“Let me buy you a drink and we can go somewhere afterwards.”
This has been called out to a couple of us as we walk through the bar district. And the first time I heard it, I barely had the strength to stand. Instantly, I felt defiled by this sentence that was spoken so easily as if it were okay, or as if I should be flattered to hear this from these men. Yet spoken, it caused more hurt and damage than one can express. It cut through to the heart and tried to take away a piece of it, to claim it in a way…to be marked as belonging to someone. With these words, my worth was questioned. It cut me. Praise GOD for HIS healing grace that covered me and HIS Love victorious. But not all the women in the bars know of GOD’s redeeming love, or have not chosen to accept it, and so they walk in this impurity and shame day after day and night after night slowly losing more of themselves and who GOD created them to be.
Comments like sexy lady to the way the eyes examine the body with lust and selfish satisfaction… pierce through leaving scars that slowly begin to drain and crush the spirit.
As I walk through the bar district praying, I feel an array of emotions. I feel the shame and regret from some of the women and men. Eye contact is infrequent and yet, their hearts are broken in realization that this is their life. Hope is depleting and worth is measured by the income of the night.
And then there is the other end of the spectrum. I see a group of women chasing after men, pulling on them as if they are another number they can add to their list. Even as they interact with each other I feel their hearts. It isn’t friendship, but competition. It isn’t encouragement, but jealousy. It isn’t humility, but pride. There is a selfishness that consumes the heart. And I can’t breathe as it suffocates my own heart.
Night after night, these women seek offers from men, offers that are masked as “just another night’s work”, yet they do cut deep into the heart. But through it all, there is hope. There is hope that they will hear and truly accept above all other offers, the only offer that matters.
It is the offer of freedom, grace, mercy, redemption, and above all Love. It is the offer of healing. It is the offer of eternal life with our Father. It is the offer that doesn’t take away, but fills. Therefore, we continue to walk each night, praying, speaking Truth, building relationships, in Hope and Faith that GOD is making HIS offer known. We have one week left. It is hard to believe. But we place GOD’s children in HIS hands. May they accept HIS offer of Love, of real unfailing Love.
Titus 3:3-7
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
