I found myself standing in the the middle of the bar street crying; there was a huge fight in the bar.
It was one of those ugly crys with the snot and blotchy, red face. The fight was intense. All I could do was cling to the arms of my teammate and pray with her because only God could give us the strength to do what had to happen next.
This girl, her name is Jo. She wanted out. We befriended her. We soon found out she wanted more to her life than the temporary pleasure she could offer her male customers each night. She often lied about being on her period so she would not have to sell her body, especially to the older ones.
She warned us that most of the time the men were nice in the bars, but once she got them to the hotel room they changed.
She wanted to escape from a life of giving her body to customer after customer. She went dancing with my team at night, all because at the Disco Tech she could say “no” to the men around her. She was offered a job through our ministry program, she quit her bar job and she is now free. She even went on adventures with my team to explore waterfalls and such. Just as the new life rises from the waters of baptism, she was no longer a “lady of the night” but a 19 year old girl coming out of the water.
This is a photo of some of my team with Jo at the waterfall.
So there we have it. Spiritual battles happening right before our eyes. Satan wanting the souls that belonged to God.
I was warned.
Before I left for the streets on my last night of bar ministry my teammate pulled me to the side in our bedroom. She told me that the night before she was being strangled by a demon in our room. She cast him out. She told me that tonight was the night Satan was going to try to do whatever he could to stop what God was doing.
Satan wanted Jo.
I walked to the bars that night, fear crept within me. I did not know what to expect. I was just warned to keep going. How can anything be wrong? Jo quite the bars the night before. I was so blessed to be able to watch her day by day. She became happier, more modest, and full of this new found freedom.
Then I was slapped in the face.
Walking past the bar this girl used to gather her customers. We saw her. Dressed in the same attire we met her in the first night. Her makeup was dark and seductive. Heels high. Bust exposed. Mini skirt. Cropped shirt that hardly covered her chest.
What were we to do? I felt so much like I was back at square one and that the situation was too late for Jo. After much intercession with the Lord, we knew we had to return to her bar that night. I watched as my teammate sobbed as she embraced Jo in her arms. Jo cried as well. No one had ever loved her in this way.
The sin of hate kept rising in my chest as her 60 year old male “boyfriend” tried to defend himself to me. He was intense and angry that we were even there. He voice filled with defensive rage.
Jo was no longer an employee of the bar. Now a customer. She was attending with a man who is clearly using her. One of her many “boyfriends”. She felt loved by him because he actually buys her things instead of just taking from her.
My mind drifted to Hosea. My thoughts raced to how many times God had to keep chasing after me because I was just to ignorant to grasp that He wanted me.
I went back to our hostel that night feeling like we had failed the mission. But really God did amazing things through us. In just one month this girl became a friend to foreign girls and quit the only lifestyle she knew. Yes, she is still living in a life of confusion and sin. But aren’t we all? God is still pursuing Jo. My ministry boss is keeping in contact with her and is going to find her a job far enough away to where she will not have to fall into this life again. The gospel is slowly being shared with Jo. We are still facebook friends. We are friends who will not stop loving her just like God has not stopped loving us.
If my team has learned one thing this month I would say the theme has been love. To love unconditionally. To love when it is hard to watch. To love when you hurt. Please continue to pray for the bars in Chang Mai even though we are now leaving this place. New teams are going to be arriving. God is still pursuing these girls.
Think back to how many people had to enter your life for you to be rescued from sin and enter into the life with Christ.
Luke 18:27 “what is impossible for man is possible with God.”
