front row parking

I pulled into the parking lot of my work this morning about an hour after I usually come in. My legs are pretty sore this morning following an hour butt kicking at crossfit and to be honest I was dreading parking far and having to walk to the door. Passing through all of the cars I saw a spot a lot closer than I expected so I immediately pulled in and I was really excited. I said ‘Thank you Jesus’ and got out of my car. The closer I got toward the door the more clearly I could see a front row spot right outside the entrance. This may sound silly, but I had a deep revelation in this moment. I thought ‘how often do I accept second best?’ – ‘how often do I settle’ – ‘how often do I give up before receiving God’s best'. Because the fact of the matter is, God wants all of us to have front row parking. When God gives us blessings it is because it brings Him joy. He doesn’t give us half fast blessings but rather abundant blessings. He doesn’t say ‘here is your perfect ice cream sundae…..minus the caramel, nuts, whipped cream, and cherry’.  

I want God’s best. I want front row parking. But, I also want to give God my best, I want to give Him front row parking, I want to give Him myself in abundance. It is out of the abundance of Him that I can offer Him the abundance of me.

fourteen days clean

She usually doesn’t say much.. our conversations are primarily minimal and she doesn’t share anything personal with us. We see her from time to time, we see her front, her fake front that she is okay… but we also see beyond that.

Last night she talked, opened up, and expressed she wanted to leave the streets.

Fifteen days ago she was sleeping in her car, her boyfriend went into the store and she was abruptly awakened by a car-jacker who proceeded to stab her. She suffered multiple stab wounds and woke up in the hospital. Two weeks later she was released.

You obviously cannot shoot heroine in the hospital so she was discharged yesterday fourteen days clean. She talked to us and shared that she had said no the entire day to getting high because she wanted to stay clean. She said she wanted to move out to the suburbs and get her life back together. She spent ten minutes talking to us and sharing her life, her personal life. We learned about her twelve year old son and her life before the streets.

It will be extremely difficult for her to remain in the environment she is in and remain clean so we are praying for strength and a quick exit. She said she wanted to have lunch with us this weekend. We passed her our number and told her we would pick her up Sunday morning. We are praying she calls us – we would love to see her released from this captivity once and for all.

We often say "if the drugs don't kill them the streets will...." -- there is a reason this woman's life was spared. there is a reason she survived multiple stab wounds. God has a plan for her. She has a purpose in this world. She is worthy of love.

lackadaisical.

Us -  “How can we pray with you tonight”

Her – “Oh, I got raped last night, so for protection. Pray that I don’t get raped again tonight”

Jaime continues on to pray with this girl and I just sat there as righteous anger boiled up within me.

She said it so calmly, so lackadaisical, as if it were a frequent prayer request….. as if rape was something that happened so common that she was numb to it.

She was the third woman that night to tell us she was raped.

Women shouldn’t have to live in fear of being raped.

Women shouldn’t have to live in fear of being raped twice in twenty-four hours.

I can’t think of anything more demeaning and demoralizing than rape.
I can’t think of something that makes a woman feel more unworthy.

When God sent Jesus so that we may have life and have it in abundance rape was not a part of that abundance. I just kept asking myself over and over again “God….. what kind of world do we live in?” What kind of world do we live in where men rape women? And worse, what kind of world do we live in where we know that this happens and we do n.o.t.h.i.n.g.? What kind of world do we live in where the City of Detroit Police Department has 11,000 rape kits sitting in their evidence room that havent been tested because they are from prostitutes?

And these are the sort of nights that keep us awake, these are the sort of nights that stir our spirits, these are the kind of nights that turn our stomachs at the disgusting reality of what happens minutes from our front doors.

“If we have hands like God and arms like Christ

we’d reach far we’d take each scar

and we’d never measure the length

we’d never hesitate

we’d never take the time to just think about it and wait

we’d stretch so far we’d have stretch marks of faith

because some people only know the comfort of their chains

some people think God only looks like their abusive fathers face

some people don’t even know there is a possibility to be saved

because they don’t know what we know

that love isn’t something you pay for

lust isn’t something you pay for

sex isn’t something you pay for

sin is something you pay for

and that price has already been paid for

with the blood of a savior

whose arms stretch so far they stretch through time

with limitless relentless restoring grace

who in our world needs to hear that today

who right beside you needs some truth today

who is your neighbor beat up and bleeding

ignored and needing on the side of the way

who is broken in bondage

in that side of the world or on this side of the street

Because they are someone beautiful

they are someone valuable

blood was shed because

they were meant to be someone free”

-Hosanna Wong

the ninety-nine

Part two.

We started outreach on Monday night with the same prayer we ended Sunday with, “God please don’t let us see her…” – we really wanted her to leave the streets, we really wanted her to pursue the stirring in her heart, we really wanted her to encounter the fullness of God and the abundance He has for her. Seeing her meant she didn’t go to rehab.

From an outsiders perspective one may think this is a simple decision, if you want to get off the streets then you can leave at any time… but it is not like that, not in the slightest. Leaving the streets because you are arrested is easy because you are being forced. Leaving the streets because you are sick is easy because you have no other choice. Leaving the streets because you are choosing to get clean from drugs and because you believe in yourself is not easy. Drugs suck you in, manipulate your mind, control your thoughts, and take power of your will.

If drugs are not enough to keep you the chaos of life is. The streets suck you in and pull you into a whirlwind of self-damnation with a whisper of ‘this is all you are good enough for…’ The streets tell a girl she isn’t worthy and if the streets don’t kill her the drugs will.

We prayed with over forty people Monday night. Stopped at a few crack houses, prayed with drug lords, held hands with hopeless women, heard the desperate cries “I just want off the streets”….

