(Another blog from our time in Thailand):
Oh my goodness, God
is so legit! Let me tell you about it. 🙂
We met a couple at the beginning of the month who we’ve been
working with on and off throughout our time here; Craig and Sherri are
missionaries from Canada who have been in Thailand for about two years now with
their three boys. They’re planning on staying indefinitely unless the Lord
tells them otherwise, so they’re super committed and passionate about seeing
Jesus’ healing, freedom, and redemption come to this nation. They are
incredible! We’ve had the opportunity to sit down and chat with them on
numerous occasions and it’s been such a blessing to get to know them and learn
from them. They’re wise, fun, hilarious, and sold out for the Lord… just what I
like!
Craig and Sherri help run PHOP (Pattaya House of Prayer), partner with the Tamar Center
(associated with Project LIFE), and prophetically minister to people on the
streets of Pattaya by trying to encourage, speak life, and ultimately show them
the LOVE of Christ. We’ve prayed and worshipped with them at PHOP a number of
times (which is located in the middle of a street full of bars/ prostitution)
and we’ll actually be having a 24-hour prayer session there this Friday… I’m so
excited!
They often go on outreaches called “treasure huntsâ€� and they invited us to come tonight – so of
course we took them up on the offer! Treasure hunts are basically a form of
prophetic evangelism and consist of asking the Lord who His “treasures� are/
who He wants to bless and how He wants to use us in the process. It’s very
Spirit-led and a ton of fun! The goal is to get together as a group, pray about
the night, and ask God to guide, direct, and show us things as we pray. God
often uses all our senses so we prayed for insight on different sights, sounds,
smells, or just random thoughts; we were told to write anything down that came
to mind while praying, even if it was super bizarre, because then it was
probably from the Lord! I had heard about treasure hunts before but never
actually did one until training camp for the World Race (wow, that was so long
ago!); so I haven’t had too much experience but I was super excited about it… it’s like an amazing adventure with God and
we get to find and bless people in the process! How sweet is that?!
As we prayed we got a bunch of random, descriptive things
that we wrote down on our papers and then shared with each other so we could all
be on the lookout for people or places that fell in line with our “clues�. I
got things like “fishing pole�, “motor boat�, “waves�, “blond hair, spiked up
but still soft�, “walking cane�, “Christmas ornament�, etc. We prayed again and
then set out to look for these things; we decided to head out to the beach
since a bunch of clues seemed to be pointing us to the water.
Three of us had “pole� on our papers and we were soon about
to find out why. As we were walking along the beach we passed a middle-aged man
who was playing on his guitar with the case open; he looked a bit disheveled and
seemed as if he was homeless but attempting to sell his CDs to make a profit.
We walked by and smiled but then Sherri slowed down a bit to look at the CD case;
the name on the CD was Pole – this man’s name was Pole! Confirmation, we thought! So we began talking to him a bit (or
trying to at least… the language barrier made it a little difficult). We told
him who we were, what we were doing, and that God wanted him to know how loved
he was. We spoke words of life into him and asked if we could pray for him; he
accepted and we all gathered around and prayed for blessings on our new friend.
He received it, smiled in gratitude, and thanked us for our prayers.
We continued on our way in search of more treasures; as we
walked we were astonished at how many women and lady boys were lining the beach
walkway, barely dressed in provocative clothing, trying to entice customers so
they could sell their bodies.
[Note: “lady boys�
are common in Thailand; the term is used for men who are prostituting
themselves. However, they don’t look like men anymore (it’s actually extremely
hard to tell them apart until they start talking… they’re gorgeous) because
they dress like women and many of them have undergone sex changes. Apparently
these men think that they’re actually women, and therefore they dress as such
and sometimes go to more drastic measures. It’s clear that there’s a spirit of
confusion in this country.]
