Because You Are Precious…

My grandchildren are used to me telling them that they are precious.  I’ve said it regularly to them since they were born.  They are precious to me but most of all to Jesus. Nothing can ever change that. It doesn’t matter what they do or don’t do. They are still precious and valuable.  If they lie, if they disobey, if they throw a fit, or if they make the best grades possible and become president of the United States.  It doesn’t matter.  They are still just as precious.

I have found myself giving this message to the women in the windows.  Almost every week I get a chance to tell at least one woman that she is precious and valuable to me and to God.  One of the ladies on our team brought some special gifts yesterday to give to some of the women.  She has a friend that’s a baker, and he made some beautiful chocolate candies. The chocolate looked like a cookie and on the top were two brightly-colored sugar flowers and a little white fondant sign that said, “Because you are precious…”.  Well, when I saw them I almost lost it.  I had to hold back the tears. To see in writing what I had been saying was just so touching. There were only about 20-25 pieces individually wrapped, so I prayed that God would show me who needed to hear those words.  Quite a few of the women don’t speak English, so I wanted the recipients to be able to read and understand the words.  I shouldn’t be amazed any more about how God answers prayer, but every single woman who I went up to yesterday could speak and read English. They knew what “precious” meant. I was able to tell them again how precious they are. Every one of them was so grateful and their faces lit up when they saw the candy message.

I was able to get my foot in the door (literally and figuratively!) with two women in particular yesterday.  I got their names and now I can pray for them specifically.  Because of security reasons for them, I don’t want to publish their names, but please pray for R from Romania and A from Albania. (That’s pretty funny that their initials are the same as their country. I just realized that!) Pray that they will still be there next week, and that I can get the door open a little wider.

Yesterday in the district was a breakthrough day in another way also.

One of the women signed a contract for a real job and left her pimp and prostitution!  What makes it even more of a miracle is that she only speaks Spanish but still got a job in a non-Spanish speaking country! The vision of Breaking Chains Network is to develop relationships with the women in the windows so that they can find a place of safety and trust in us. One of the ladies on our team had made friends with this precious woman a few months ago, and, through prayer, love, and consistent weekly visits, won her heart. She is now no longer in prostitution! I’m just so happy I could cry!

We are still renovating the apartment that we have rented right across the street from the district.  The vision is to have a safe place for the women to come on their off hours if they want. We plan on having classes to teach them job skills as well as Bible studies and whatever else is needed. I have “before” pictures, so when it is completed, I’ll post “after” ones, too so you can see what a transformation it truly is.  Our house of prayer/missions base has a couple of teams coming to say with us in the next few weeks, (Shady Grove Church and Gateways Beyond in Cyprus), so we will be contributing to the transformation of that apartment!

For obvious reasons, I don’t take pictures in the district, but I found this online and wanted to show what the street looks like.

Normally it is more crowded than this. Even on the slow days there are many men on the streets. And, by the way, my heart is equally broken for the men who frequent these streets as it is for the women in the windows.  You can almost literally see the demons hanging on these men.  It is so tragic and sad.

I am so grateful for faithful people who pray for me and pray for a breakthrough in the heavens over the two red light districts that I am burdened for. It makes all the difference. Prayer is where it all happens. The “going” is the easy part!