Today I was giving a tour to a team that was visiting. We met and I told them about NL; how it was started and what we do and how we reach out to women. We're located in one Bangkok's many red light districts and usually after a tour the visiting team and I will walk to the offices. Often I hear teams express their shock at how out in the open and tolerated exploitation is in these areas. I watch their faces as we pass by various places and people in the middle of the afternoon on a week day. Things that should shock me, but I walk past them every day. Things that maybe they're being exposed to for the first time, but between my short time here and volunteering back in the states things I have known about or I have seen first hand multiple times. Does my heart really break the way it should? Have I become so used to the darkness around me that it doesn't phase me the way it used to?
I remember reading a blog post from Love146 where they talk about having the wind knocked out of them after receiving the youngest child they had ever had into their care. They talk about how we're often told that in order to do this work we have to have "thick skin," but in reality having the wind knocked out of you and having your heart broken by what's around you is a good thing. In their post the use this quote from Henri Nouwen,
"Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human."
They went on to say,
"In other words...don't thicken your skin. Keep it thin."
Yes, I think you need to be strong enough to not let what you do and see destroy you. You need to allow God to strengthen you so you can help others. You need to be able to help others without becoming a blubbering heap on the floor in front of them. Yet, I think there is something to be said for allowing your heart to be broken on a regular basis for the hurting around you. As I've continued on with my day this is something I've been mulling over and thinking about.
As I continue on my journey here in Thailand and even beyond this I hope that my heart never stops breaking. I pray that as I grow used to the cities and people around me I never stop seeing their need for the gospel. I don't want to be so caught up in my experiences that I forget about the people around me and their needs. It's not about what I can see and experience. It's about Jesus. I pray that every time I see brokenness around me my heart breaks and it would renew my desire to see all live in freedom. I never want to become used to exploitation here or anywhere else. May familiarity never replace my passion and compassion for people. May I never become so jaded that ministry becomes mundane and simply routine. I pray that the reality of brokenness will continually shake me to my core so that I will never stop fighting on their behalf for their freedom.
I pray for all of us; whatever our calling, passion, or ministry. I pray that we never grow cold and we never give up. May we always be sensitive to the desperation around us and may we always respond in a way that declares and presents healing, compassion, and freedom.
I remember reading a blog post from Love146 where they talk about having the wind knocked out of them after receiving the youngest child they had ever had into their care. They talk about how we're often told that in order to do this work we have to have "thick skin," but in reality having the wind knocked out of you and having your heart broken by what's around you is a good thing. In their post the use this quote from Henri Nouwen,
"Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human."
They went on to say,
"In other words...don't thicken your skin. Keep it thin."
Yes, I think you need to be strong enough to not let what you do and see destroy you. You need to allow God to strengthen you so you can help others. You need to be able to help others without becoming a blubbering heap on the floor in front of them. Yet, I think there is something to be said for allowing your heart to be broken on a regular basis for the hurting around you. As I've continued on with my day this is something I've been mulling over and thinking about.
As I continue on my journey here in Thailand and even beyond this I hope that my heart never stops breaking. I pray that as I grow used to the cities and people around me I never stop seeing their need for the gospel. I don't want to be so caught up in my experiences that I forget about the people around me and their needs. It's not about what I can see and experience. It's about Jesus. I pray that every time I see brokenness around me my heart breaks and it would renew my desire to see all live in freedom. I never want to become used to exploitation here or anywhere else. May familiarity never replace my passion and compassion for people. May I never become so jaded that ministry becomes mundane and simply routine. I pray that the reality of brokenness will continually shake me to my core so that I will never stop fighting on their behalf for their freedom.
I pray for all of us; whatever our calling, passion, or ministry. I pray that we never grow cold and we never give up. May we always be sensitive to the desperation around us and may we always respond in a way that declares and presents healing, compassion, and freedom.
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