For a few months I lived on the other side of the world on a small Island in a country where I couldn't understand the language. I sat in a small room on a rug middle eastern style drinking dark coffee with girls who were from my side of the world. The difference about us was that I had chosen to travel to this Island and they had not. I spent hours with these girls and a lot of the time I spent it looking into eyes that told a story of pain, loss, rejection and lies. Dreams shattered. Hopes lost. But what stood out to me the most was how God was woven through their stories. How Gods love was showing up in each of their lives and through their lives my own life was touched. ''Through the eyes of men it seems There's so much we have lost As we look down the road Where all the prodigals have walked One by one The enemy has whispered lies And led them off as slaves.'' She knelt on the floor, more like crumbled on the floor and tears streamed down her face. Her heart breaking, walls shattering, and life finally making sense. For the first time she knew in her heart that God delighted in her. Not for who she was, what she was,where she belonged or even what she had accomplished. Not for who she wasn't and despite what she had not accomplished He delighted in her. He made her because He delighted in her. And the words I so often told other girls, became a reality in that moment. I was that Girl. Life isn't a fight for justice, it's a battle for love. It was later that week in the same room that I sat on the same floor with about six other ladies. We were again drinking dark coffee and talking about life, pain, loss, joy, love, hope, and a future that would be more then a detention center and boiled potatoes. As I looked into their eyes, eyes full of questions, lives full of pain, and lies.. trust lost. As I sat there and thought of the words that had become a reality in my own life a few days before. How can I express what my heart knows, that even after having been tricked into believing the lies of a trafficker God delights in them. And as I look into their eyes, eyes that didn't shine anymore I didn't see failure.. I saw women who were loved deeply. Women who were chosen. Women who Jesus shed his blood for so that He could give them life and spend eternity with them. That night words were spoken in that room from my mouth, but the words were being spoken to my own heart because how can we speak truth if we don't believe truth. Words of love and truth were spoken and they were carved deep into my soul. That no matter what has happened to us, no matter where we are in the world God is with us, no matter where the lies of a trafficker lead us no matter how many nights we spent in a brothel, no matter how many euros or lack there of, our sexuality is not labeled. Our bodies are not commodities. No matter how long we were homeless on the streets, or how many years we struggled with anorexia and believed the lies that we were not good enough. God doesn't just love us, He delights in us so much that He chose the cross to give us life. Later that week I again sat on that floor, this time with only one of the ladies. She held her knees and she cried uncontrollably. A story of broken, lost, pain, fear, and shame was told. But then she looked right into my eyes and she said. " I understood that God loved me, but I never knew He delighted in me.. And ever since you said that, when I get sad I think about the fact that God delights in me and instead of crying I sing because I know I can feel it." And my heart melts, because I can feel it too and I look into your eyes and I see hope. Your eyes they may even have been shining. But we know that you are God Yours is the victory We know there is more to come That we may not yet see So with the faith you've given us We'll step into the valley unafraid. As we call out to dry bones Come alive, come alive We call out to dead hearts Come alive, come alive Up out of the ashes Let us see an army rise We call out to dry bones, come alive. God of endless mercy God of unrelenting love Rescue every daughter Bring us back the wayward son And By your spirit breathe upon them Show the world that you alone can save You alone can save As we call out to dry bones Come alive, come alive We call out to dead hearts Come alive, come alive Up out of the ashes Let us see an army rise We call out to dry bones come alive. "Come Alive (Dry Bones)" by LAUREN DAIGLE
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