Today I saw God’s perfect love, grace, and redemption at work. Today I sat in a room filled with women who God has pulled out of a life of prostitution, singing praises to His name. Today I heard a bold woman of God tell others that their worth and beauty were found in Christ alone. Today I saw a miracle in the life of a young woman and her daughter.
But to see this miracle come full circle, we have to go back one week…
Last Friday at our organization we walked into our nurses office to find a 26 year old woman and her 9 month old daughter. The young woman had tear streaked cheeks as she bounced her beautiful baby girl on her knee. We sat down and listened to her story:
From a poor family in Vietnam, Lina *(name changed) came to Cambodia three years ago and began working in the sex industry. With little education and skills, she was selling her body to support herself until she met a man. This man was one of her johns (sex customer), yet he promised her a new life; a new life not working as a prostitute, a new life as his wife. So she married him and soon after had his baby. Nine months ago Imani *(name changed) was born to Lina, and soon after this man left this young mother and daughter for another woman. This left Lina with no choice but the previous life she knew. Daily she sold her body to provide for herself and her daughter.
She had been prostituting herself and living in the slums since Imani’s birth, but was recently kicked out of her home. She was kicked out of her home because her landlord wanted to buy her daughter for $1000 and she had refused. We asked why he wanted to buy Imani, even though the knot in my stomach knew the answer. He wanted to raise her up in prostitution. The nine month old giggling baby girl sitting in front of me had a $1000 price tag over her head. That was the price being offered to destroy her life. I was sick to my stomach and fought back the tears and anger. Praise God, Lina had refused this sick man’s offer. She could no longer work in prostitution as it was too painful from c-section complications nine months before, and could not find any other work. So Lina was at our organization to find a place to give her baby up for adoption; she was seeking a new life for her daughter, a life different than the one she had found.
As we heard her story our hearts broke and our tears flowed. This mother didn’t want to lose her daughter, but what choice did she have? Kristen asked if she could pray for the woman and then began to do so. She looked into her eyes and shared the redeeming power of the gospel with her, she spoke life into her and prophesied God’s perfect plan over her future. I left there with tissue in hand, and honestly feeling pretty helpless, yet I couldn’t stop thinking and praying for these two beautiful daughters of the King…
