"From the end of the earth I will cry to you, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead to the rock that is higher than I" Psalm 61:2
I hardly know what to write after last night, it was intense. The city was filled with people and it seemed like there was chaos everywhere. Even before we hit the track we talked about how it seemed we had hit a wall in our ministry... we needed to take things to the next level, but what did that mean really? Not to say that we answered that last night, but I certainly felt it. There are just a few people I want to share about...
C****** and C****, a man and a woman walking together...at first they walked by us but then Julia offered the woman a gift bag and Daryl asked if we could pray for them. He was very excited to receive prayer and began telling us all the ways we could pray for them, mostly for her. After we prayed she said, "I know what you guys are thinking but I'm just dressed like this because it's hot"...we told her we just wanted to talk to her about Jesus and pray for her. The interesting part was that the guy with her said to her, "no, they are talking about your heart"... now, I can pretty much guarantee that she was working and he most likely had something to do with that, but there was a genuineness in him that seemed to really want to let God work.
C*** is a little older and recognized us from our times there before. She kept saying things like, "oh great, I'll be sure to tell the other girls about that" as though she was very content with her life and didn't need rescuing herself...I don't know if she really does think she is fine or if it is a cover and she will eventually let her guard down, but either way that's our prayer: that the walls would come down so Christ could come in and set her free.
V******* couldn't have been more than 14 years old, it took everything in me not to take her off the streets with me right there and then. She said she was coming from a party and didn't have the money for the train to get home, obviously she would need to "work" for the money. She said her father was in prison and apparently her brother was just down the street, waiting to meet her. I don't really know what to say, its devastating to see a young girl put in that position, most likely believing that it is her only option, and yet not even seeing as Daryl put it, "the train wreck her life is headed for". Please pray that we will be able to contact her again and that she will be open with us and be willing to get off the streets.
There is one other woman I wanted to mention, actually one of the first we saw, when she saw us she said, "not tonight, not tonight...I know God is with me, i know God" She said she would take a gift bag but didn't want to talk tonight. Isn't that how we can be? She was obviously convicted by our presence and if she wanted to continue in her sin she had to get out of there. How often do we say that to the Holy Spirit ourselves? "I know You, but not tonight...I'm going to do things my way."
We are so devastated in our flesh, so desparately unaware of our need for our Savior, so broken and hardened, so deceived...I left the night feeling so overwhelmed, like the burden was too much bear. I cried the whole way home and asked the Lord to take these burdens which I know are not mine to bear. He is so faithful, pursuing after us relentlessly, I know my heartbreak is but a glimpse of His for the lost. Would you please continue to pray for the men and women in the game, that they will come to know Jesus and He will set them free. Will you pray for After Hours Ministry, for our next steps to be made clear to us by the Holy Spirit and for the faith and the means to carry them out. Will you pray that we will see what God is doing rather than what we expect and that He will bring us in step with His plans for His glory.
Blessings to you!