white roses for a prostitute

So I know I just wrote...and I don't even have a photo to put with this post...but this is far too beautiful a story to not tell. I saw God's glory last night in a way that just made me worship today, and so I pass along this story to you. It is kind of a long story with lots of details to pay close attention to, but I truly believe it is a story worth reading and telling. I pray you are blessed in reading it like I am blessed in telling it.

Yesterday (Saturday) my plan was to go to a birthday party in the afernoon for my friend Sophia, go to an opening for an art exhibit, and then finish up the night salsa dancing. Somewhere in there I also wanted to get flowers for this woman I had met the night before on outreach with Nightlight. I will call her Nareeva. Saturday (yesterday) was to be Nareeva's birthday, and I hated the thought of her having to the do the work she does on ANY day, much less on her birthday. So I thought it would be nice to at least take her flowers and a card so she would know that someone nearby cares for her and remembers her on her special day. I was unsure, though, how I would work it out to deliver the flowers by myself- the hotel where the women work and wait for customers isn't really the kind of place I should visit by myself, and I hadn't asked anyone to join me in my journey there...I guess I just figured I would figure it out then or risk going there by myself. That certainly wasn't what I wanted to do, but I really wanted her to get those flowers, so I figured I would take the risk if need be. So this is the setup for one of the more divinely led and beautiful encounters I have had with the Living God in recent times.

I go to the birthday party which was a lot of fun- it felt great to visit with the friends I'm making and to realize that this place really is becoming the place where my heart can fully dwell. Then I go get a pedicure and buy a present for a different friend's wedding shower coming up this week and buy a huge wad of white roses. They are small roses wrapped in newspaper- pretty, but I felt a little badly getting ready to give them to her- wondering if she knew I had bought them on the street for about $1.50. But I put my feelings of cheapness aside and thought about how to spend the rest of my evening. I still had some time to burn, so I went to Starbucks to do some reading and journaling. This British guy in his 40's (guessing on that one) starts talking to me which I'm a little uncomfortable with, but I let it unfold and I ended up having an incredible conversation with him about poverty, prostitution and trafficking in Bangkok, and I ended up getting to tell him about how it makes me so thankful to get to be around the people who Jesus hung around when he was on earth- the prostitutes and all the people everyone else wanted to forget about. So that was cool- I wasn't expecting to get to have a good conversation like that with John the Brit.

I left Starbucks and went outside and try to catch a cab, to no avail. So I decide to take the skytrain to my next destination, my friend Pechula's art gallery where an opening is happening for a new artist. I get off the skytrain and start to walk toward Pechula's gallery, and I acutally bump into her on the street! She tells me that the opening isn't at her gallery; it's at a cultural center. So I go with her to the opening and meet up with my friends Mihoko and Naomi. Mihoko had met Nareeva with me the night before and also knew that today was her birthday, and she offered to come with me to deliver the flowers! I didn't have to go by myself anymore! The artist who work was displayed received tables full of beautiful boquets of flowers, and she was a believer, so she told us to take a boquet of exquisite white roses to Nareeva for her birthday. No dumpy flowers wrapped in newspaper for this lady- God wanted for her to have the best. So after I ate a delightful meal with Mihoko and 2 other friends, she and I walked to the hotel, found Nareeva, and gave her the flowers. The expression on her face...I don't have words. I can only describe it as one who is receiving real love- knowing someone sees you and cares for you and says you are worth something- when the only attention they usually receive from people is those who want something from them. It was the look of life and hope being allowed to flourish inside of her. On Friday she was just a prostitue who is only viewed for what can be taken from her. On Saturday she was the worthy recipient of beautiful white roses- a symbol of purity. She was absolutelly lit up. She couldn't stop smiling or saying thank you. I had written a card to her (in my preschool Russian handwriting) that told her I hoped she believed that Jesus loves her. And then I told her how happy I was to see HER so happy- how I had prayed that when she received the flowers, she would really believe that God loves her. She kissed me on both cheeks (that's the Uzbek way of greeting each other) and I told her we had to go. It was absolutely incredible. And I realized that getting to be a part of loving people and telling them about Jesus is absolutely the best, most thrilling thing I have ever been a part of. Way better than salsa dancing even. I still went dancing later that night, though I could have called it an evening after giving the flowers to Nareeva. I know that life still goes on for her...that tonight she will do the same horrifying work she does every night...but God is after this woman, as he is after all of humanity, I suppose. I pray that she would know know and believe the living God sees and loves her in a way that would draw her into relationship with him. She is Muslim, so please pray for wisdom as I think about how to share Jesus with her in a way that makes sense. Pray, too, that God would give her a dream or vision of Jesus. This is happening to Muslims all over the world, and I want it to happen to her. Please pray for her, that she would choose to receive God's love- to believe that God DOES have a good plan for her life and that she would do her part by inviting God's believing in Jesus. Pray that she would be willing to go home- to leave this lucrative but soul-killing work. And praise God with me for the amazing work he is doing in bringing his love to these women in incredibly personal and powerful ways. What an incredible God we have. I love walking with him and seeing him at work.

That's it. Thanks for reading! I know it was long, but I just had to tell the story. Be encouraged! God is on the move!!