All beautiful you are my darling, there is no flaw in you. Song of Songs 4:7
We make eye contact, and I smile at her. I ask her to play a bar game (connect four) and she “happily” plops down on the stool next to me. Before the first chip is thrown into its little blue cage, she touches the ends of my hair and says “beautiful.” She points to my friends nose and says “beautiful” and points to her nose and shakes her head as her fake smile transforms itself into a dissatisfied frown. It breaks my heart, and I quickly shake my head no and tell her she is pretty. I point to her hair and nose and say “perfect.”
At the next bar…
She asks if I want to play a game. As we play dice, I ask her about her family. She keeps looking me in the eye… like she sees something there that she is not used to seeing. She offers me a shot and I decline. She asks why and I tell her that I don’t like the taste. “It make you strong,” she says with a smile, then tips the glass and claps as the brown liquid flows into her mouth.
Tell her to take off her garish makeup and suggestive clothing and to stop playing the prostitute. Hosea 2:2
She is not a prostitute. She is not a item to be bought. She is hurting and scared. She is beautiful and broken and loved. She is worthy and pretty and pure. She is my sister.
The Lord has sent messengers to be his voice in calling her out of darkness… to speak worth into her and to tell her to stop “playing the prostitute” because that is NOT what she is. She is loved and crafted by the One who is so much bigger than the darkness caging her heart, the One who will erase her fears and worries, the One who has made her beautiful, the One who will not allow her to remain burdened by a yoke of doubt and fear and slavery.
But then, I will win her back once again. I will lead her out into the desert and speak tenderly to her. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the valley of Trouble into a gateway of Hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young… ‘In that coming day,” says the LORD, “You will call me ‘my husband’… I will remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, so you can live unafraid in present safety. I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as LORD.
Hosea 2:14-20
It is only a matter of time. My God is at work here. She WILL be set free.
