Three words from one of my favorite worship songs that seem to fall onto a hardened heart each time they leave my mouth. I’ve always known that God was good, but wondered if His goodness actually applied to my own life. I allowed my past sins to create what feels like a black hole near my heart that keeps my head knowledge of God from becoming belief. Being at YWAM has started to shatter that. The vulnerability I have had, the friendships I’ve began, and the concepts I've been learning have begun to break down that black hole and prove me wrong. God really is good all the time and He desires a relationship with me more than I could ever desire one with Him. His love is overwhelming. The testimonies of each person in my DTS touched my heart, even brought tears to my eyes most of the time. Each person's background was so different. Everyone had their own difficulties and hardships. But each one believed that God was still good. Why? Because God brought each of them to this YWAM base at this exact time. Whether it was abuse, addictions, or shame that clouded their views of God, they were brought here to this safe space, full of life, love, and the Holy Spirit. God brought them here to use their stories to touch the lives of those we encounter. A God that can create beauty out of our messes is a truly good God.
But a good God still allows pain. However, the kind of pain that comes from a heart broken by injustice does not immobilize, but instead motivates us to bring restoration. Our hearts have collectively been breaking lately for the people we have the opportunity to minister to. Each Monday night we sit in the classroom and are overwhelmed by the staggering facts of this industry. We walk out somberly with heavy hearts and a deeper understanding of why we are here. But each Friday night/Saturday morning, we are given faces to put behind each fact. From 3 am to 6 am we head to the streets to give gift bags to the women we meet there. We split up into four teams: two teams on the streets and two teams huddled in the prayer chapel having intercessory prayer, asking the Lord who He wants our teams on the street to speak to or pray for. It’s an incredible honor to be a part of both aspects of this outreach. I will never forget the face of the girl I got to talk to our first time out. She was beautiful, but fear overcame her face as my leader, a fellow student, and I approached her. She thought that we were part of a female mob and that we were going to jump her. My stomach sank as I realized just how dangerous it was for her to be on the streets alone that late at night. I immediately wanted to hug her and show her how much God loves her. But alas, our 45 seconds with her passed as she had to walk away because she either feared her pimp would find out that we were talking to her or because she was heading to a customer. She was thankful for the positivity we were spreading to the streets and asked us to pray for her children - both born and the one she was currently carrying. As I hopped back into the van, a peace overcame me, and suddenly I knew, even though she was the only girl we got to talk to that night, those 45 seconds were worth being up early for. Our passion and our broken hearts have led us here to fight human trafficking in the streets of Los Angeles and soon, I, along with 10 other students, will be heading to the Philippines and Southeast Asia to reach the women caught in human trafficking overseas. We as a team cannot contain our excitement for what’s to come. For the next two months we will continue to learn about God’s heart for the world and reach the people of Los Angeles and then, on December 18th, we leave for the adventure of a lifetime with a group of friends that will soon become family. Thank you for your continued prayer and support! This journey has already been life-changing even though we are only three weeks in! Please continue to be praying for our ministry and the lives of the girls we reach. We believe human trafficking can end in our lifetime, but we need all the prayer and support we can get! Grateful for each of you. Cheers, Tara PS. I am still working on fundraising for my outreach fees! If you feel led, please follow the link to donate! https://www.youcaring.com/tara-hebert-600280
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2016
AuthorTara | 22 | Gordon College '15 Categories |