So there I was, on a hot, tropical night on the club patio, techno music blaring, light show twirling over us. Dancing the night away? Not exactly. I was praying. Not in silence, but pretty loudly, so I could be heard over the music. Specifically, I was praying over four women we were talking with, women who we knew were prostitutes, waiting for their next customers. Now that is not a typical experience for me in any way, but surprisingly, it is becoming somewhat normal for them.

Once a week, a handful of ladies from SCORE go out on the streets seeking out prostitutes. They talk with them, hug them, take them personal items, share the gospel and work to build relationships with them. Once a girl is comfortable to give out her phone number, the missionaries invite her to coffee so they can give her an invitation to come to Lily House. Once there, she is safe and off the streets. In addition to gaining a place to live for herself (and her children), she gets training in marketable skills like jewelry making or sewing and in financial management and general education, all while learning about how much Jesus loves her.

During our mission week, there was a table of Lily House jewelry for sale each night, with all profits going towards the salary of the house residents. The jewelry is beautiful and unique, and we shopped with open hearts. One evening, we were encouraged to be sure to wear our purchases, because the Lily House ladies would be joining us for the evening service. To their surprise, they weren’t just back row attendees. They were given a celebration instead, with awards for each celebrating their character attributes, and special recognition for those that had completed a full year at Lily House. A full year off the streets, a full year of respectable employment, a full year of holding their heads high, a full year of living in love and grace. There already was an absence of dry eyes in the room, and then two of them shared their own testimonies.

We sat, weeping in sorrow mixed with joy. Women in that area of the Dominican Republic go into prostitution for a number of reasons, mostly based on flat desperation. Many are pushed into it by their mothers, who are also in the business, or worse yet, their own husbands. Unemployment is rampant in the area, and prostitution, sadly, is a guaranteed money maker. What especially tore at my heart was that the customers aren’t local – those men can’t afford the services. Rather, prostitution is a tourism industry. In practical terms, one customer is as wrong as another, but it seems particularly sad that someone would travel out of his way to that area with the intent of seeking out an experience such as that. It also struck me that to avoid hypocrisy, I needed to be in as much prayer for the customers as I was for the ladies. Amazing, isn’t it, how easily we assign a Yuck scale to sin? Fortunately, God’s grace is even more amazing, and the victory in the testimonies of these ladies was evident.

Ladies of Lily House

So, when your heart is stirred, what do you do next? You should respond the way we should to any need – pray. If you keep a prayer journal, jot an item on your Thursday pages – the night each week the street ministry team goes out. Pray for the women who make it to Lily House, that they’ll accept Christ quickly and find a new start in every area of their lives. Pray for the ones that are too afraid to step out, that they’ll find the courage to walk to what’s freely available. Pray for resources for the staff that runs the house. The next step you might be called to is giving. Donations and sponsorships are welcome, and you may even feel led to put hands and feet to your prayers and grab some girlfriends and take a trip down south and over the sea to visit Lily House yourselves. And finally, grow. Do we feel compassion for these distant women because we can perhaps, in some way, understand a choice made in desperation, and yet scorn our neighbor who seems to revel in their sinful choices? Do we have areas of desperation in our own lives where we’ve come to believe God couldn’t possibly be willing to forgive?

Most of us have probably heard Romans 3:23 at some point, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” but that is an incomplete sentence. The rest is in verse 24, “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” All means all. It means you and me and hookers and thieves and addicts and hypocrites and inmates and liars and the entire human population. Praise God! So perhaps each night, when we review our day in those moments before sleep, we should ask ourselves, have we hugged a prostitute today? And if you are the one standing in need tonight, please accept a hug from me. He loves you, and there’s nothing He can’t make right. Dios te bendiga! (God bless you!)