It’s a weekday night, what are you doing? Are you watching Scandal or some other primetime TV show? I had the opportunity to spend my weeknights in the streets of Managua, Nicaragua where I got to witness a 13-year-old sell her body, a pregnant young prostitute jump into a taxi, and incredibly sad eyes of another prostitute who was drugged up. Nicaragua is a nation griped by poverty. It is not uncommon for mothers who have been plagued by prostitution to also send their young girls into the streets to sell their precious temples. It’s a very sad reality.
This month my team and I are working with an organization called Breaking Chains. Breaking Chains works to fight for the freedom of innocent children who have been subjected to the chains of bondage through prostitution, abuse, and trafficking. Breaking people from the bondage they are in, involves breaking one link at a time. It’s a process. Sometimes it’s painful but at the end of the day God is glorified through that process. For some of the girls on the streets, the links are lack of love, financial insecurity, worthlessness, just to name a few. These are sentiments/situation/lies the devil uses to lure them into his chains and mask the true fact that they are princesses because their Father and creator is a King.
Once a month, our ministry contacts Steven and Kenia host a party to welcome these princesses to the Castle. My night out into the streets involved passing out home-made burritos (Kenia’s specialty) my team helped to make, loving on these girls, and inviting them to the party. It really broke my heart to see these young women out in the streets, but at the party, in the daytime, I’m reminded that they are just kids who love to play in the pool, who love to get their nails painted, and scurry over to grab candy from a piñata (in this case thrown from a window by Steven). There, they were welcomed, safe, and loved. During the week, a program is held in which they are part of a bible study and are able to learn more in depth about the love of God, their identity in Christ, and are provided with financial assistance during and after the program.
I still struggle with the “why.” I wonder why God would allow such atrocities to happen to such young ladies. But God reminded me that those are his princesses and he still loves them so much. God is using this organization to work in the lives of these ladies and slowly breaking the chains they have been subjected to – a link at a time. what chains are you still holding on to? Just like the young women who are held captive by chains of prostitution, be encouraged to know that God is able to work through those chains and set you free. Embrace the process.
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners.
Photos from the Event
With Love,
XX
