The Courage to Run

Prayers were answered in a mighty way recently when a 13-year-old girl had the courage to run away from a brothel.  She contacted authorities and gave them pictures of other girls who were still being held in the brothel.

ZOE Child Rescue (ZCR) was called along with other NGO’s (non-government organizations.) ZOE traveled 14 hours to Northern Thailand. Along with government authorities, ZOE helped create a plan to raid a Karaoke bar which they knew had the girls from the brothel inside.

The plan was a success! The federal police shut down the bar, identified themselves and rescued the 12 girls being held. For the next several hours the ZCR social worker team worked diligently and compassionately to care for these girls until Thai social services was able to get them to safety. The rescue itself was not the end as there was a full weekend of round the clock work to make sure these girls were safe. Before the work was completed, the ZOE team was told to leave the area because it wasn’t safe anymore for them to be there.

After the rescue, our ZCR team was exhausted and hungry, as they began the long drive back to ZOE. This team of 14 people stopped at a roadside stand to eat.  The owner of the restaurant who did all the cooking and serving was not used to such a large group of people needing food all at the same time.  As the Director of the ZCR team sat down to eat he noticed that two of his team members were missing.  He looked around and found these two young Thai ladies in the kitchen helping the owner cook food for their team!  Not only were they helping, they were also sharing the gospel with her!  Though they were worn out, deserving to sit and rest, instead they chose to serve.  Inspired by what he saw, he realized that these women were not just doing a job, but bringing light to a dark world in a loving and practical way.

God hears the cries of the lost and when we pray He sends out His servants to prepare paths of escape for those held in both physical and spiritual bondage.  We are thankful for our ZCR team who fearlessly heeds the call to go and selflessly serve to bring people out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Please join us as we continue to pray for God to bring justice to the orphan and oppressed so mere people can no longer terrify them.  Psalm 10:18