I had a bunch of random clues on my paper but the one I felt
like I needed to focus on was someone with “blond hair, spiked up but still
soft.� I kept scanning different groups of people in search of someone who fit
this profile but couldn’t see anyone who did. After walking for awhile Courtney
suddenly got my attention and excitedly pointed out a woman who had this type
of hair; she was standing on the edge of the sidewalk clearly prostituting
herself. Ok, I thought to myself, let’s do this.
Craig, Sherri, Courtney and I went to talk to her and the
others spread out a bit around us to intercede for the conversation; we didn’t
want to bombard or overwhelm her with too many people. We walked up and introduced ourselves, told
her what we were doing, and that God had led us to her that night. She introduced
herself too and surprisingly, she introduced herself as a lady boy – she didn’t
give another name. There’s no way I would have been able to tell unless she had
told us; she was absolutely gorgeous. It
was also surprising to have her introduce herself as such since they generally want
to come off as women; it seemed as if she was convicted yet comfortable enough
with us to share that.
I literally could not
stop smiling the whole time we were talking because I felt the Lord’s love
for her in such an incredible way. As we talked we all asked the Lord if He had
anything specific He wanted to speak into her. I just felt like she needed to know she was loved, that she has not been
forgotten, and that the Lord sees her. Sherri had just been speaking
to her (in Thai) and before I got a chance to ask her to translate what the
Lord had told me, Sherri said she had just told her that she was seen and has
not been forgotten by God. Whoa! Confirmation
in the Spirit!
Right then the lady
boy simply broke down and started crying; the Lord was truly touching and
speaking directly to her in a way only He can. I just smiled in awe and
gratitude – and then I started crying too. I was overwhelmed by the affections
the Lord has for this girl; I felt like He was allowing me to see and feel with
His eyes and heart what He feels when He looks at His beloved daughter. He
allowed me to feel His love and pour it out to her through my eyes – God let me
love her with my eyes.
We all got a few more words for her and continued speaking
life, truth, and love into this girl; we then asked if we could pray and she
gratefully accepted. There was power in that prayer time. We then told her
about Craig and Sherri’s church, invited her to come, and she excitedly said
she would be there on Sunday! The Lord was just wrecking her with His love.
Both Courtney and I then felt led to hug her so we asked if it was ok and then
did so. We each hugged her for a few minutes – literally. She simply latched on
and would not let go. We wanted her to know that someone wants to hug and touch
her purely because she is a daughter of the King, not a sex object. There is
power in physical touch, and she received it.
She thanked us again with genuine, tear-streaked eyes and
told us she’d see us on Sunday; it was
clear that the Holy Spirit had touched her in a profound way that night. I
love seeing people righteously wrecked for the Lord – especially when they weren’t
even expecting it. God is so good!
I walked away from that interaction feeling so full of love,
joy, gratitude, and high on the Holy Spirit! (A burst of the Spirit as I like
to call it!) I could have simply walked on by, decided it was too scary to
start up a conversation with her, and completely missed out on witnessing how
the Lord wanted to uniquely and overwhelmingly bless her. On top of that, He
wanted to use us in the process! I’m so glad I didn’t let the “fear of man� get
the best of me and instead was able to see God bring some kingdom into this
girl’s life. I feel so honored and grateful for how the Lord works in all
situations and shows Himself strong when we simply step out in faith and are obedient
to do His will. Wow, it just amazes me. I
love you, Jesus!
“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of
them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand� (Psalm
139:17-28).
The girls on “Walking Street” during our treasure hunt. (From left to right: Sherri, BP, me, B.Jax, B.Cox, Courtney, and Heather.) Walking Street is a famous strip of bars/ prostitution in Pattaya that shuts down traffic at night so people can walk freely around the streets. We made our way there after walking along the beach to pray and speak more life, love, and truth into the people who find themselves there; while walking we avoided requests to look at menus (not for food… think about it) and invitations into bars as customers. God, your redemption and LIGHT need to come to this city… and quickly!
