Written on Friday, Feb. 4th- The day we went to meet Paris for lunch at the beach
PARIS WENT HOME!!!
Today when Bethsaida and I went to meet Paris for lunch on the beach, we got there at 1:45 after praying our whole walk
to the beach. We prayed that nothing would prevent her from being able to come
talk to us, that God would give us the words, we thanked God for his
faithfulness and love with the whole situation yesterday and we were just
excited to talk to our new friend. We had a Bible to give her and some stories
to share…God prepared us and we were ready to be used. But, it turns out God had
used us in all the ways that He wanted to use us the day before….
As we were sitting and waiting at 2 oclock, I was just
silently praying that Paris would show up. I was sure that she would either
show up or we would understand why not, if she didn’t show up.
So time is passing, it’s
a waiting game and God gave us some other opportunities to love people while we
were waiting. A group of our teammates came while we were sitting there and we
told them she wasn’t there yet at about 2:25…they told us they were praying,
we knew they meant it. They went and sat a few tables away.
As 2:45-3:00 rolled around…the older man that Paris was
with the day before, who Sarah and Stacey played volleyball with, showed up and
started talking to the other group. He became friends with them the day before
and wanted to continue playing volleyball with them while he was on vacation.
Bethsaida and I continued looking around for Paris to see is she had come with
him. But there was no sign of her! We both got nervous feelings in our stomachs
and wondered if he had gotten mad at her for trying to come meet us, or what
could have happened. I said to Beth, “ I just want to know why she isn’t here,
I know she wanted to meet with us but something must have stopped her from
coming.� She agreed and we just
sat thinking.
Five minutes later Sarah Gaddy ran up to Bethsaida and I and said
“ GIRLS! WE KNOW WHY PARIS ISN’T HERE!� We just sat waiting for an explanation and she said “PARIS
WENT HOME LAST NIGHT!� Tears sprung up in my eyes and I just wanted to fall on
the ground praising Jesus! We all just celebrated together and thanked the
Lord!
It turns out when Paris went back to the hotel she was
staying at with this man Mike; she told him all about the two missionaries that
had talked to her on the beach and what we (God) had spoken to her. She told him she
knew what she was doing was wrong and God didn’t want her to live like this
anymore. That there was another way. She said she had to make a right or a wrong decision and she HAD A
CHOICE to make…(this was a little different from that SAME afternoon when she said “ I
have no choice�) She was a witness to Mike by even sharing this with him and
clearly explaining that she was going to make the right choice and not keep living like this one more night! She CHOSE GOD’S WAY and she went back home to her
family and a new beginning that very night!
PRAISE THE LORD FOR HER REDEMPTION!
As I wrote before I started doing a prophecy calender where
God gives me words or verses for each day at the beginning of the month or
months in advance. I started this on Wednesday night…the day before I met Paris
and God did any of this. And the word for Thursday when I met Paris was
“Relief�. I feel like God just
brought her all the relief she had been needing, He said “give me your burdens
and the heaviness on your heart and turn from your ways and I will give you
RELIEF.” I imagine Paris leaving on a boat last night feeling relieved and ALIVE
in Christ!
I look at the words in my calender at the end of every day
so I can see how God was faithful and what He wants me to see about that word
for that specific day. The word for today that I had written was REDEMPTION.
God Redeemed Paris’ life yesterday and is making it NEW!! I am so excited for
her and for how God worked all this out in His perfect timing.
God isn’t only working in Paris’ heart, a big need for
change is also in the mens hearts that are involved in this. The lust in their
hearts that causes them to treat women like slaves and the heart issues behind
the whole human trafficking and prostitution. Mike had to take a good long look
at who he was last night and the choices HE is making as well. He told my
friends that everyone determines what is right and wrong in his own eyes and because of what Paris said He was now questioning what was right and wrong. A few of the guys and girls in our group have been able to have some
good conversations with him the past few days and learn what his story is.
A really cool part of the story with Paris was a song that
we sang over her life the night that we met her. Before we even knew that she had chosen to go home and leave her the life of prostitution behind. We wanted to sing Freedom
and Redemption over her life so we sang a song called “Come Away With Meâ€�. It’s a song about God calling us to Himself and telling us what a life with Him looks like.
The words to that song go like this:
Come Away With Me
Come away with Me
It’s not too late, It’s never too late, it’s not too late for you
I have a plan for you, I have a plan for you
It’s gonna be wild, It’s gonna be great, It’s gonna be full of Me
Come Away with Me
Come Away with Me
It’s not too late, It’s never too late, It’s not too late for you!