As the sun went down over Detroit and the scarcity of street lights flickered… we hadn’t seen her yet. We drove to the crack house we found her at on Sunday and were greeted by the same man… he asked if we were looking for her again and we said we were…. He walked into the crack house, his voice echoed to the streets as he called her name… but there wasn’t a response… he came out of the house and said “I saw her earlier…. She looked so great, she was all dressed up, her hair was done, she said she was leaving and then she left….”

I love how God works because even in that moment as joyous as our hearts were we saw that the harvest was still plentiful and right in front of us. We asked our new friend what happened to his nose, which was so obviously in poor shape…. He shared he was in an altercation and his right nostril was ‘ripped’ off….. so we prayed over him and asked God to grow that back, to rebuild cartilage, to heal him. We told him we would be back on Monday again and expectantly looked forward to seeing a healed nose. She may have left but new relationships built from her exit. Even when the one sheep comes back… there is still 99 more to tend to…

As we drove off, Jaime and I put in our calendars “_________ left the streets today” with a yearly reminder. A yearly reminder that she is worthy, she is good enough, she has a plan… We have learned that God is stronger than any force of a drug addiction, any force of mind manipulation, any force of control –when He puts something in our hearts nothing can stop us. The one sheep returned, but we still have ninety-nine more...... ninety-nine more sheep that need to know about God's redemptive love... ninety-nine more that have a story to fulfill....

What we couldn’t do for ourselves Christ perfected.

the one

I think one of the sweetest things that AWOL has adopted from Donna’s leadership with 70x7 is that she always began ministry and ended ministry in prayer. Each week before we hit the streets our team unites in prayer with expectant hearts and each night we end outreach with filled hearts because God always goes above and beyond our expectations for the night. I love that His word says He prepares good works in advance for us. It’s so comforting to know that it is Him doing all of this…. Not me, not Jaime, not our team or those who serve alongside us… but HIM.

On Sunday we had plans to meet up with the girl I blogged about here. We showed up at 2pm like arranged and then we waited….and waited… truly the thought of her not showing up didn’t cross my mind. I knew we would see her and my mind was resolved on that. At 2:23pm I looked at Jaime and said that doubt had entered my mind and for the first time I thought we weren’t going to see her that day. So in normal Jaime fashion she said “well duh LF let’s just go find her”. We had no idea where she lived because any time that we had gone to her house it was dark out and after going to multiple houses in one night everything sort of bunches together. So we prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to tell us where she lived. Jaime got a word and so we followed through on it and went looking for her word… two streets later we saw a street sign with the word she got in the name of the street….so we went down it. Very quickly in we realized this street was familiar and we had been on it before…. Then we saw the house and we laughed because last time we knocked on the door to this house we were pretty sure we were going to die. But, we both thought that was the house so we went and knocked on the door. Sure enough, it was her house but she wasn’t home. The woman who answered the door told us to go back to the corner she usually is at and wait for her. So we did.. and nothing.

We had driven around and then driven some more and each time we got to this one specific street I turned right. So on the 4^th or 5^th time down this street Jaime says “LF go straight” so I did, passing my right turn. Then Jaime said “wait…. Didn’t we go to a house on this street once before and she was at a house on the corner down here…. Remember the house that you got out of the van and totally bit it and fell on your butt”…. Yeah I remembered, I also remembered Jaime laughing hysterically at me. We pulled up to the house on the corner and thought we would go knock on the door. A man across the street hollered at us and asked if we were looking for _______ and we said yes and he said she was inside that house. So we knocked on the door, someone answered, opened the door, and then walked away… it was eerie. So the guy said “you want me to go in and get her…. You her family” we said “yeah” so he did… and sure enough she came out. She hugged me and said she loved us so much and was so sorry, but she couldn’t have lunch… She told us she was still planning on leaving the streets for rehab the next day.

We drove off and we had a great peace… I think the day was more about her knowing she was worth going after, worth pursuing, worth looking for. People need to know that they are worthy of love. People need to know that someone cares enough about them to seek them out. People need to know that when they don’t show up that they are missed. People need to know that they are worth the extra mile. Just as God lead us to where she was – He is also leading her to where she is going….

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? Matthew 18:12

We left the neighborhood and our prayer was “God – please don’t let us see her tomorrow night….” because then it would mean she did what she was going to do… it would mean she left the streets, she went to rehab, and she was entering a journey of restoration…

So Monday happened…. Check back tomorrow ;)

she was the impossibility...

God can answer a prayer in an instant. Last night we asked God to put two specific women in our path and immediately after those prayers we saw both women. God can answer a prayer in an instant but the word tells us to pray without ceasing – that means when the answer doesn’t happen immediately you keep knocking, seeking, and asking. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. – Habakkuk 2:3.

We see a lot of girls on the streets every week, most we see repeatedly, some once or twice and never again. Some girls we can see every week for a year and still not form a deep relationship with them and some we see continuously for a year and build a connection that is deeper than the one I share with my own neighbor. Some girls grip your heart the second you meet them, their face follows you home, and you find yourself praying for them all the time. There is one girl I met a year ago that I instantly loved the second I first met her. T’was love at first sight if you will. Something about her captivated me and I’ve seen God use her to speak into my life countless times. She is one of the faces we see every week that I take with me off the streets. The whole team loves her. She is the girl that you think will never leave the streets – she is the impossibility.

Last night while driving during outreach I said “Jesusssssss….. it would be SO COOL if you could just put ______ in our path!!!!” one block later… boom. “okay… now you are just showing off”. I jumped out of the car and gave her a big hug and told her how much I missed her and she kept telling us how much she loved us and wouldn’t let go. I think we must’ve hugged for a solid five minutes. As she gripped my arm with her hand and reached her other arm around my neck resting on my shoulder, she began sharing with our team how she tracked down her birth mom and left the streets for the first time on her own terms; she wasn’t arrested, wasn’t in jail, not sick…but wanted to leave. She was clean for four days and the happiest any of us have ever seen her.

