What am I doing in Thailand?
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:10-13
I came to Thailand to go to bars and hang out…
with prostitutes!
Girls in cute, modest dresses are not the normal people seeking them out.
Soft drinks or juice are not the normal drinks they get bought for them.
A listening ear is not normally offered to them.
Questions they’re asked are not normally about their family or their dreams.
But here we are, defying the norm.
We want to offer these women some mercy.
When we’re not at the bars, we’re interceding, asking God to have mercy.
“Do you have many friends here in Chiang Mai?” I asked.
“No.” she said, firmly.
“No friends?” I asked, taken aback.
“No friends.”
My God, this woman has no friends.
How lonely she must feel all day long, not knowing God is always with her!
Daddy, have mercy!
“If you could do anything, what would you do?” we asked another lady.
“I’d go home. I’d be close to my children, my family, sister. I’d just go home.” she responded, wistfully. Then she shook her head, as if to shake the thought away, and gave us a half-hearted smile.
My God, this woman doesn't get to go home.
Give thanks to the Lord if you have friends who accept you or if you can go home tonight.
Unfortunately, for a prostitute in Thailand that’s not a possibility.
Imagine what it’d be like to live in such blindness, loneliness, and despair.
Please pray for mercy. Pray that we’re able to befriend these women, and give them the hope they need. Pray that we never look down on them, or despise them, or treat them as if they are not as worthy of love as we are.
How loved they are!
How worthy they are!
Christ died for them, too!
If only they knew that!
Daddy, have mercy to save them and rescue them from their hopelessness!
Give them a hope and a future!
Please keep me and my team in your prayers, for God’s renewing strength and grace to pour into these beautiful women, and perhaps also minister to their customers.
