So the Monday before Thanksgiving, two other friends and myself hit the SoCal strip clubs on a mission of love. This has been more than 10 years in the making for me, around 6 years in preparation, and about 9 months in planning … God has had to do some serious work in me to get me to the place where I am healthy, loving, trustworthy, graceful, and emotionally safe enough to go out and attempt to love others with the love of Christ. It is an honor and a privelage to think my God trusts me enough with His children to allow me to go and be His hands, feet, mouth, and heart … It’s truly overwhelming.
There is something not only exhilerating, but a little terrifying about following the call and doing the thing you know the Lord has planned for you. As Phylicia, Erica, and I step out in faith and embark upon what is already turning out to be quite the adventure, we do so with a mixed bag of reactions from those around us. For the most part, we are finding a great deal of support and encouragement from those close to us. There are those, however, who have remained strangely silent and distant. There are others, sadly, who are withdrawing all of their support entirely, believing firmly that Jesus would have never done this or gone where we are going. This, as a redeemed woman, leaves me stunned, disappointed, and confused, as I always assumed we were talking about the same Jesus. But this is not a surprise, was totally expected, and is most certainly not a deterrent. Knowing what I’ve walked away from, what I’ve been saved and salvaged from, what I’ve been transformed from, I have no problem understanding that this is where God has called me to serve.
I could go on some long-winded diatribe about the nature of our God, but I won’t. I feel compelled, however, to note a few simple Truths which cannot be escaped. It’s really quite simple …
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it; the world, and all who live in it; – Psalm 24:1
With that being noted, I’m going to have to assume that includes strippers and strip clubs, brothels and porn sets, pimps and prostitutes, payers and partakers alike. I have to take God at His word. It’s for that reason that not only do I feel like we’re being entrusted with something special, but that we’re walking on holy ground.
If you’ve read any of my earlier entries, you know how much I love the book of Hosea and how Hosea 2:14-16 has become my life verse. Something interesting happens when you look at verse 15 in the NIV and Message translations side by side … The Valley of Achor turns into Acres of Hope. From Achor to Acre, from trouble to hope, God walks with us.
He loves us with an endless love.
He loves us with a passionate love.
He loves us with protective love.
He loves us with a love so tireless it chases us into the darkest of corners teeming with deception, and loathing, and guilt, and shame.
He pours out a grace and mercy we can’t make any sense of, but can’t breathe without.
He affords us a fresh beginning with every dawn, and second chances with every passing second.
He promises to breathe life into things long since consumed with the stench of death.
He is the Creator, the giver, of life, love, freedom, and hope.
Rescuer
Ransomer
Redeemer
Restorer
Rebuilder
Resurrector … This is my God and I invite you to join us on our journey 
Ha! I just emailed you and then saw you had a new post in my google reader….the one thing that I failed to mention in my email, that I almost wrote in and then quickly hit SEND was that God has given me a different kind of love, a compassionate kind of love for the women I have recently encountered. And that’s why I am able to do what I’m doing (read the email) My “love” before was judgemental, surface and selfish…God is changing hearts and it was mine He needed to change first.
“There is something not only exhilerating, but a little terrifying about following the call and doing the thing you know the Lord has planned for you. “….Oh how this is so very, very true. It’s allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to the very God who promises to carry us…
Jesus meets us where we are at. He is the one who changes us, we can’t expect someone to change for or before they come to Christ…we change because of Christ…so praise God that you are willing to walk the very streets that Jesus walks no matter how dark the road or how unpaved the highway…as God told Israel, he goes before you and sets up His tent before you even arrive.
Love you, sister!
I read Hosea and can understand what moves your heart. I love you, also. Mom
i wish i weren’t so late in checking back to see if you had a new post….but then i suppose you could still use encouragement 3 weeks later too.
i still get surprised by people’s reactions to things (i’m a slow learner in all areas, so i guess i shouldn’t be surprised at my own surprise – ha ha!)….if God didn’t send His Son for “these kind of people” then He didn’t send Him for ANY of us, because sin is sin is sin, right?! and He specifically said He didn’t come for the righteous, but the sinner! how will they know if they don’t hear, and how will they hear if you don’t go and tell them?? so thank you, for putting your faith into ACTION, from all of us who still haven’t figured out specifically what God has put us here to do…..