Today's post is an open letter to every investigator on James' team, to every investigator working with Exodus Road in SE Asia, to every investigator throughout the world who is tonight searching a brothel.
Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I must simply start with thank you. What you do, what you dedicate your life to - it is for FREEDOM so that each of these girls may live in hope and freedom all of their days. From a girl who once lived in oppression (though not trafficking), I can tell you that freedom is priceless. The ability to live and breathe and HOPE again is a gift that no man could put a price on. It is life. Your job really is about bringing life to dead places. It is about seeing the Lazarus miracle happen every single day.
In Ezekiel 37, he is told to prophesy over dry, dead bones and tell them to come to life. I believe we are given that same command as believers in the world today. We are supposed to be the kind of people who speak life into a dead and dying world. Unfortunately, being around the "dead"....being in places full of death and despair is hard and most people RUN from those places. Not you. You are going into the darkest places on the planet to speak LIFE. You are speaking life and hope with every single rescue. Actually, I bet you are speaking life and hope in every single catch of the eye. I bet these girls, even the ones who are not rescued, see a difference in you. They notice that you look in their eyes instead of at their bodies. They see your care, and HIS, in your eyes. You are a modern day Ezekiel, going into the graveyards of the walking, breathing dead and speaking life.
I also know that it's not all fun and games. It's not miracle inducing beauty where you watch the dead spring to life, hugging and thanking you and you all grab hands and dance in a circle. It's hard. It's gut wrenching on a daily basis. It's painful as you look around at the pain and terror on their faces and know you won't rescue every single one of them. It's even more painful to see the ones who have no terror because you know they have resigned themselves to that fate. At times you must want to punch a "john" in the face. You must want to storm the brothels and turn the tables and beat the life out of a man that you know is taking away the innocence and the life blood of a precious daughter of God. It's overwhelming as you count the brothels and wonder if you are even making a dent.
Rekha's face haunts me. I have her picture on my phone. I wonder how she is today. I wonder if she's ok. I hurt. I ache. I weep before my God. They didn't find her even after days of searching. Instead, they got word that the brothels in this area were rotating the girls every 17 days. She is gone and we don't know where. Not only that, but she is the "new girl" - the new underage girl at another brothel right now. This fact brings about questions in my faith that have no answers. They cause me to wrestle with God. They bring me, weeping, to His feet as I slam my fists against His chest and ask "why?" with a broken heart. And I didn't even look into her eyes. I simply have her photo. I cannot truly imagine what goes through your mind and heart as an investigator when a girl does not get rescued. And yet....you keep going. You keep rescuing. You keep investigating. You keep going into the dark places to speak life and hope.
Today, I want you to know that you are not alone. There are hundreds, thousands of us who stand with you. We ache with you. We love you, though we don't know your name. We pray for you. We pray for your rescues and investigations, but we also pray for your hearts. For your faith. For your families. We pray that He will sustain you through the questions. We pray that you will feel His presence and His pleasure as you serve Him on the frontlines. We pray for every girl that you lock eyes with, that they will see His adoration of them. We pray for every John that you lock eyes with, that they will see the possibility of being free from these chains. We pray that you will be sent out into this world as a mighty warrior who fights against the darkness and who brings LIFE and HOPE. We thank you.
From my heart to yours, all I have to offer is my overwhelming thankfulness and my prayers. I am heading to SE Asia in 3 months and I know then I will know a piece more of your heart and of your pain and I pledge to use my voice to walk into the darkness with you whenever I can and to lift you up always,
Brandi Lea
PS: If you want to write your own letter to an investigator, go to www.theexodusroad.com for details! Also, I'd encourage you to follow Indian Rescue Mission and The Exodus Road on FB and twitter!!!
IRM - find "James IndianRescue" on FB as a friend. Follow him on Twitter @indianrescue
Exodus Road - Friend them on FB and follow twitter as @theexodusroad
No comments:
Post a Comment