Who defines normal in our
lives? What is normal to you? Do you know that when we rescue girls we want
them to have normal lives, we want them to have full and abundant lives but
think about it… to them the life they are living is normal. Normal is conforming to a standard or a
common type. These girls have conformed to a standard. The standards on the streets. This
has become natural to them. They look at our lives and its not only abnormal to
them, its not even a reality that they ever think they will attain. So then if
a girl is rescued what do we tell them? We need to understand our way of life
is foreign to them. We need to understand that no matter how abusive the
streets, a pimp or a john are this is their perceived family.
This is hard for us to
understand. So my sister was with me at a conference and she explained it to
someone this way. When we get up in the morning our routine is this: we make
our coffee, we take a shower, we brush our teeth, we get ready, we take our
kids to school, we go to work, we eat lunch, we come home, we make dinner we wind down for
the night we go to bed. What if I would ask you to give that all up? Leave your
family and friends behind and start over?
A trafficked girls routine is
this: they go out to meet clients around 6:30-7:00 am who want to meet up with someone before they
go to work, they get drugs that help them wind down during the day, they get
photos of themselves up on the internet for that evening, they may have to pan
handle to get some food, the whole time their every move is being monitored by
a pimp, they go out to meet guys who are on their lunch break, after they may
get to rest a few hours, around 3-4 pm they start to get ready for the night,
they get their drugs that will keep them up all night, they head out (or men
are brought to them) to meet guys getting off work, then they keep working all night…
Then we come in and ask them
to leave their street family behind, the friends who they believe have stuck by
them ( no matter how dysfunctional they might have been) and give up all that is
familiar and start over to have a “normal
life. “
Let me place this challenge
to you if you have a heart to work with these girls then practice the art of surrender. Surrender to let God change their lives the way He intends it not the way we intend it. Practice the art of
listening and the things that matter to them. Watch their body language, notice the things that make them laugh, make them afraid, or make them insecure . Be
the one that becomes their normal. Be the one they are comfortable being around. Be
someone they can trust. Be the one they can feel safe to dream with. Be the one
that when they take a scary step you are standing with them cheering them on. Be the one that shows them that God's plan is unique for them and unique to who they are.
You
will notice that instead of you telling them what normal is, their lives begin
to change with your loving and gentle guidance and they will look back on their lives and
realize they have a new normal.
"God can do anything, far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us." Ehesians 3:20-21 message
