Humble Beginnings

I first met her back in June. We shared coffee and she shared her story with me. Her story is one of redemption, of God breaking into the darkness that had held her captive for many years and bringing restoration and healing through His love. Her story is of a future – a future in which she is dedicating her time and her energy to helping others find the same redemption that she has found. She lives in my state, yet she has witnessed more of the darkness in this world than many can begin to imagine. She is a survivor, and yet she is doing so much more than surviving: she thrives on the passion that the Lord has planted in her heart to serve Him. She willingly offers her life as a sacrifice for His service on a daily basis, and I am humbled by her humility and her heart for others.

She recently came up to Gainesville with a group of ladies from my church to do a little Christmas shopping at Rahab’s Rope. As we walked around the store and looked at the pictures of the beautiful faces of the women from Goa and Bangalore, she found herself overwhelmed again at all that the Lord has done in her life, and the plight that other women caught in the terror of human trafficking continue to struggle against on a daily basis. She came over to me with tears in her eyes and handed me two $5 bills. She said, “I can’t give online because I cut up all of my credit cards to help me get my credit back in order, but I want you to have this to plant toward your ministry.” I assured her that she didn’t have to give unless she really wanted to, and she said, “I really, really want to.  You can go, I can’t. So please take this and use it to start what you are doing.” I hugged her and we both cried for several minutes. It was such a beautiful picture of humility and sacrificial giving. She was willing to bless our ministry because we can go. We get to be the hands and feet of Christ to the nations. We get to be the troops on the ground in the midst of the spiritual battle that is going on for the hearts and souls of thousands of women and children in the red light districts. And it is because of hearts like this beautiful woman, willing to give sacrificially in order to empower us to go and to serve. This is the foundation that we are building on – the selfless gift of a survivor. It may not seem like a lot to build on, but to us that ten dollars is the strongest foundation we could have ever asked for. We are praising the Lord for His faithfulness to provide for us, and we share this story with you to honor a woman willing to step out in faith through her giving.