I can feel the base of the music throughout my body as we walk into the bar. My heart beats faster, I wipe the sweat from my face, my mind begins to race as I scan the bar and look for a place to sit down. My chest instantly hurts as I look up, my heart breaks as I try to process the darkness that dances around me. I ask the Lord to slow down my thoughts, quiet my heart and the chaos within.
I watch as a beautiful 5 year old girl dances innocently, full of joy in ignorant bliss, as the bright lights flash around her. She looks up to see a man untie her moms bikini bottom and slip her some money. Her mommy continues to dance on top of the bar to entertain the lies and emptiness that dwell within a man. He slips her another bill, she dances, he confirms the lies that her worth comes from the money he has to offer.
God, I know you are here.
Completely unaware of the toxic reality this mother is creating for her baby girl. The dreams that are being created are built from a foundation of lies that have become truth in a broken world. These chains of bondage have not been broken, and have welcomed new generations into a world where the reality is that lust is everything, life is empty, and love is something you have to buy to pay the bills. A reality where your body is an object to satisfy a mans needs rather than a gift to be treasured.
God, your dreams are so much bigger than this.
Where the foundation of her reality is to stand on top of a bar, and listen to the lies that are constantly being whispered in her ears, to keep her hands wrapped around a pole and her feet walking in circles; as her shame, guilt, fear and unworthiness sit below her and take pictures, and videos to constantly remind her of the life she are trapped in. A place where identity is created in lust, worth is defined in a dollar amount and life is lived to please a society who cares only to be entertained by confusion, desperation, and the lies that have become "truth".
God, fight for your children.
He sits and watches his beautiful 5 year old daughter dancing on the floor, in her unstoppable joy, dancing in the wonder this world has offer. He kneels beside her as good daddy's do, to dance with His baby girl and holds her close as she watches her mommy. He sends His strong beaten, bruised, angels to dance fiercely around her mommy, fighting away the lies, intercepting the harsh tugs and pulls, fighting for His daughters gaze. He fights to fill the deep wounds, rooted in the mans heart as he slips the money in her bikini. He wants so desperately for His son to know that he is a warrior, that God has such big plans for his life. He turns back, He Embraces His daughter as the interaction happens, wrapping her in a blanket of worth, love, and comfort, ready for her to surround her life in, when she realizes her freedom is right before her eyes.
God never stops fighting for His children.
We live in a messy world, full of sons and daughters searching for their way home, searching for ways to fill the desire to be known; in the process and desperation, living in brokenness becomes a way of life, that is covered up and filled with temporary satisfaction. We may live in this world, but how sweet is it that we are not of this world? That we can bring a glimpse of His Kingdom to some of the darkest places, that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus in a place that is crying out for love and truth. It may be a messy world but it was created in His perfect image. A world full of His lost children, that He created, and knew every intricate detail of their life and, said it was worth it.
That is a small glimpse of the reality we walk in every night when we walk the streets of Bangla Road, Thailand, (the sex capital of the world). In the midst of the darkest place I have ever been, I continue to see the way God is working, seeing the ways His majesty lights up the streets, experiencing His presence move in impactful ways, and witnessing the endless ways he fights for His children.
Where my heart met Yours,
Erica
