Dear God,

WHY? Why??

This is the hardest month for me to understand. At least with the refugees in Greece, you could see a complex problem that takes time to understand– and eventually realize what political powers with deep pockets were turning their heads to the death and devastation that continues to ensue the Mediterranean.

This is different though. No one even pretends to not see the modern day slavery that rules this society in Thailand. It’s well known– and tolerated. I’d go as far as to say it’s a cultural norm. Poor mothers in desolate villages outside the city (often willingly) sell their daughters to wealthy sex brokers who come promising a profit.

It used to be seen as a curse when a girl was born to a family, now you hear, “you’re lucky it’s a girl, you will be okay (financially) if you hit hard times.”

I don’t know who to be more mad at– the mothers who sell their daughters, the sex brokers and pimps who buy and resell them over and over again, or the men who fly from all over the world to come to Thailand for sex tourism. (Since when is that a thing?! I don’t remember that being a popular topic when I was getting my degree in Recreation Management.)

Since when can you do anything to a human for $3? Don’t they know she’s worth more? Don’t they know she’s priceless? Jesus literally sacrificed his life for her.

But that’s the thing– they don’t know.

 

The men buying these women see them as a means to an end. A fulfillment to the empty void within. That hole in their heart where God belongs is filled with cheap temporary highs that make them feel like a man. On top of being morally beastial, it’s also selfish and sad.

I have to be honest, as a woman whose been violated before, it’s really hard for me to have a heart for these “Johns” or “tricks” who buy women.

 

Let’s take it back a step to the sex brokers I talked about. A lot of sex brokers and pimps were former drug dealers, so this is typically a business mindset for them. You can sell a kilo of cocaine once, but you can sell a girl over and over everyday for about 7 years. So that’s what a lot of them see; they see the money and it’s enough to drive them past the inhumanity. The root of this sin is greed. (We won’t even get into the mafia and political ties that run the sex trafficking industry across the world.) Let’s just say sex trafficking looks different in each of the three major hubs across the world.

In Thailand, it’s heavily a cultural norm where families rely on their daughters for income and generations continue this tradition. Girls often start preening themselves at a young age, so by 5th or 6th grade, they are prepared to do what they need to to make the family some money.

 

We have an idea of why the sex brokers and pimps do this, why the mothers do this, and why the prostitutes do this, so that leads us back to the men driving this whole industry; the consumers– the tricks.
What drives them to leave their wives (they’re often married) and fly across the world to pay women to have sex with them?
The root of this one, I believe, is lust. Maybe also power, pride, and being lost in general. This is the category of people I loathe to loathe.

I can not have hate in my heart, no matter what I see them do on the streets of Chiang Mai. I have to see the broken 5 year old in them– the one who was neglected, abandoned, or abused. Or maybe it wasn’t until they were older that they started searching for something, because they were lost and felt alone. They are humans too. Jesus died for them too.

 

The tricks are the reason I haven’t gone out to bar ministry yet. I already despise the way some men look at me in the daylight– I certainly don’t want to know what that stare feels like when they’re actively out looking for sex.

I’ve stayed back the past four nights and interceded in prayer for 12 hours– praying for this city– for redemption to come to every party involved. For God to infiltrate this broken society.

 

I’m finally reaching the point where I don’t want to hurt these men. I want to help them, because they are broken. I love how patient God has been in teaching me this lesson, so I know it in my heart. My compassion finally outweighs my anger toward them and I’m ready..

 

On Monday night, I will put on a dress, makeup, and do my hair with two of my teammates and we will go out to the bars of Chiang Mai to work on building relationships with the prostitutes and the tricks. Much like I picture Jesus radically doing if he were called to Thailand today. Not in a rush to save everyone, but to take the time to show each person that they are important and loved.

God has enough love to give them even when I don’t. His love is pure and unwavering. I have to let Him keep turning my anger for them into compassion, so I can love these people like they need to be loved.

 

This is the image the Lord gave me last night on the perspective of these beautiful women being sold.

 

So yes, F%#k prostitution and this whole ugly industry that’s feeds the lust that feeds the greed. We need to love these people back to life. Show them their worth, because I see cold hearts and shallow souls. So we will “…proclaim liberty to the captives.” Isaiah 61:1.

I use bleeped out profanity in this blog title not just to convey strong emotions toward the sheer corruption of it all, but as situational irony. Profanity derives from the Latin word profanus, which means to desecrate what is Holy outside of the temple. The irony is that is what exploitation (sex trafficking/prostitution) is– the desecration of what God meant to be a Holy experience and having it outside of the temple. The use of the common worldly phrase “F%#K” probably drew you in enough to read this blog and is therefore working for the Kingdom. Praise.

Back to the point,
I pray all are released from the heavy bondage in this city…Satan has no place here. We know how this story eventually ends, but in the mean time, we have the power and freedom to bring His glory to Earth in the way that we love others.

 

If you’re at home wondering how you can help with this issue, pray for Chiang Mai and the sex trafficking industry in general. PRAY HARD. We have a chance to change the world through our prayers. Don’t underestimate the power of your prayers when you’re praying in line with His will. “You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.” (John 14:14) God is alive and active. Some spiritual battles are best fought through prayer.