She told us she had dreams and couldn’t live like this anymore. She told us she had a story, she had a testimony, that she was a human being and not just a prostitute….. she told us she was worthy of love.

We stood on that street corner for twenty minutes listening to her tell us about God’s restoration in her life. If ever I heard the gospel preached it was in that moment. We listened to her tell us that one day she would be riding around with us praying for the girls. We listened to her tell us that God had a plan for her life. She said she was saying good bye to the streets and hello to a new life. It was hands down one of the best moments of my entire life. Before she left Jaime grabbed her hand and looked her right in the eye and told her that God did have a purpose for her life, that she does have a plan and how much he loves her. She is the impossibility God made possible.

She walked away and I started to laugh and then I started to cry… an hour later our team was still in shock. It always blows my mind to see the Sovereignty of our God. How majestic and wondrous His ways are and how beautiful His plans unfold. God doesn’t see a prostitute or a drug addict, He sees His beloved. A whole year I’ve been praying for her….. for this moment, for last night…. To walk in the freedom God has for her. Glory.

I knew I saw her..

I was sitting in Church a few weeks ago and saw the most beautiful red head walk in with her husband. I looked at her three times and was certain that she was who I thought she was… she was one of our girls off the streets. She looked so healthy. Her face was beaming with joy and her husband looked at her adoringly. It took everything in me to not run up to her and wrap my arms around her but I stared from a distance. It was almost as if I was looking at her from a Mothers perspective and seeing the fruit of our labor, I was proud.

It wasn’t who I thought it was. But I do believe it was an indication of who she will be. I texted Jaime and said “you will never believe who is in Church today…. it is ______ in the future and she is fully restored, free from drugs, healthy, and married”. We resolved that this happened because we needed to pray for her. We know that she is very ill and is in need of a critical surgery. The next day on outreach I thought for certain we would run into her and when we didn’t I was really bummed. Again, the next week, we didn’t see her.

Last night we were driving around with Donna, leader of 70x7, in new neighborhoods that Jaime and I have not been to… we were scooping out new possible neighborhoods that All Worthy of Love would begin to do outreach in. While we were driving around my heart ached to be in our regular neighborhood so much that I asked Donna if we could leave and go to our normal route to see our girls.

The second girl we pulled up to was her…. The girl I had been waiting for… it had been weeks and there she was. I got out of the car and hugged her and told her how much we missed her and she shared she had been in the hospital. The time had come where her surgery was life or death and it needed to be done quickly. I had a sweet opportunity to release God’s healing over her and ask him to grow new valves to her heart. There were tears and smiles exchanged but the most constant image I had while looking her in the eyes was the woman I saw in Church a few weeks ago…. Her in the future.

Please join our team in prayer that she would be completely healed either by way of instantaneous healing or through surgery. If surgery, would you please pray for everything relating to health insurance and that the details with the hospital would be divinely worked out?

“When a lion roars, who can keep from being afraid? When the Sovereign Lord Speaks, who can keep from proclaiming his message” – Amos 3:8

My call to the abolitionists:

This week Jaime and I were in Kansas City representing All Worthy of Love at the Exodus Cry Abolition Summit. It was a remarkable conference and as cliche as it sounds it was life changing. It is humbling to sit amongst the pioneer abolitionists of our time and have the opportunity to learn from them and pray with them. I truly felt that we sat in the presence of warriors who have unwaveringly accepted the call to end slavery and without hesitation committed to bridge the gap of injustice and to fight for freedom. I truly felt that we sat in the presence of the next Moses', the next Abraham Lincoln's, the next William Wilberforce's, and in each seat I saw the eyes of leaders who have committed their lives to seeing justice. We, like those, are unwavering and irrevocably committed to this movement. During the summit Jaime and I were able to speak with Ohad from the Nefarious film one on one and share about All Worthy of Love and our hearts -- We will never forget Ohad's parting commissioning to us, he looked us dead in our eyes and told us "Never give up. Don't you ever give up on those girls". That is exactly what we intend to do, we will not give up.

At the same time this week a thousand miles away there were 60,000 people who gathered as a united generation to seek God. I prayed for every single one of you and that your hearts would break and move you to action. For some, this conference was the first they heard that slavery still exists. For some this was a confirmation of what your heart is already breaking for and to you I say stand firm your army is coming. For others this was a reminder of an evil that will only be defeated by an Army of believers. Here is my message to the 60,000 who attended Passion: Sex slavery is real. Human trafficking is real. It is in my opinion the greatest evil our generation knows. The enslaved are people, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, all made in the image of God. Each one of you are in a position to move forward with all you learned or to put the reality away in your journal for another year. Each one of you are being presented with an opportunity to do something about slavery. Each one of you are a voice for the voiceless. Now that you know, you are responsible. Do not let the last 4 days be an experience, but rather let it be an encounter. Let the reality of this injustice change your lives for good. Rise up. You, every one of you are needed in the fight to set the captives free, to loose the chains of injustice, and to be the light in the darkness. You, every one of you are integral. If you are in Christ Jesus you are the answer to injustice. You are needed.

