God is blessing me with a very unique and pretty awesome ministry opportunity this month out side of the bar ministry we are already doing.
If you couldn’t guess by the title it involves massage..
…it’s actually kind of ironic too-for several reasons..
First reason; upon launching for the World Race, as I’m sure your ALL well aware of I had to do quite a bit of fundraising (still fundraising too-betcya couldn’t have guessed that either!) Having graduated from massage school almost two years ago I figured I’d put that skill of mine to use and did a ‘massage with a mission’ fundraiser and massaged with the mission of raising money for this mission trip I’m currently serving on.
Second reason; Being the age I am and just in that place of life my time, thoughts and prayers have been directed to life. Thinking about the who, what, where’s that my life will hold in 7 months when I return home from the race and even after that. Having gone through massage school its not surprisingly a dream of mine to open my own salon & spa someday. It was about a week before launch God suddenly gave me a word about that…and it made so much sense I felt a little silly that I didn’t come up with it sooner myself.
Opening a spa was already on my heart, as was a ministry that has always been near and dear to my heart; which is the lost, the forgotten and lonely in this world, to those who don’t know love. Especially when it comes to women and children, especially when those women and children have been emotionally, physically or sexually abused.
Two of my ‘things’ as I guess you could call them is; that EVERY women should feel beautiful and like a princess at LEAST one day in her life and that anyone who feels that they have no one, that nobody loves them and that they are all alone in this world will KNOW that they KNOW that they KNOW that they are loved. Not only do I love them and will fight for them but their Heavenly Father loves and totally adores them. In my experience those who have endured any or all forms of abuse struggle immensely with both of those ‘things’-I know I did.
Well God being brilliant like He is connected the dots for me, He combined something I love (massage) with a desire of my heart (to love people) and called me to something I am so excited about. At some point in my life perhaps right after the race, perhaps 20 years from now I still intend on opening my own spa. However this won’t be just any salon & spa it will ideally be a non-profit founded on the desire for healing and restoration, founded out of love for others and the love for our Lord.
It will be a place where women can come and get treated like the princesses they are, a place where maybe for the first time in their entire life they will be made to feel beautiful, that they will know they are cherished and they will without a doubt know that they are loved with a pure and unchanging love. I want to also use massage as a form of therapy to women and children who have suffered sexual abuse in their life. It’s my hope that by combining a safe & healthy environment with massage you can teach trust, and what safe touch is and use that as a foundation for healing for these women, children and even men.
So this dream of mine is great but how exactly does is relate to this month of ministry in Thailand? And how did massage get incorporated into bar ministry you ask?!
Well this month we’re here at SHE (Self Help and Empowerment) which is a Christian charity committed to helping women and children at risk in Thailand, many of whom are trapped in the commercial sex trade. SHE is dedicated to providing employment, vocational training and counseling for women who want to help themselves out of this industry.
Shortly after arriving at SHE I found out they were wanting to add massage to their list of vocational training options.
🙂
The next thing I know there is a massage table in the corner of the room with ladies ready to learn and I’m suddenly a massage teacher for the month.
So back to the irony…I massaged with a ‘mission’ to get funds to be on this mission trip where I’ll be spending this month massaging yet again with a mission.
Except this time it won’t be to raise money, this time my mission is God’s beautiful daughters, my mission is to teach in hopes of what I’m teaching will entice women to walk away from the lifestyles they’re living for something better, for something more. It is my hope that in me, in my actions and my words they will see Jesus and that through me and my time with them they will meet Christ.
