A pearl of great price

My friend Paola works at the YWAM base in San Jose, Costa Rica. She is beginning a ministry to women and children who have been trafficked and those who work in prostitution. Recently, she shared the stories of 3 women she has gotten to know.

Let me share the excerpt of one with you:

One day after I finished working I was going home and a group of guys took me and raped me. I was only 14. After that not knowing what to do, I told my dad and he never believed me. He even told me it was my own fault. When Ana was born I decided to give her to a family because I knew that I was too young to take care of a child. . . I started working on the streets as a prostitute out of desperation, I needed money and also I felt dirty after what happened to me. . . . A couple months ago I accepted Jesus into my heart and life, and I have already seen a lot of changes. I still work in the streets but I am tired of it and ready to stop this life style. Please pray for my kids and for strength on me, and wisdom for how to make the changes I need, and for a way out of this life…

So much pain, so much despair, yet in the midst of it, hope. I'm thankful for women like Paola and the others on her team who are reaching out to people who most of the world rejects. I don't know what to do in the face of so much brokenness, but I know the One who does. So, I pray. I pray for those who already work with hurting women. I pray for myself, that God would show me what he wants me to do beyond praying. I pray for the women around the world, trapped in a world of pain and degradation. And I pray for the women who work the streets just a few blocks east of where I'll be living. I pray that if it's God's will for us to start reaching out to them, he'll show us what to do and how to do it.

Please take a few minutes to read the rest of Paola's post and pray for these women.