My friend Sarah loves befriending prostituted women in the Red light district of Calcutta, India. Over a year ago she became friends with a young woman named Pinky whose mother had also been a prostitute. Pinky accepted Sarah's invitation to hand stitch old saris into beautiful handmade blankets, which Sarah then sold to raise awareness of women stuck in the Red LIght District. I've been praying with Sarah for Pinky for over a year.
Although Pinky was eager to work on the blankets, the label of prostitute had been ingrained completely into her body and being. And when Protiva, a dishonest manager of the blanket project, told Pinky, "Your mother was a prostitute, you'll only ever be a prostitute," she believed her.
Last week, Sarah's prayers for Pinky's healing of this lie were answered. Pinky and 2 other women watched the Jesus film in Sarah's flat (apartment) for the first time. Sarah writes:
"At the end they were very quiet. Then Pinky, in English, said: 'I feel like I want to follow that Jesus.'
"The same evening, Smriti was scheduled to visit. Smriti is a Christian Bengali woman who spent the last 12 years working with the children of sex-workers in Sonagachi redlight district. She walked into my flat at just the right time. Pinky had begun to cry...All of this time, she had been confused. Since he'd been told by a so-called Christian woman that she'd never be anything better than a prostitute, she hought Jesus was thinking the same thing. She kept talking about the part in the Jesus film when the prostitute came to Jesus and washed his feet. She said that the- Jesus- in- the- movie was different from what she had always thought He would be like.
Sarah prayed over Pinky that night: "I got to speak God's heart for her over her life—that God loved HER so much, and singled her out to be the reason why I could not get Kolkata [Caclcutta] out of my thoughts.
"He is the shepherd that leaves his flock to go after HER. I got to rebuke the lies that had been spoken over her and I got to BELIEVE that, in Jesus' name, those lies no longer have the power to wound Pinky. Jesus LOVES her, forgives her, wants to heal her, and wants her to walk joyfully in a new life.
Last weekend Pinky participated in a Bible Study at Sarah's flat with several other women. Sarah asks, "Continue to pray for Pinky by name. Pray that now that Christ has begun a healing work in her life, His Word would now come in and fill her with new words about who she is in Christ."
Our simple prayers from half way around the world can help undo binding lies and change a life like Pinky's.
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