But hear this, the enslaved need more than a casual prayer every now and then, the enslaved need believers to get on their faces day after day after day and to storm the gates of Heaven on their behalf. The enslaved need more than sympathy. They need more than apathy. Fighting sex slavery is war. Anytime you mess with a man's money you better be prepared for war. Prepare yourself. It will get ugly, it will be dark, it will be hard, and not every case will be successful in your eyes, but it will be worth it. Do not judge your own effectiveness. You have been delivered and now you are called to be deliverers. Do not give up on them. Never give up. Pray that God would cast out laborers into the harvest of sex slavery. Push the agendas of Heaven over the agendas of Hell. You do not play defense. You are a warrior. He that is in you is greater than he that is in this world. The darkness does not overcome the light. Jesus is the author of Justice and He came to destroy the work of the devil. Understand this, prayer is your first priority. Continue to educate yourself and understand the in's and out's of this catastrophic evil. The leading forms of sex slavery are pornography and prostitution. Silence is not mercy, it is the corruption of justice. Do not let your compassion for the task exceed your passion for Jesus.

Never forget that not long ago you were in captivity, you were in chains, you were in bondage, you were enslaved. Do not forget where you come from. Do not forget that it was a Sovereign, Holy God who picked you out of your captivity, your chains, your bondage, your enslavement and said 'Follow Me'. As Dan Allender put it, you will remain faithful to the degree in which you are in touch with brokenness. Rise up. This is your generation.

Also, pray for Benji Nolan and his wife Lauren as well as the entire team at Exodus Cry. This year they will be filming for Nefarious II and after hearing the vision I know for a fact this will change everything. They need your prayers.

We are back in Detroit empowered, encouraged, and equipped.
A warrior for Freedom,
LF

If you want more information about Human Trafficking or what we do in Detroit, email me at lindsey@allworthyoflove.org or Jaime at jaime@allworthyoflove.org - We are scheduling through June for informative teachings. 

opened doors

This week has been such an exciting week of revelations. God is just so good. This morning a dear friend texted me “Today doors are going to open, not close”. I thought about it for a moment and I was like yeah of course doors will be opened. God does not lead us through a desert and abandon us. He does not leave us thirsty. I began thinking of the Israelites in the book of Exodus (my favorite book) and how they were in bondage for over 400 years. God sent Moses to rescue and redeem them. Moses only had the voice of God to depend on and when God told Moses to take the Israelites far away to the Red Sea Moses trusted Him. During their journey the Israelites lost faith….several times. They would have rather been back in bondage than walk through the desert toward a destination that was unknown. They continually questioned Moses and where they were headed. But, Moses, in faith trusted that God had a bigger plan. See, God was leading the Israelites toward an opened door… but the Israelites could not see that door. God doesn’t lead us through deserts to abandon us or shut us down with a closed door. God opens doors for us. He is the ultimate gentleman. Sometimes we cannot see the opened door. Sometimes we don’t even think the door exists.

 In this case, the door did not exist as far as human understanding. God had a bigger plan. He was not leading the Israelites in vain. God lead them to the Red Sea, a massive body of water. Once they got there the Israelites faith really began to deplete. But, God in His amazing power told Moses to lift his staff to the Red Sea and with that the Sea began to part. God made a door. He parted a sea and made a way for the Israelites to walk through. On each side was a wall of water and between the two was a walk way. God makes paths for us. Let’s live our lives in faith that God is a God who parts seas for us and makes a way even when we cannot see it. God opens doors that do not even exist. He is the God of impossibility because with Him all things are possible. Whatever you are facing, wherever you are wondering…. Listen to the small still voice behind you saying “This is the way; walk in it” (Is. 30:21). God will open doors for you in its appointed time. Do not waver like the Israelites…. Be firm. Have faith and trust Him. He is on your side. Walk toward open doors even when you don’t see them.

In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.

In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. – Exodus 15:13

the cost is your life

When I traveled to Bangkok and walked the streets of one of the most notorious red light districts in the world the verse that continually resounded in my mind was John 1:5. “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it”. Outreach this week started with three gunshots… about a street away. It was an interesting tone to start the night off. The next place we went to was a crack house, which is not unusual for us but the gentleman that walked out was an unfamiliar face… I had a moment where I thought “okay this is it… I’m probably going to die” which then followed by praying for this man and looking him into the eyes and telling him that Jesus loves him…..and not dying. The next stop we heard from a sister that her son was gunned down two weeks prior on the street we were standing on. It was a heavy start to the night. It is interesting how we can get lost in focusing on the good that comes with Christ, the easy, the peace, the joy… but there is also a cost to following Jesus and carrying the Cross daily. The cost is your life. Doing outreach can be dark. You truly never know what each outing will bring or what will happen. What I do know is that no matter what comes our way God is on our side, God is our protector, and if I die of anything I pray that it is while I am bringing others closer to Him. As believers we are not called into this cushiony life that is easy and safe… we are called to make disciples, no matter the cost. We are called to give until it hurts like Jesus did. We get the cushiony life and the easy safe life once we are in Heaven for all of eternity. But I can say this; the darkness never overcomes the light. As heavy as this night was we did end up at a house filled with beautiful children who All Worthy of Love was able to bless with an abundance of Christmas presents and the joy that beamed from this home overcame all the darkness we had just encountered. This one home shined so brightly. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. If you are in Christ Jesus and believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead and is now alive in Heaven seated at the right hand of the Father and is coming back again….. then YOU are this light we found in this home. You are the light that is not overcome by the darkness. You are. We are. But only because He is.

