Two months after returning from working in one of the biggest red light districts in South Asia, I was prepared to present a summary of my trip to my church’s mission committee. I was excited to share how God had worked, and the committee members who had prayed and financially supported me sat in smiling silence, waiting for me to begin. I opened my mouth and within minutes was startled by my own shaking voice. Struggling to recount what we had seen and done, I also tried to control the quaking of my whole body which seemed to only worsen the longer I spoke. When the time came for questions and answers, one of the members gently asked how I was doing emotionally and I was humiliated to find myself temporarily unable to speak, blinded with tears.
Before the tears fell, I would have said that the biggest spiritual lesson from this trip was growth in the knowledge of our God as the One who hears. Over the course of fundraising, travelling, and working in South Asia, my team was aware of many powerful answers to prayer. We prayed for strength when two of our team members were denied Visas; for grace to serve both the prostitutes and the pimps with equal kindness; for wisdom in clinic; for each patient, provider, and translator. In the middle of long days filled with horrific stories and overwhelming needs, constant communication with God was our team’s source of strength and unity, and we saw the Lord was working to connect our host organization with specific women in need of hope and help.
While it is incredible to witness God’s mighty answers to prayer, at this stage of my re-entry it is arguably more powerful to experience His presence in our pain. This trip inundated the team with evil after evil; now away from the sensory overload of the clinic, I have space to grieve for my patients and their brutal, abrupt loss of innocence. I can barely stand to think of the trauma that trafficked women endure at the hands of 20-30 customers a day, often starting at the shocking age of 12 or 13. Through the work of local believers, some have come to know Christ, but are still forced to return to the arms of their customers. I, along with them, must cling to the knowledge that God sees this and is even more heartbroken and outraged than we are over the pain that is being selfishly inflicted on so many precious lives. In the face of their suffering, when it would be emotionally easier to turn away, our Father chooses to be fully, gloriously present and calls us to do the same.
As I prepare for residency, I am praying that not only will I grow in the knowledge of the God who answers prayer but also that I will grow to be more like He who sits in the street with the broken. It is easy to share God’s passion for bold acts of justice and mercy; but, I am praying that I would also share His willingness to mentally enter into the pain of those suffering. May I follow my Lord’s example in mourning with those who mourn, all while pointing to Him as the ultimate source of comfort in this fallen world.
Please Pray For:
1. Continued support for the host organization which aims to provide holistic care to those rescued from sex slavery (staff, finances, connections to colleges and places of employment)
2. Healing and strength for the staff, as many are themselves recovering from the emotional and physical trauma of a history of commercial sex work
3. That the Gospel would go forward in a might way, that brothel owners would be saved, and that people would be freed of both the bondage of sin and the bondage of sex slavery
Before the tears fell, I would have said that the biggest spiritual lesson from this trip was growth in the knowledge of our God as the One who hears. Over the course of fundraising, travelling, and working in South Asia, my team was aware of many powerful answers to prayer. We prayed for strength when two of our team members were denied Visas; for grace to serve both the prostitutes and the pimps with equal kindness; for wisdom in clinic; for each patient, provider, and translator. In the middle of long days filled with horrific stories and overwhelming needs, constant communication with God was our team’s source of strength and unity, and we saw the Lord was working to connect our host organization with specific women in need of hope and help.
While it is incredible to witness God’s mighty answers to prayer, at this stage of my re-entry it is arguably more powerful to experience His presence in our pain. This trip inundated the team with evil after evil; now away from the sensory overload of the clinic, I have space to grieve for my patients and their brutal, abrupt loss of innocence. I can barely stand to think of the trauma that trafficked women endure at the hands of 20-30 customers a day, often starting at the shocking age of 12 or 13. Through the work of local believers, some have come to know Christ, but are still forced to return to the arms of their customers. I, along with them, must cling to the knowledge that God sees this and is even more heartbroken and outraged than we are over the pain that is being selfishly inflicted on so many precious lives. In the face of their suffering, when it would be emotionally easier to turn away, our Father chooses to be fully, gloriously present and calls us to do the same.
As I prepare for residency, I am praying that not only will I grow in the knowledge of the God who answers prayer but also that I will grow to be more like He who sits in the street with the broken. It is easy to share God’s passion for bold acts of justice and mercy; but, I am praying that I would also share His willingness to mentally enter into the pain of those suffering. May I follow my Lord’s example in mourning with those who mourn, all while pointing to Him as the ultimate source of comfort in this fallen world.
Please Pray For:
1. Continued support for the host organization which aims to provide holistic care to those rescued from sex slavery (staff, finances, connections to colleges and places of employment)
2. Healing and strength for the staff, as many are themselves recovering from the emotional and physical trauma of a history of commercial sex work
3. That the Gospel would go forward in a might way, that brothel owners would be saved, and that people would be freed of both the bondage of sin and the bondage of sex slavery
