A Broken Heart

While I was in Calcutta, India I got the opportunity to minister to women in the red light district. This is an incredible ministry that is definitely not for the faint-hearted. The things I saw in the district broke my heart and I was so moved with compassion for these lost people. When I walked into the area, I was surrounded by tiny rooms that the women live in. In the rooms there is a bed, a few of their belongings, and basically no room to stand. It's dark. As soon as I walked into the district, I felt an immediate heaviness and oppression of darkness. I looked into the faces of these broken women and saw fear, hopelessness, and pain. Everything in me cried out to do something right away for them. Everything in me wanted to take them all away and give them a new life, but all I could do in that moment is pray. The stories of these women are sad. I met a very sweet lady who after just a short time I felt such a connection to. We seemed like best of friends, and we couldn't even speak the same language. When she was a young girl her family sold her into prostitution and she has been living this life of sorrow ever since. This is not an uncommon story in India. She is just one of the many that experience this very same tragedy. I'm going to end this post with a poem that God gave me a couple years ago. It changed my heart.

Slaves in Our Midst

Sad eyes

The lies

The pain

The stain

Anguish so deep 

A hurt so steep

The darkness surrounding 

A heart that's pounding

Into slavery she's sold

Without any hope to hold

Groping for escape

And only finding rape

No where to turn

Except to hands so stern

The fears

The tears

Used 

Abused

No one to trust

Destroyed by man's lust

Searching for a way

So she won't have to stay

Bound in her chains

Where love never reigns

Filled with such shame

Wanting to forget her name

And who's going to fight

For her to be exposed to the light

For her heart to be set free

So she can finally see

What's it going to take to stop,

To find a way to the top

To end the trade

So it won't be a raid

Of an innocent heart

What's going to be your part?

Are you going to ignore

The life that is torn?

Or are you going to stand

And cry for all in the land?

Are you going to choose

Not to let her lose

The battle she fights

Where she has no rights?

Revolutionize

So others will rise

To help break the ties

So true love will be spread

Out of her bondage she'll be led

So please don't pretend

That there aren't hearts to mend

She's crying

She's trying

Her tears are streaming

While her voice is screaming

For someone to help