It is so very easy sometimes to forget what these girls we're working with have been through. A weekend at camp makes them seem like any student I would typically be around at camp. I mean, I know theses are all girls that have been rescued from prostitution, but it's not the way I see them when they're jumping on me in the hammock, or they're making me bracelets during craft time, or anything like that. These girls are a bunch of crazy people sometimes. They're amazing.
But then it hits even harder when there's a testimony time, and one of the girls that was just clowning an hour before, gets up to tell her story.
You see a girl break down crying as she speaks about her Mother working in the fields. Then she tells about searching for a job so she could help her Mom, and how that led to her being sold to a brothel. Though she remains strong as she tells about being beaten and raped, she cannot hold it together when the translator begins to sing a worship song after her testimony. And all around the campfire, girls are sniffling and crying because they understand what she has gone through.
The first night of camp, one girl gave her testimony, and talked about how she tried several times to kill herself while she was in prostitution. She tried to hang herself, and even burn herself to death. And this girl is now on Horse and Rider, the movie about Leg Up, and she wants to share her testimony with anyone who will listen. She says there is no reason for her to be afraid to tell what God has done in her life. She is so goofy, and is always talking about finding me an Indian man to marry, and just saying silly things like that.
To look at this group of girls, you wouldn't think that they've been through what they have been through. But this shows why it is so important that they are rescued. These aren't happy women who have chosen to sell themselves because it is a lucrative way of life, where they have sex all the time, and get paid a lot of money. These are girls who have been sold againt their will, and they don't see a rupee of the money that is paid for their services.
Some of the girls have made bad choices; running away from home (though usually there is abuse, or another good reason for that), or trusting strangers or something like that, but in no way should that be enough to condemn a girl (or woman) to a life like this.
I look at the girls and see the joy and childlike excitement on their faces, and then I see major scars and I remember what their past is. But that is totally unimportant. God doesn't look at their scars, so why should I?
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
How do we look at the heart though? I think I see it when girls are crying for one another, or getting chai and biscuits for someone who is not feeling well, or when they're cheering for their friends who are frightened to try something new. I can see the sweetness of their hearts that still survives in spite of all they have been through. And that is what God looks at, not the scars, or the attitude issues, or anything else unimportant.
I just need to remember this when they do something that grates on my nerves... :~)
But then it hits even harder when there's a testimony time, and one of the girls that was just clowning an hour before, gets up to tell her story.
You see a girl break down crying as she speaks about her Mother working in the fields. Then she tells about searching for a job so she could help her Mom, and how that led to her being sold to a brothel. Though she remains strong as she tells about being beaten and raped, she cannot hold it together when the translator begins to sing a worship song after her testimony. And all around the campfire, girls are sniffling and crying because they understand what she has gone through.
The first night of camp, one girl gave her testimony, and talked about how she tried several times to kill herself while she was in prostitution. She tried to hang herself, and even burn herself to death. And this girl is now on Horse and Rider, the movie about Leg Up, and she wants to share her testimony with anyone who will listen. She says there is no reason for her to be afraid to tell what God has done in her life. She is so goofy, and is always talking about finding me an Indian man to marry, and just saying silly things like that.
To look at this group of girls, you wouldn't think that they've been through what they have been through. But this shows why it is so important that they are rescued. These aren't happy women who have chosen to sell themselves because it is a lucrative way of life, where they have sex all the time, and get paid a lot of money. These are girls who have been sold againt their will, and they don't see a rupee of the money that is paid for their services.
Some of the girls have made bad choices; running away from home (though usually there is abuse, or another good reason for that), or trusting strangers or something like that, but in no way should that be enough to condemn a girl (or woman) to a life like this.
I look at the girls and see the joy and childlike excitement on their faces, and then I see major scars and I remember what their past is. But that is totally unimportant. God doesn't look at their scars, so why should I?
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
How do we look at the heart though? I think I see it when girls are crying for one another, or getting chai and biscuits for someone who is not feeling well, or when they're cheering for their friends who are frightened to try something new. I can see the sweetness of their hearts that still survives in spite of all they have been through. And that is what God looks at, not the scars, or the attitude issues, or anything else unimportant.
I just need to remember this when they do something that grates on my nerves... :~)
