A Spoon-full of Hope
We went out to the bars tonight and even though it's late and I'm tired I really wanted to blog while this was still fresh on my mind because it's so good what God has done for us tonight.
I was really struggling and was not sure how I was going to be in this scene for 3 months; the feelings were just so overwhelming but intercession made all the difference. Those of us whose hearts have really been grieving while on the streets went out this afternoon and covered the streets in prayer. We walked up and down and just interceeded for Bangalore Rd (the street where we do our ministry) and for the work that our team would be doing that night and it made all the difference. It felt like stretching before a game and we all felt so much more confident and equipped to go out there.
I visited a lady I met the first night and I got to meet her younger sister who also works there with her. I showed her a picture of my little sister and used that to kinda build a connection with them. They both don't like working there but the younger sister, who spoke better English, was telling me that she's not sure she's ready to take the step to leave because she's working to support her kids and she doesn't want to leave her sister. It's hard, I just wanted to hug her and say, "You can do this! You're strong enough! You can get out of this!" So I'm really going to keep going back to her and just build a relationship with her. She knows about SHE now and so I look forward to continuing to build the connection there.
After other team members visited other girls they had met on the first night, we were walking and just seeing where we wanted to go next and as we were walking past Soi Sea Dragon (All the streets off of Bangalore Rd have names and down those streets are dozens of different bars. "Soi" just means street. If you click on the "Bangalore Rd" link you can see the list of all the side streets that we do ministry on.) and I really felt that we should go back there and I heard the phrase "blue shirt". I dismissed the whole blue shirt thing, more like kept it to myself, but told the team I felt we should go back. I was hesitant to because that was one of the streets we walked down on Saturday night and the demonic presence was so thick there. But we went down anyway and I saw a lady working with a blue shirt/dress and I felt "yep that's the one." So we sat down and it was mostly guys in the bar and the lady in the blue shirt refused to stay with us but there was obviously a purpose for it because there was another lady, a real character, who had an amazing conversation with Rachel, one of the girls on my team. Rachel told her about SHE and got her number...it was just great and it gave me, Rachel and Josie so much hope for that street. That there's no street that is without hope; even the place that we thought was just the absolute pits, God really encouraged us so much on that street and even used that lady to bring us so much joy. That lady was so funny and she had us all in stitches. Rachel really felt like that was all for her.
So seeds were sown, flyers passed out, prayers answered, hope given, spirits lifted...I'd say it was a great night! We know now that intercession is so key and that obedience in the little things is vital to us making an impact. A spoon-full of hope helps the darkness go down.
I was really struggling and was not sure how I was going to be in this scene for 3 months; the feelings were just so overwhelming but intercession made all the difference. Those of us whose hearts have really been grieving while on the streets went out this afternoon and covered the streets in prayer. We walked up and down and just interceeded for Bangalore Rd (the street where we do our ministry) and for the work that our team would be doing that night and it made all the difference. It felt like stretching before a game and we all felt so much more confident and equipped to go out there.
I visited a lady I met the first night and I got to meet her younger sister who also works there with her. I showed her a picture of my little sister and used that to kinda build a connection with them. They both don't like working there but the younger sister, who spoke better English, was telling me that she's not sure she's ready to take the step to leave because she's working to support her kids and she doesn't want to leave her sister. It's hard, I just wanted to hug her and say, "You can do this! You're strong enough! You can get out of this!" So I'm really going to keep going back to her and just build a relationship with her. She knows about SHE now and so I look forward to continuing to build the connection there.
After other team members visited other girls they had met on the first night, we were walking and just seeing where we wanted to go next and as we were walking past Soi Sea Dragon (All the streets off of Bangalore Rd have names and down those streets are dozens of different bars. "Soi" just means street. If you click on the "Bangalore Rd" link you can see the list of all the side streets that we do ministry on.) and I really felt that we should go back there and I heard the phrase "blue shirt". I dismissed the whole blue shirt thing, more like kept it to myself, but told the team I felt we should go back. I was hesitant to because that was one of the streets we walked down on Saturday night and the demonic presence was so thick there. But we went down anyway and I saw a lady working with a blue shirt/dress and I felt "yep that's the one." So we sat down and it was mostly guys in the bar and the lady in the blue shirt refused to stay with us but there was obviously a purpose for it because there was another lady, a real character, who had an amazing conversation with Rachel, one of the girls on my team. Rachel told her about SHE and got her number...it was just great and it gave me, Rachel and Josie so much hope for that street. That there's no street that is without hope; even the place that we thought was just the absolute pits, God really encouraged us so much on that street and even used that lady to bring us so much joy. That lady was so funny and she had us all in stitches. Rachel really felt like that was all for her.
So seeds were sown, flyers passed out, prayers answered, hope given, spirits lifted...I'd say it was a great night! We know now that intercession is so key and that obedience in the little things is vital to us making an impact. A spoon-full of hope helps the darkness go down.