Freedom Knocks

We have officially been in Thailand for 9 days! Honestly, I still can't believe that I'm here... that Jesus would bring me here with Him. I wake up every morning and think "Wow, the horns on those SongTaos and Tuktuks sound glorious this morning." I am so thrilled to be here and even more thankful that I'm with this group of girls. I've never been more sure that this is exactly where I am supposed to be...

With that being said, things are beginning to get wild around here. For the past week, all 20 of us have been serving in different areas and praying about where God wants us to be and how we wants to use us in each ministry. Each day I walk those streets of the Red Light District and proclaim freedom over those bars, and demand that all chains are broken in the name of Jesus. One thing is for certain, the enemy is definitely aware that we are in town and he's doing everything in his power to distract us, scare us and stop us from what we are here to do.... However, we aren't distracted, we aren't scared and we definitely are not going to stop doing what we are here to do.

Last night eight of us went on a prayer walk during prime time.... In the last five years, Jesus has been preparing me for every single moment that I spend with his girls in those bars. I've experienced their hell on earth in three different countries. I've met many of them by name, I've danced and laughed and made small talk. I've prayed my heart out, cried my eyes out and seen the goodness of God in the darkest of places... but truly, nothing can prepare me for the reality of this place.

In one square mile, there is probably one hundred bars... hundreds of girls trying to catch our eye. These girls are my age. They're beautiful... they have so much life ahead of them; yet they're being held captive... like they're sinking in quicksand. Some of them are new to the lifestyle, and it's obvious because they still have life in their eyes. Others of them appear to have accepted this as their destiny, and they walk through life like zombies... until they caught a glimpse of us last night. As I walked past a particular bar with three of my teammates, I saw the sweetest girl.... I looked at her and smiled with genuine joy and she locked eyes with me as if she had found what she was searching for. We looked at each other for about 10 seconds, but it felt like a real encounter. Her life flashed before my eyes, and I couldn't help but think about what her daily routine might look like... the horrors that she's lived through, the thoughts she has, and the emptiness she feels. My next thought was what her life will look like... healing and joy. Redemption. Laughter. Dancing. Purity... confidence.  She will truly be made new... a new creation in Jesus. He has such marvelous plans for her life, and he has had them since the foundation of the world. She has not been forgotten. She has not slipped through the cracks. Jesus knows exactly where she is, where she walks, where she sleeps. He knows her.

I will never ever understand why this happens... why this industry is so corrupt yet so booming in every corner of the world. It disgusts me, I hate it. I hate the way the enemy works. I HATE HIM. I hate his schemes and plots and plans. I hate that he thinks he knows us and our weaknesses. I hate that he has these men convinced that it would be a good idea to leave their wives and their kids and their jobs to hop a plane to the Red Light District of Chiang Mai. I hate that they've been deceived. I hate that they think it will satisfy them. I hate that these girls think this is what life is. I hate that they've grown up in a culture that doesn't nurture their femininity, and protect their innocence. I hate that the enemy is trying to devour them... I hate that this is happening.

These are God's people... these are my people. There is hope. My sweet friend, O, has recently left the Red Light District and now works at Zion Café (the hostel and ministry we are staying at). She's been here a few days longer than me... The battle is real - she feels pulled between her boyfriend, who works at the bars, and Zion, where she is loved and protected and believed in. After eight months of missionaries in and out of her bar, she finally had the courage to leave and to seek refuge at Zion... Zion is truly the lighthouse in the darkness. She is learning about Jesus and I can see the life coming back to her eyes. There are thousands of Os in Chiang Mai who are waiting for someone to come alongside them and offer them something real... something true.. something better. This is why I am here.

I believe in hope because it radically changed my own life... and now it's my job to bring that same hope to my girls, wherever they may be.

Pray for me... my heart breaks every day for these people, but I wouldn't wish to be anywhere else. Pray that the Holy Spirit will direct my steps, and that my steps will be in line with His. Pray for O as she works through the heartache and confusion, and that she will chose to find her home at Zion. Pray for all the Os in this city that will come out of this and find life. Pray for the girls to be drawn to me. Pray that we will build relationships quickly, and that they will be receptive to me. Pray that the men will see Jesus in me. Pray that the men will stop coming here, and that they won't go to the bars. Pray that the bars will be empty. Pray something big. We don't have time for wimpy requests. Ask God to do something big in Chiang Mai...

Freedom is coming.

The Land of Smiles

We have officially arrived, and are beginning to get acclimated, to our new home in Chiang Mai, Thailand! This place is fascinating and far different from our American lifestyle. After a 12 hour day in the Atlanta Airport, an 8 hour flight to Amsterdam, a five hour layover, a 12 hour flight to Bangkok and an 11 hour drive to Chiang Mai, we are FINALLY home. I love it!!

Our home is called Zion Hostel at Zion café, and it's truly a light in the darkest of places. Located on a corner right down the street from the Red Light District, Zion Café is a fortress for so many women. Not only is it a lighthouse, but it's a delicious coffee shop. A little slice of home right beneath our feet!

Each morning we wake up and walk down a few flights of stairs for breakfast.... On our first morning here we had banana bread, watermelon, pineapple, eggs and a fruit smoothie.... Needless to say, we feel like royalty. Our meals have been a nice balance between American comfort and Thai cuisine, and it's heavenly.

The last few days have been dedicated to orientation, so we have been learning from our incredible contact Emmi and her staff about Thai culture and the ministries that she runs. I am so thankful that I get to learn from her. She is absolutely revolutionizing this city for Jesus, and I am so pumped to be a part of the jigsaw puzzle at Zion.

