This past week I got to go back to Dallas with a group of 50 middle schoolers and love on my friends there. We were greeted by the children in the refugee community with words of "oh you came back? I didn't think you would come back?" Not that they remember me personally, but they remember a group of white people coming to love on them. The fact that they were surprised by this broke my heart a little. We also went back to the homeless community, and had an amazing time serving on the streets of Dallas. Here is a blog I wrote earlier in the week about my time:
She was a missing child at the age of 13. With her face on the side of a milk cartoon, she was no longer an innocent little girl, but rather a victim of modern day sex slavery. Sold for a price to men, this is the life she learned to live. Drugs soon entered her world as a means to cope and block out the pain. She awoke to this life everyday. This was her normal.
But my point is that it WAS her normal.
One day battered and bruised she finally turned to the Lord with open hands and an open heart. She learned to surrender in order to survive. And everyday since then she has been taking steps from surviving to thriving. Clean and sober, she is making her way in this dark world, learning the worth of the light that only she can carry.
I met her in March at a street church for the homeless in Dallas. My heart broke as she shared her story with me. She makes candles for the two children she bore but has never known. Each candle is prayed over in the name of those two sweet faces that her heart so longs for. We became instant friends one night as the Lord gave me words of beauty, worth, grace and hope to speak over her. And being the Father that He is, the Lord gave her words that spoke and hit a tender part of my heart as well. As we both sat in tears, my heart took a snapshot of the moment and I haven't been able to let go of it ever since.
This week I went back to visit her at the church. We screamed with excitement when we first saw each other. That night I sat in tears yet again as she shared her testimony of where she now stands. A graduate of the Christian Women's Job Corps, and living in her own apartment, this woman is transformed in the name of Jesus Christ. She was hired on full time at the church and is leading other woman into the hands of the Lord with a confidence that just oozes of the Holy Spirit.
That night after sharing her testimony, she went outside to the parking lot where she found a young girl selling herself into the night. My dear friend simply brought her inside, got her a plate of food and a change of clothes, and then offered to bring her home with her that night. My heart broke all over again as I sat in awe of how the story comes full circle. What a loving God we serve.
The youth group I brought to the church that night was amazed by my friend's story, and were awakened to the truth of modern day slavery. The reality of her story shook them in a way that they were not expecting. They were expecting to come and be busy with "do" work: building, cleaning, tangible things to do with their hands to make a difference. What they soon learned is that relationships are so very valuable. The learned the power of a person's story. The tangible thing was no longer their hands but rather ears to listen and a voice to continue to tell the story.
