I love love. A good love story always makes my heart smile. Happily ever afters get me
every time. And while I was in India this time, I saw one of the greatest love stories ever told with my very own eyes.
She said yes...
Just two weeks ago you could have found me on the streets of Mumbai, but not just any streets- the streets of the red light district. Also known as one of the darkest places on the face of the earth. It's where evil roams and slumbers day in and day out. Only this trip to the district turned into one with quite an unusual ending.
Myself, and two other friends of mine journeyed up the stairs of a brothel. Turning the corner of the first flight we encountered about 6 women sitting, standing, waiting on customers. I smiled...they did not. We walked in line passed them, with a man following closely behind us. Only we were on much of a different mission than he. With every flight of stairs came a long hall way, maybe 10 or more rooms down each hall and a man, or young adult, sitting on a stool waiting outside the doorway. After about 4 flights up, we ventured down the long hallway, stopping at probably the 5Th doorway. We walked in...two women were there to greet us with hellos, and also a big fat rat. That alone had me on my toes, itching to get out of the place. Yet we walked on into the brothel, and had a seat in the front room with the women and the rat too of course.
After a few moments, a baby's cry screeched throughout the brothel, and of course i asked the women if we could please see the baby. So one went into the back room and woke up the baby's mother and she and her sweet 1 year old came out to see us. For now we will just call him baby M, for security purposes, and baby M was no fan of mine to say the least. One look at a strange white girl and he was in a frenzy. But don't worry just yet, the story gets much better. So baby M's momma came and sat down, we'll call her P. P's name and outfit went perfectly together, as did her bright red lips and make-uped face left over from the night before. I could feel my chest grow tighter at the thoughts of what the previous night had held for her, just 5 mins walking distance away from where I had laid my head in safety. I kept telling myself, "focus, don't let Satan win. Pay attention to details and engage like you've never engaged before."
P began opening us as I asked her more and more questions. Where had she come from? How long had she been here? What was her age? Where was her family? Why, why this? And here is her story: After finding she was pregnant with her 8 year old daughter, her husband left her. So when her daughter was 5, she started seeking a better job in order to support her. She was told of a job opportunity in Mumbai where she could be a tailor, and knew that was the best she would probably find. LIES. IT WAS ALL LIES. My sweet friend, P, had been trafficked. SOLD. IN DEBTED to a brothel and to a madam. TRAPPED. DECEIVED. So P has been in the trade for 3 years, and still her mother and daughter know nothing of the truth of what she is really doing. She is too ashamed and broken to tell them. Now she has a baby boy to care for also, and in a month she will be sending him to her mother to care for also. I asked her if she is sad to be sending him away, but she told me she is okay because she knows he needs out of there, he needs a better life. I shared with her how much I respected her for that, and explained that that demonstrated a beautiful picture of what love really is. Giving up of ourselves for the benefit of someone else.
This opened the door to share about Jesus. I asked her if she knew of Him, and she told me, "yes, He is like the other gods i worship." but thankfully she told me she would love to know more about him, stories of his love. Somewhere in the midst of this conversation unfolding, a man walked into the brothel. Looked at me, looked at my friend (also a white American girl), and asked Chris (our leader and Indian) how much for both of us. Yes, that's right...He wanted to buy us for the day or night. Thankfully Chris told control and told him to leave. So after that small incident i proceeded in sharing Jesus with P, praying with every breath for the the Holy Spirit to be there. At the end, i asked her- the question that saved her life.
Would she like to receive the ONE man who will never leave her, the one who keeps EVERY promise He ever makes, the one who loves her more than any other, and she said YES! Right there in the midst of that dark, sinful, disgusting brothel- Jesus showed up and saved P. Once a lonely prostitute, now a princess of the King. Once broken, now mended. Once hopeless, now full of hope. Once a instrument of lust, now the apple of someones eye, HIS eye. Once lost, now she is found. All because He came, died, and lives again. He did it for P. All because He loves the unlovable, fights for the weak, cries out for the ones who can't even speak. And all because...
SHE SAID YES.