revitilization

Last night I was hanging with my sweet roommate and we were discussing how wild this last year has been. As December creeps in on us (tomorrow) as does the close of the year. 2012 has been such a huge blessing! I have continually seen the goodness of the Lord prevail in all circumstances and I have witnessed His love and His beauty in so many different areas, situations, and events. Over the last year or so my feet have touched ground in Orlando, Vegas, Haiti, Miami, Japan, Thailand, New Jersey, New York, Washington DC, Amsterdam, Florence, Rome, and most importantly, Detroit City. I have been so blessed to travel and see so many things and meet so many different people. Everywhere I go I see the Lord’s beauty. I see the Lord’s goodness. I see the Lord’s faithfulness…in the good, the trials, the lows, and the unknown…He has been so faithful. I have learned that God truly does bring all things to completion. I have watched a City sprout into a re-birth and I’ve been a part of a Community that is hungry and eager to be a part of that revitalization and restoration. I have laughed, cried, loved, hurt, and experienced life. What a joy it is to feel. I cannot express the gratitude I have for my Church community and just how loving and supportive of a family they have been. I have watched a ministry (All Worthy of Love) grow and I’ve witnessed miracles and growth on the streets. The last 12-18 months have been so abundant but truly they have all lead me back to right where I am… in the City of Detroit. Loving out my faith. Dreaming to reality. Not just seeking to witness revitalization, to desire revitalization, but to deeply be saturated in being a part of revitalization…. In Detroit and in my community of friends. I eagerly anticipate the goodness of December and the next year. May it be His will and His Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven in my life, your life, and in this City.

Come

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  – Isaiah 1:18

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28

 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” – Isaiah 55:1

 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” – Matthew 14:29

 “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come! “And let the one who hears say, “Come!“ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. – Revelation 22:17

God presents us with an invitation.

He is saying ..come..

I am His

Desperate for Your glory to shine

You gave Your life to save mine

Knitted me deep in my innermost being

I feel my heart move and my Spirit agreeing

Laying down all that I am to be all that You are

It should be my hands claimed by a scar

Death couldn’t hold you down

You are the most high deserving the crown

You call me lovely and see the best in me

I am the one you’ve called, I am she

I will rise to fulfill all you have planned

and seek the beauty of the one seated at the right-hand

Plans that will prosper and a life that brings joy

Satan has no hold, nothing in me he can destroy

Use this life for all you will

My joy heightens as you abundantly fill

My worth is found in you alone

Lover of my soul seated on the throne

-LF

from homeless to homeowner

So often we become focused on the victim so much that we lose track of the victimizer. The first night I was in Thailand I found myself looking among all the western men purchasing sex with the most condemning eyes I could. I hated them. I thought those men were the enemy. During our group debrief that night following ministry I asked my team to pray for me because I was really struggling with the men. I had this sisterly/motherly protection come over me that wanted to do whatever I could to keep the young girls safe and in doing so I thought the only way was to exile the purchaser and the supplier. This mindset lasted for a few hours but it has forever changed my perspective. That night my team laid hands on me and I very distinctly remember one of the girls asking the Lord to give me a heart for the men in this industry. My very first time out on the streets with Abide 70x7 I met a man who pretty much runs the neighborhood, drugs, women, you name it. I prayed with this man and since that day I have developed such a heart for him. It’s not just the victim that needs rescued, but rather both the victim and the victimizer. God has really crafted within me a heart to love the victimizer just as much as I love the victim.

It’s really awesome how God has brought Jaime and I together in a sense that we pretty much have one mind. We both have a heart for the men. It is such an honor to serve and do ministry alongside her. Over the last several months the two of us have watched chains of barriers diminish before our eyes as a relationship with this man has unfolded and strengthened. We love him. {We don’t agree with his choices, but we do believe that Jesus Christ died for him and loves him. We also believe that if the victimizer gets saved the culture of that entire neighborhood will see a revival. See, God uses our personality characteristics from our worldly lives in our redemptive lives. This man is a man of power on those streets in a worldly sense but we believe that God will use him to be a man of His power, like Paul in the Bible}

Each week Jaime and I are taken to a deeper level with this man and what it is he ‘does’. Each week new chains are broken and he becomes a little more comfortable sharing with us. Each week he is more open with specific prayer requests. Most recently we have been praying about his lady friend who also works with him and her court order to go to rehab. She is addicted to heroin.  A few years ago the two came together, she was homeless and he was fresh out of jail. Now she is a homeowner and he is in love with her. We have been walking through the events with him that have lead up to the court ordered rehabilitation and he has earnestly asked us to be in prayer for the two of them. Coming off heroin is tough. I don’t speak from personal experience but I do speak on behalf of my friends on the streets that I’ve had the privilege to get to know… heroin is nasty.

Last night Jaime and I walked up to his door and knocked, the lady friend answered the door and invited us inside. Immediately I had peace about entering and so did Jaime. We asked our team leader if it would be okay and she said if our spirits were are peace it was okay. {this is a huge opened door}. We entered. We entered into this man’s house, a new territory, a new level of trust. The two invited us into their living room to sit down and they began to share their heavy, heavy hearts and need for prayer with us. This is light entering darkness. Jaime and I sat there and held their hands as they shared that rehab was happening this week and she was fearful of how terrible it would be to come off the drug that controls her life. The pain he felt knowing she would be alone, hours away fighting for freedom against drugs rocked a grown man who is known for his power on the streets. Two broken people, one hope. So we laid hands on her and prayed deliverance over her life. We encouraged her. Jaime prayed that the blood of Jesus would run through her veins and that every mark heroin ever left on her mind and body would be gone. We assured them that we were in this with them and they were not alone. We got his number {gasps…. Can you believe it}. This is discipleship. This is building relationships. This is all God’s doing. We plan to visit her at the rehab place weekly and disciple her as she goes through this new season of restoration.

from comfort to courage

I sent out a text this morning to some friends that said "reflecting on Genesis 39:20-21 this morning. Joseph was put in prison and vs 21 says the Lord was with him. Whatever your prison is, emotional or financial strain, anxiety, self doubt or uncertainty, stress, etc., We serve a God who is not turned away by our imprisonment, but rather a God who goes into our prisons with us and delivers us from them. Take heart! The Lord is with you and He will see you through!"

