lost? Does it just make us worry or will it change us to live like scripture has called us to live as if we were being mistreated like them? Pity causes pointless concern while conviction causes action.
This is why I know I’m sent
This is why I choose to Go
I see her.
X
