"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell" C.T. Studd
God does not call us to be comfortable. He calls us to walk into the dark and be the light. Prostitute ministry is a rescue shop right within a yard of Hell. Satan has strong footholds in the bars that we walk into to the point that these women feel defeated. God calls us to be that rescue shop, to bring hope to places that appear hopeless and to walk into the places that most christians would touch with a ten foot pole. God wants to give his daughters life and freedom but most of the women in the bars are not aware that it even exsists. God has been giving me a heart for this ministry, for these women who need to know that they are loved unconditionally by someone who wants them more than just for sex. It is not okay to me that most christians would rather not think about what really goes on in this world then step up and be the change that people like my friend *Ingrid needs. (* I have taken out Ingrids real name for her protection)
Here is Ingrid's story:
I met Ingrid on a sunny afternoon inside a popular bar by the Puerto Barrios port. At night men pile into this bar and strip many women of their worth, Ingrid being no exception to this. I walked up to Ingrid who already had a guard up and a stern face staring at me. Frustrated that I didn't know very much spanish and she already had "I don't want to talk to you" written all over her face made our introduction very difficult. Speaking very broken spanish, I introduced myself and told her that I wanted to pray for her. Her guard stayed up as she hesitantly told me her name and a quick head nodd. I then asked her if there was anything that I could specifically pray for her for. Instantly her eyes began to well up and she started to tell me her story. From the spanish I understood she told me that she had been working at this bar for two months, and that she had 4 kids that lived in Honduras that she longed to be with. She was promised work and needed a way to provide for her kids that ended in her being stuck in this bar with broken promises and lost hope of seeing her children. Her only request was that I pray for protection over her four young boys. As I prayed for her, my heart broke for her. A single mom so desperate to provide for her kids that she entrusted someone to get her work and was forced into prostitution being stripped of her worth every night. I grabbed a teammate and I read to her out of Romans 8, sharing that nothing in this life can seperate us from the love that God has for his children. As I held her hand and shared God's hope with her I felt a peace that God was right there with us in that bar. I may not have understood every word Ingrid shared with me, or was even able to share all I wanted to with her but I know that we gave her hope to keep fighting. Sometimes all we need is someone to listen to us and hold our hand as we cry, and that is exactly how God used me to touch Ingrid. God called me to love Ingrid right where she was at right in the thick of her prison, and I know that God shined his light on her that afternoon. It broke my heart to leave Ingrid sitting in that bar, but I know that God is not finished with her yet. God is jealous for Ingrid's heart , and he is not going to let anything get in the way of His love for her.
"He will rescue them from oppression and violence for precious is their blood in his sight" Psalm 72:14
