Sitting in a bar Wednesday night, drinking coffee, and talking to one of my new beautiful Thai friends, I noticed the two cutest little girls sitting off to the side. They were talking and laughing as two older girls braided their hair. They couldn’t have been more than 5 years old, so I assumed they were either daughters or sisters of one of the bar girls. I asked my friend who they were, and her response completely took me off guard. 

“They’re for buying.”

I couldn’t have heard her right. As the older girls took them over to the mirror and started fixing their clothes and putting the finishing touches on their hair, I asked again. 

“They’re for buying.” 

I was speechless as I watched the two little girls be taken over to a table full of men and plopped down right in the middle of all of them. Not only were these beautiful little girls sitting at a bar full of men, but they were for sale.

Every night that we go into the bars, we bring God’s victory with us. But with every victory we march deeper and deeper into the darkness. I thank God that the more broken I become for His people, the more fully I can feel His love. That the weaker I feel as I walk down these streets, the more powerful His strength is in me. And that the closer the darkness closes in around me, the brighter God’s light shines through me. 

These girls are not for buying. They are for reclaiming. Freedom is coming. 

This is a blog post that I posted on my team’s blog. You can read stories from some of the other girls on my team at www.thailand.adventures.org!