This ministry is hard. I know that should have been obvious coming into it, but man it really is HARD, and it’s hard in a way that my team couldn’t have prepared for even if we tried.
Thursday, I asked the Lord to really let me see the brokenness on Bangla Road. Well, He delivered that’s for sure! As soon as we walked on to Bangla Road, my ministry team decided that we needed to pray a little more before we walked into a bar. As we were praying, we noticed a lantern in the sky, which just so happens to hold a beautiful promise to me:
See, the first night we went to Bangla, before we left, there was another team that was getting ready to leave for home. As a tradition, they lit a lantern and threw it into the sky (imagine the lanterns from the movie Tangled). After we said goodbye to the team, we made our way to Bangla, which is about a half hour drive. Once we got there we could see the lantern in the sky, and right then I knew that God had come to Bangla with us.
As soon as I saw that lantern Thursday night, I knew that God was going to be with us, holding our hand through the entire night, no matter how hard it was going to be.
We continued to walk up and down Bangla for a while, praying for guidance. As we were walking, we noticed girls dancing in glass boxes that we didn’t even know were on Bangla. We also saw a lot more families than usual. That is always really hard for our team, because Bangla is a broken place for anybody, but especially for children.
The first street we went down was Crocodile, and we made a good connection with a girl we hadn’t met before. Then, we walked by a bar that our friend Wow works at. Usually she is really excited to see us and will come give us huge hugs. Thursday, however, she was with a customer. That was the first time we had seen her with a guy and that was really hard for our team.
As we went on through the night, our eyes were opened to the darkness even more. There were so many heartbreaking sights on Bangla. The Lord led us to pray even more and as we prayed, our hearts broke for what we were witnessing. Just before we left for the night, I looked up and saw the lantern again. God held true to His promise, He was with us the ENTIRE night.
I would say that Thursday night was, by far, the hardest night of ministry we have had, but it was also one of the best. God allowed us to catch just a glimpse of His aching heart for the men, women, and children on Bangla Road. Oh, His heart is so broken for them, but even though His heart breaks, there is hope because He has already declared victory over each and every life on Bangla Road.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”
-2 Corinthians 4:16-18
The battle has already been fought and the victory has already been won. Our God reigns and He is going to bring victory to His children on Bangla Road. Victory that is eternal.