No matter what we are faced with or what prisons we find ourselves in this week, God is with us.  We serve a God who goes into our prisons with us and delivers us from them.  One of my friends responded that comfort zones are prisons, too. This surprised me, I had never thought of my beloved comfort zone as a hindrance in my life. But after thinking on it I came to the conclusion that comfort zones are prisons. God did not create us to develop habits that are self-protecting or constricting, but rather to live a life of abundance.

Satan is really slick to make sure none of us leave our adolescents free from scars or pain. We learn reactions, responses, and are trained to think a certain way. We develop habits that are not easily detectable but constricting all the same. There is this zone that develops around us that we continually nurture and tend to throughout our lives. It’s mostly invisible but its attack is deep. It’s our comfort zone.

The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk (White).

The word ‘comfort’ sparks a renewing emotion of safety, but it is actually the opposite. The title of the zone itself is deceitful. Comfort zones are hindrances. They keep us from fully engaging in life. Most of our zones are deeper than the initial thought; they are trained beneath our level of consciousness. They are stumbling blocks into new seasons of restoration. They are expectations that clog our vision when newness is brought about. They are chains that keep us in one place, in one mindset, in one thought process. Comfort zones are habits we develop in an effort to self-protect. If we keep doing the same thing we will keep seeing the same results.

If you stay on the shore of the ocean because you are afraid of what rests within the massive body of water you miss the opportunities for the Lord to show you His perfect strength when a wave knocks you down, you miss the freedom from swimming and letting go of barriers that hold you back, you miss the liberating view of a wave that has knocked you down come to an end. Waves cannot go on forever, they are fleeting and unpredictable, but they are not constraining. We cannot go through life in an effort to avoid mistakes or failures; we miss out on the thrill of recreating. We cannot remain in prisons of fear. We were made for more than that. Get off the shore, jump into the ocean.

So what is your comfort zone? What do you gravitate toward when times are rough? What would you do if you ditched your comfort zone? Take heart! God goes into these prisons with us and allows us to come as we are and leave as He is. Take your comfort zone and turn it into a courage zone.
You are more than a conqueror.

comfort

Comfort me here as I lay at Your feet

Speak to my heart, I am Yours to keep

When this life seems to spin so fast

Fix my eyes on You and not the past

Meditate Your truths upon my heart

I’m anxious Lord for a new start

Take my brokenness and my shame

Breathe within me Your blood of fame

Surrendering all I am to be all You are

Jesus, You are my shining star

Cleanse my mind and make me whole

In You alone is peace for my soul

Remind me Lord when I grow faint

That You hold me without restraint

-LF

Part 2 of Reunite

Stop here if you have not read the previous post “Reunite – Guest Post” – go read that first and then come back…. This is a LONG post, but you should read it... I mean it... read the whole thing!

“I didn’t ask for this testimony, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone….but I have it and I will use it for the Glory of God” –Jeana Johnson

Sitting here in preparation to capture what took place on Monday night (October 8, 2012) sends chills up my spine and tears in my eyes just thinking about it… Jaime is my best friend and she has an incredible testimony. Jaime’s brother passed away almost two years ago from a heroin overdose. It is a life event that I so desperately want to be able to walk through and offer words of encouragement for her but it is also a life event that I thankfully cannot relate to. As the friendship between Jaime and I continued to grow I began praying that the Lord would send someone into her life that would be able to talk and relate to losing a sibling and be a friend to Jaime in a way I could not. As you read in the post Jaime wrote, the first night we ran into the familiar face was also the same night Jeana shared about her brother, Jonathon. Sitting in the 70x7 van as I overheard Jeana and Donna talking about Jonathan I was shocked, saddened, and over-joyed at the same time. Jeana’s brother passed away around the same time Jaime’s brother passed away. Mark and Jonathan were the same age and the cause of death was the same. I stared at Jaime and I knew this was a direct answer to a prayer I had prayed. Jaime remained silent and made no mention of Mark. Shocked and with mixed emotions she was speechless. In the coming weeks I was very adamant about praying the two would talk. I nudged Jaime to contact Jeana. I nudged Jeana to contact Jaime. I trusted when they did talk it would be in His perfect timing.

I begin with stating the above as an interlude into how the stories of Jaime and Jeana’s testimonies played such a huge role in part two of running into the girl Jaime mentions in her post.

We met at our usual spot on Monday evening, October 8^th and gathered in a circle united by hands and prayed that the Lord would have His way as we ventured out to love on our sweet sisters on the streets. I had prayed and shared with the team that I was really hoping not to run into the girl that Jaime and I had prayed with the Monday before…. I was really hoping she would have got on a plane to South Dakota for rehab. I didn’t want to see her, seeing her meant she was still on the streets and heroin was still flowing through her veins. I didn’t want to see her, seeing her meant a whole week had gone by that she was still living day to day, or hit by hit. But, if she had not got on that airplane I prayed the Lord would put her in my path. About an hour into our night we saw two young people walking on the opposite side of the road… Jeana pointed them out and we both thought it was someone it wasn’t. We turned around and pulled up to the two of them… my heart sank as I rolled down the window, it was her. I literally got out of that van like my pants were on fire and wrapped my arms around her and hugged her. I met her friend and we talked and talked. We don’t give out personal cell phone numbers on the streets, D has a ministry phone number for the girls to contact…. But, I gave her my number, which is not something I would normally do. I told her that Jaime and I were grabbing dinner later that night and to contact me if she and her friend wanted to come. Her friend seemed interested, she didn’t. I think she was embarrassed to see me and ashamed that she was not at rehab.