My team is so incredible. I laughed while telling my parents that I'm with 19 other Kirbys, which is true and false at the same time. This is a wide variety of personality types and humor represented in our group, but each one of us is a warrior for Jesus. We aren't afraid to hit the front lines of the war. We are passionate about seeing freedom in our own lives as well as the lives of the people we are about to meet in this city, and I am so encouraged by their faithfulness to complete the work the Lord has started in each of them. I've known them for about 7 days and they're already some of my very best friends. I am thrilled to see where the Lord leads us together.

Today we split up into groups of five and explored Chiang Mai by hitting the streets for a scavenger hunt. We were given a map and list of places to find and instructions for what to do at each place.... three hours into it, our feet were hurting, our clothes were soaked in sweat and we were thanking Jesus for GPS.

Although this has already been the most encouraging time with my teammates, we have definitely felt the spiritual warfare around us. We are each very aware of what the enemy thinks he's doing in this city, and we are determined to shut him down. So this is my call to all my prayer warriors at home: There are six girls on our team who have been battling autoimmune diseases throughout their lifetime and the Holy spirit has put the desire for healing in my heart for each girl. Last night we had a big prayer meeting and prayed over each girl. There was a major battle taking place in that room and disbelief played a major part in it. The truth is that Jesus came to give us life and to give it to us abundantly. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Lord wants for us to be sick. He bore our diseases on the cross, and by His stripes we are healed. That is the promise, and there is victory in that. We are more than conquerors in Jesus, and we are co-heirs with Christ. So when we ask for anything in his name, He is there to give it to us. We believe in the faithfulness of Jesus, and we believe that His spirit remains the same in me as it was in the disciples at Pentecost. In order to be as effective as possible for the Kingdom of Heaven in Thailand, we must allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us.

I need you guys to stand by us in believing that the Lord has so much to do in Thailand, and it begins in us. He cares about our sicknesses, and He cares about the sweet girls around the corner. I am standing on His promises, and I am expectant to see Him move in this place. He delivers us from the traps of the enemy.

Next week we will begin ministry, and each day may look slightly different. Some days we will be teaching English and building relationships with college students at a near by University. Some days we will be doing prayer walks throughout the Red Light District before a group of us head out there that night. Some days we will be traveling to near by slums and villages and playing with the little ones: playing soccer, painting nails, laughing.... Some days we will get to chat with the Monks! I am super pumped about that one.

I'll be sure to keep everyone updated each week - please be praying for revival in us and in Chiang Mai... It's about to get wild up in here.





 

The War in Thailand

A battlefield, warrior mindset – that is the way I was created. When I imagine my life, I imagine a raging war taking place around me, and I see myself running wide-eyed, fist clenched, running fast into the center of the action. When I was fourteen years old, I discovered my calling to mental health. Depression, anxiety and self-harm were evident before me, and I saw a need in the world that required something of me to seek change on their behalf… I was determined to speak life into people who find themselves struggling, and to encourage them to keep breathing...

When I was seventeen years old, I set sail for my first trip to the Red Light District of Amsterdam and I saw women dealing with the same issues but in a different setting. Prostitution held them captive, and it appeared that the enemy had them, and that city, on a tight leash. I have never felt more alive than I did in that Red Light District, and I realized that it would be my home around the world. Those were my girls, and I would do anything to help them. In the midst of it all, I was warned to “be careful” and “stay safe.” But fear of the war was the last thing on my mind. I’ve never been afraid to hop a plane to a foreign country, or to travel with a group of strangers. I’ve never been afraid to walk into an Asian bar and sit down with a broken girl on her night shift. I’ve never been afraid of the lurking men or the things that “could” happen. Aware? Yes, indeed. But afraid? Never.

If you were to ask me about my deepest fear, it would be to miss out on the things Jesus has chosen me to do. I am afraid to live a comfortable lifestyle with a bunch of money and no eternal impact. I’m afraid to sit back and expect someone else to do what I am so obviously cut-out to do. Over the last year, I’ve become a feminist... Once I explain what it means to really be a feminist, I bet you’ll be one as well. I believe in educating and empowering women all over the globe. I believe women are powerful and smart and embody specific characteristics of God’s nature. I believe every human being was created with divine purpose, including women, and therefor deserve to have a voice. I believe empowering women to learn who they are in Christ will radically change the economy, the job market, the education system, the political system and the family. I believe education and knowledge are power and girls, all over the world, should have the opportunity to learn. When one girl catches a spark of what she was created for and what she is capable of, she is quick to pass along the fire to other girls, thus illuminating the darkness. She deserves a chance. She deserves a voice. I will not stop fighting until she gets it.

My favorite documentary is called Girl Rising and it’s about educating girls. At the very end it shows a girl from Afghanistan who was forced to leave school under the Taliban law and sold into a marriage at the age of 13. She was determined to rise up on behalf of the girls in her nation and she spoke with a fire in her eyes. She said,

"Don't tell me that women do not have a place in society. I have learned about Afghan women as attorneys and doctors. They force me to wear this hijab with no opening for my mouth to speak. They expect me to be silent, but I will not. If they throw me into a pit, I will climb out. If they try to kill me, other girls will rise up behind me and take my place. I am change."

I believe we will read about her in the history books someday... Because this war that is raging around me is not just the Taliban or Boko Haram or the pimps that I'm about to meet in Thailand. The war is against Satan and his manifestation of evil in heavenly places. Jesus is going to go get those girls and He has chosen me to go with him.

So pray for me and my team as we run where the Spirit leads us into the front lines of the war. He will be a wall of fire around us, and the Glory in our midst. And when the enemy comes in, like a flood the Holy Spirit will rise up a standard against him. I believe this valley of oppression and drought is about to take a drink from the spring of Living Water. Jesus will be their avenger, and we all know how that story ends.

Redemption is coming.