I was 19, attending a major University in California, living in my very first apartment. I had everything I could need or want, the opportunity to gain an incredible education, a strong Christian community, friends, family...truly more than I could ever ask for. This is what it was like when I was 19...
But for the girls I met tonight that life is not even a dream, it is the reality of another person that they would probably never dare to hope for. The girls I met tonight are scared, lost, confused, angry, alone, used, abondoned, hungry, tired, abused, fearful, hopeless
As I looked into the eyes of some, shook hands with others.... I couldn't help but shudder with sadness at the reality which they find themselves in (and some obviously much younger than 19). Yet I can say this, I believe by the grace and mercy of God that He offered some just a glimmer of hope tonight, a vestige of evidence that He is there and He does love them. As we shook their hand or handed them a gift or prayed over their lives there was a moment of joy that can only come from a work of the Holy Spirit in such a place of constant tragedy.
Praise God for reaching to the depths for us, praise Him that there is no length He would not go or has not already gone to set us free from sin and bring us into eternal life with Him.