It didn’t even take 24 hours for me to fall in love with Thailand. We started the month with debrief, where we had 5 days to rest, process our first month, and just kind of get back on track with ourselves and with each other before starting our ministry in sex trafficking.
Trafficking women and children for sexual exploitation is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, with an estimated 20-30 million slaves today. Some of these girls are abducted, while others are lured out of poverty, romantically seduced, or sold by their families. Our ministry this month is to wear Jesus on our skin and go out on the bar streets and into the bars to try to form relationships with some of these girls, really just to show them the love of Jesus and hopefully get them to Zion Cafe, a cafe owned by the ministry we are working with, where they can continue to feel and learn about the love of Jesus.
We watched Nefarious the night before starting ministry, which is a documentary that exposes the disturbing trends of modern-day sex slavery (super recommend this). It is through the eyes of both the enslaved and their traffickers, showing where slaves come from, where they are sold, where they work, and where they are confined. You get to hear testimonies of survivors, from the abuse they dealt with and being stripped of their identity, to them finding Jesus and now living in complete freedom in Him.
I immediately had an overwhelming sense of hope for every single girl trapped in slavery, which to my surprise also included myself? That hit me kind of hard because yes, I may have past wounds, but it was a long time ago, wasn’t I over that? But I suddenly saw myself in chains, being held down by insecurities, feelings of unworthiness, fears, guilt, and shame, and I realized I may not be in the same kind of slavery as others, but I definitely wasn’t free.
This is a bit uncomfortable for me because I really thought I had been living in freedom these last 5 or so years? But I now see the reality of it: I lost hope that freedom was possible, so I unknowingly created my own form of freedom, which I now realize either looked like me living in chains, but with a smile on my face, or chain free, but still trapped in the cell. I tricked myself (actually Satan did) into thinking I was free, and I didn’t even realize it until I saw true freedom in these girls that were able to break away of much larger strongholds.
I started to think about how many other people are living like this, and really don’t even know it. There’s a part Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love, that says, “Jesus Christ didn’t die only to save us from hell; He also died to save us from our bondage to sin. In John 10:10, Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” He wasn’t talking about the future. He meant now, in this lifetime.” I think sometimes the chains just become part of us, and we don’t know what life is like without them. But Jesus died so we could live in complete freedom, not just half/fake freedom.
So maybe I love Thailand so much because it has been consumed with an insane amount of joy and hope for myself and for those around me. I am starting to see myself and everyone else how God sees us instead of how the world sees us, and man are we beautiful!
It is easy to get discouraged going out to the bars where there is so much darkness around you. It can start to put a heaviness on you, making you second guess that being here is even making a difference, but the reality is that if God wasn’t here, we wouldn’t be either. You never know how much of a difference you can make just by smiling at someone who doesn’t think they are seen.
One of my favorite things this month is running up and down the bar streets just praising God with all of my heart. God is so much bigger than any sin that surrounds us, and I just like to shove it in Satan’s face, right in the place where he thinks his darkness has taken over, because there is only darkness when there is an absence of light, and I see light.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