We went on with our night and prayed with other amazing women on the streets and shared the love of Christ in each encounter. The night came to a close and Jaime met up with Jeana and I. The girl texted me and said “Hey! Wanted you to have my number! Thanks for the invite, we will let you know”. Momma D shared solid wisdom with us about the potential dinner date. She also prepared us to not be disappointed if things didn’t work out and encouraged us. We purchased two hot ciders and headed out to the neighborhood to drive up and down the main drag. Jeana and Jaime finally talked. The testimonies of Mark and Jonathan filled our car. Their legacies were tangible. The two connected on such a deep hurt but both with such a beautiful hope that the Lord would turn their hurt into beauty…He already has. I just sat there in the front seat, silent. I was praying like a mad woman. Persistent that she would text me again. I was so thankful the two were sharing with each other and I knew God was answering specific prayers I had prayed……but I really wanted my phone to buzz with a text message. I began to think 35 minutes into driving that she was not going to text me for dinner. I began to think all that everything taking place was so that Jaime and Jeana could talk and it was not even about going to dinner with the two girls. I thought maybe when they were finished sharing then I would receive a text message.

We ended up heading back to our meeting spot, no text message. I sort of lost hope. The conversation between Jaime and Jeana came to a close and there were a few moments of awkward silence and waiting and then it happened…. “Hey! Is it too late to grab a bite to eat”…she texted. My heart nearly leaped out of my body. God is so good and His timing is so perfect. Not only was the night about the two connecting and sharing their stories, but it was also about dinner! Double portions! We headed out to pick up the two girls and as we sat in the car awaiting their arrival I prayed with Jeana and Jaime and asked the Lord to remove any expectations from us, to remove any pre-existing motives, that we would befriend these two girls and offer them a night of fellowship and love, that we would just get to know each other and share life with each other…

We headed out for pizza and sat down and didn’t get back up for 3 hours. I know the team at 70x7 realizes what a rare opportunity this is, but for everyone else, having an opportunity to meet two girls off the street for dinner is not common. Our conversation was amazing. We shared our lives together. We laughed A TON! We talked about Mark and about Jonathan. The girls were so honest and it was an amazing learning experience. I’m not sure how it was brought up but the fact that I lived in Texas came up… I shared that in the beginning I did a lot of bad stuff but it became one of the best times of my life. One of the girls then asked what I meant by bad stuff. It was a sweet opportunity to share my testimony. I shared one of my defining moments, my first time serving the homeless community of Austin. A young man came up to me and handed me a fully loaded crack pipe. The man said he didn’t want to live that way anymore and wanted to get his life straight and asked me to pray for him. In that moment I thought if this man who has nothing but the clothes on his back can give up this drug then I can give up all the junk in my life that is hindering me from a life that is honorable to Christ. One of the girls was 23 years old and we learned that we have mutual friends. I cannot even imagine the life she lives on those streets. The girls shared with us that this was the first normal thing they had done in over six months and they could not remember the last time they sat down to eat a meal.

There was never a moment of us and them. There was never a moment of a light shining on their sin and not ours. We were all the same. We were becoming friends. We shared the love of Christ and talked about how Jesus set us free. The two of them desperately want to be free from addiction and get off the streets. I see visions of them sitting down to eat with us again one day… but in my visions they are both healthy and full of life, free from addiction, and setting people free on the streets of Detroit. Death is not easy and as Jeana said, she wouldn’t wish the testimony of losing a brother on anyone, but she has it, Jaime has it, and they both want to use it for the glory of God. The connection to meeting this girl is Mark. Jaime’s brother use to get high with her. If it weren’t for Mark’s life I do not believe that anything would have transpired further than our weekly prayer with this girl. The Lord has used Mark’s life to pave a path for us to reach into a community and relate on a personal level.

Please pray that these two girls go to separate rehab facilities. They’ve tried together and it didn’t work. Please pray that rehab comes soon. Please pray for freedom over their lives and for protection. Please pray that we continue to have an open door with the two of them and that the discipleship that birthed on Monday night would be the beginning to these girls’ testimonies. Give thanks to the Lord for the ministry of 70x7, I firmly believe this ministry is the hands and feet of Jesus Christ

Reunite - Guest Post

I couldn't have put the following night into better words... Below is a post written by my dearest friend Jaime and a night that changed our lives....

She was the girl we met the very first time I went out with the 70x7 prostitution street ministry. She was a white girl. Short hair. Eerily familiar. She was on my side of the van so my window was down and as Donna prayed for her, I just stared at her. Deep desperation ran through her eyes. Broken. Exhausted. Waiting for the next hit. But I KNEW her. How?

We parted ways, she went one way and we drove another way. The moment we hit the end of the street I knew, She was friends with my brother. My brother, who almost two years ago, died of a heroin overdose. My brother, raised in Troy, Michigan - as suburbs as they come. They were friends. I thought to myself, there is no way. She looked too different. Way too different. I graduated with her brother. Good friends with her brother actually. I knew the heavy set, bleached out hair girl. Not the short brown haired, skinny girl wearing raggedy clothes and an old pair of tennis shoes. My heart broke. I was so shook up.

Last night we went out again. When we finished Lindsey and I were not ready to be done, so we got dropped at our cars and went out again. Before this happened we prayed and asked God to show us specific things we needed to know about the people we should find. Our treasure hunt. Among other things REUNITE was on our list . We stopped at a coney island to find a "bridgette" on our list. No dice. So we drive on our way and just outside the coney island is a woman waiting to be bought. We were going to stop and noticed it was the crazy lady we prayed for earlier so Lindsey said, "keep driving." Then we see the girl next to her. Grey ragged shirt, brown scraggily hair, a huge mess. I thought to myself and maybe out loud, "Wait, is that a boy or a girl?" She turns to face us and my immediate response out loud was, "Oh crap , she's the one." Lindsey thinking nothing says, "Hi! We are from the prayer van, we don't have food but we would like to pray for you."

