So often, when we talk to our ladies on outreach, they
express a wish to leave the hotel in which they are working. They tell us that
they are unhappy with their situation, and they know that the work they are
doing is not pleasing to God. They finish by saying “But God will make a way”.
Time and time again, I find myself saying (on the outside)
and screaming (on the inside) “BUT HE ALREADY HAS”! Not only did God love these
ladies enough to send His only to die on a cross for them, taking punishment
for all of their sins, but he sent
people across the world to walk into their room and tell them about this love.
All they need do is accept it, but so often they don’t. So often it feels like
our words are falling on deaf ears and nothing is ever going to change.
It’s true that these ladies' lives have been tough. I could
probably bring most of you to tears by writing some of their stories here: Stories
of abuse; stories of rejection; stories of incomprehensible poverty; my list
could go on, and there’s so much about them I don’t even know.
Some days it makes no sense. We’re offering them so much:
Freedom in Christ and support and guidance as they turn their lives around. A
place where they could stay ad not have to worry about rent, food or clothes. What
do they have to leave behind except a tiny dark room, and a profession, which
one-day will likely take their life, whether it be through illness or something
else? Who would want to stay there? Why will they not just drop everything and leave
with us?
Then, on other days, I realise the enormity of what we’re
asking: If a girl grows up in a family that never tell her she has any value,
and then through earning money she suddenly has a role; a position of
significance and importance. She is the provider for many; the answer to their
problems. No wonder it’s difficult to let go! Yes, we’re telling her about the
love of her almighty Father in heaven, about the value she has in his eyes, and
about how He longs for her to be his daughter, but how can we expect her to
understand this when she has no Earthly comparison? Our family should be our
first experience of what it is to be loved and cared for. If we’ve never known
this, how can we understand something so much bigger? If we’ve had to suffer so
much to receive what we feel is any appreciation, why would we let go of that, for
something that honestly just sounds too good to be true!?! If our life has been
full of broken promises and deceit, why would we believe anything that anyone
has to say about anything?
I so often wish we could just pluck our ladies out of the
repulsive place in which they are living, but they have to choose. They have to
first be repulsed by where they are and what they’re doing. If not, it will
only draw them back. God has made a way, but it’s only them who can choose to
take it.
