Day 12

Compassion

READ

Psalm 86:14-16 (NLT)

REFLECT

It was only a dream, yet it lingered, and though I awakened to a new day, it still seemed real. I was about to speak at an event only to find myself at the podium, speechless. Although I tried to speak, not a word came over my lips. Familiar faces mercifully watched the spectacle, at loss for words. I had failed the sole task—to speak. Relieved, I slowly returned to an awakened state. It was only a dream!

PEARL Essence is an outreach program to illicit massage parlors in Greater New York, channeling the message that survivors are Purposed, Empowered, Appreciated, Respected and Loved. Visiting illicit massage parlors in Brooklyn, NY, can seem unreal, almost like being transported into the cruel reality of a bad dream. This ministry leaves one internally and externally speechless. In debriefing sessions, as we recall the eyes of survivors and traffickers, we wonder where they are now and how they are coping with life. For some of them maybe “We” mean nothing to them, “But you, O Lord…” stand in the gap, your compassionate suffering being the condition for your sacrifice in saving us. “But you, O Lord…” empower the outreach team with compassion to be present in person and in spirit, while we extend a gift during outreach such as nail polish or lipstick, symbolizing hope as an invisible ribbon of God’s Love towards an alternative future.

The Psalmist has earlier established “You alone are God” (86:10), immediately followed by a cry for personal and corporate purity, before going on to cry out to God for justice. Following God into this ministry becomes a two-way street, it has potential to equally transform outreach teams, survivors and traffickers alike, as the ground is completely level at the cross of Jesus, with an invitation to bravely storm the forts of darkness in our own lives and in the difficult places where survivors stand.

RESPOND

God’s loving kindness is eternal and utterly real. If you have tasted and seen God’s love in your life, would you consider traveling in your mind into an illicit massage parlor? Would you consider turning a speechless Gethsemane moment into an obedient whisper joining the Psalmist? “But you, O Lord…filled with unfailing love and faithfulness…give your strength…save….” How would you act justly, love mercy and walk humbly (Micah 6:8) with God today in order to influence change? Would you accept the invitation to compassionately suffer with Christ, if even for a few moments, considering how God’s heart is bleeding for the lost in this world? Will you speak up or will you remain in the state of this world as in a bad dream, speechless?

RECEIVE

“But you, O Lord…” have mercy on us. Lead us into willingness to share in your compassion, that our direct services to survivors may be marked by the victory of your blood-stained suffering, death and resurrection. We pray for the sustainability of the PEARL Essence outreach. Strengthen your servants with compassion towards new resurrections in this broken and beautiful world. AMEN.