I’m looking into her eyes and my heart is pounding and my hands shaking. Before she answers Lindsey, I look her in the eyes and I point, "What is your last name?" Without hesitation she answers me with the last name I expected to hear. I almost lost it. I fumbled for my seat belt, dropped some choice words, covered my mouth as I cannot believe what just came out of it and ran around the back of my car to her.

I look her dead on and with a hand over my heart I say, "I am Jaime Davis. I am Mark Davis's sister."

"Oh. Crap," She says. Her heart sinks. My heart sinks. I grab her and pull her away from the car and we hug forever it seemed. She cried. I cried. My whole body shook. I couldn't even believe who I was holding in my arms, rubbing her back, feeling her boney spine with my hand.

"How are you? Does your family know what's happening? Are you working the streets? How are you? How are you? Tell me everything"

She explains she's been waiting for her girlfriend for over an hour now. She hasn't come back yet. She is planning on going to rehab in a couple days. She spoke with her family not too long ago and sometimes she works the streets. She has to. There is no other way. We get in my car and I pray some more for her. We talk. "Do you want to be free from this?"

"Everyday"

After Lindsey asks about the relationship she had with my brother she told us, "He was the first person I got high with."

Followed by a mumbled

"It was the hardest funeral I've ever been too."

We prayed for her. We prayed the chains of addiction would be broke. The scars on her arms would be gone. Every area she ever stuck a needle would be healed in the name of Jesus. The blood in her body would run clean and Jesus would replace it with His. That She would never desire another high. That she would have the strength to walk away and to get on the plane to South Dakota and start fresh. That this night would be the first day of the rest of her life. We called out the destiny and purpose for her life.

We prayed three times with her and every time we were done she was wiping away her tears. Lindsey told her she had a vision as we prayed the last time of her living in a nice house, with a family and a husband, with money. That blessings are coming her way.

Lindsey gave me twizzlers I never even intended to eat. And so she, starving, gladly accepted our twizzlers with a, "yeah I want those, I’m fu**ing starving." She got out of the car. I hugged her again, "I Love you. If you need anything call me. Today is a new beginning, I fully believe that." As we drove away, Lindsey looks at me with brokenness and says, "How does someone from Troy, Michigan end up in a place like this??"

Today as I was praying for her, this verse came to me, Hosea 2:14

 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

 and bring her into the wilderness,

 and speak tenderly to her" 

"And there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achore a door of hope.

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt."

Verse 14 is hers. If you read this, that is what you pray over her. She will walk out of the darkness. Lindsey told me last night that me REUNITING with her gives her hope beyond belief. It reminds her of what will happen if she doesn't get clean. My brother's memory will be a lasting impression of why she needs to get better. My brother through his weakness can be her strength.

Lord give her the strength to move on. Supernaturally intervene. This God - His way is Perfect

Obedience.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:21

Over the weekend I witnessed more miracles than I can count. The Holy Spirit is alive and active.

I attended a spiritual awakening conference and it was life changing. When I first walked into the conference I saw this couple sitting in front of me and I thought “wow, they would have a really good looking child”… strange, right? About an hour later I got a word laid on my heart, ‘infertility’. My intial reaction was ‘wow, God, that is a really tough word’…. It came again. Then ‘I’m going to give you a child’ came. Okay. So a tough word and then hope. I prayed discernment… I knew the word was for the couple I had saw when I first walked in, but how scary to walk up and tell them “heyyyy…so the Spirit told me you are struggling with infertility butttt God says He is going to give you a child”. Again, the word came. So out of obedience and faith I walked up to the couple and introduced myself and asked if they had any children. The woman’s eyes began to water as she responded that they did not. I proceeded to share that I felt like the Lord told me they were struggling with infertility but He was going to give them a child. The woman began to cry. They didn’t say much and I began to feel a little panicked. What if I just spoke death into a womb? But peace washed over me and the couple thanked me for being obedient. They ended up speaking life into me and sharing that my obedience would give life to others. About an hour or so later the couple was heading out to leave and walked over to me and apologized if they did not seem receptive toward the word I shared. The two then proceeded to tell me that they had been struggling with infertility for seven years. Biblically the seventh year is the year of completion. I reiterated that God wanted to give them a child. The two left. A little while later this young man I had not met before came up to me and pointed at me straight in my face and said “you are a woman of obedience” I smiled and said “I receive that”. He proceeded to share that the couple I gave the word to were his youth pastors and he practically begged them to come to the conference. That evening was the only evening they were able to make the conference but came because this young man told them that God had a word for them. Haha. So wild.  

speak life over your life.

Restoration.

As I enter yet again, a new season of my life I want to enter it joyfully and with expectation that the Lord is going to rock my life. Over the weekend I attended a spiritual awakening conference led by Kevin Dedmon out of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. Something that Kevin said over the weekend really impacted me and I found myself as the person in church saying “yes…that is me”. Kevin said “people know what is wrong with them. They need to know what is right with them”. I have learned that when you speak life, life happens and when you speak death, death happens. It’s funny how we are blinded to those who speak death into our lives and we subconsciously become submissive and receiving toward the negative they speak toward us. I’ve had negative words spoken into my life as long as I can remember. A woman spoke over me during the conference that I have been trained all my life to be manipulated by men but God is saying no more. I’ll amen to that and agree, no more. For too long people close to me have spoken death into my life making me believe I am less than I am. The Lord is revealing His truths about who He is creating me to be and who I am in Christ Jesus.. I rebuke the death spoken over me, the lies fed into my life and I am choosing to forgive the tongues that spoke them because my God is greater. The cool thing about God is that He lets us come as we are and leave as He is.

Mind restoration, speak life over your life. You are far too treasured to allow death to come anywhere near your identity in Christ.