Journal from Club 2
Team Member Kassie K. shares a story of God working
even when there appears to be no Hope.
even when there appears to be no Hope.
By faith, I am sure of what I hope for and certain of what I do not see. Hebrews 11:1
“When I first met Lea she only told me her stage name, Mya.  Mya told me she danced between medical and dental assisting jobs and said she had her CNA license.  That was two weeks ago and Mya has been on my heart ever since.  I too am a dental assistant and hearing that when her previous boss retired in May she had been unsuccessful at finding another job in the field since showed me how unreliable my job, or any job, could be.  When we were walking into the club Thursday night Mya was outside smoking and I could tell she was overwhelmed to see us.  After we set the food up inside Mya came in and I asked her how she was doing.  She told me to call her by her real name, Lea –for two weeks I’ve been praying for Mya (Oh well, God knew who I was talking about)!  She went on to say that she was in a bad place, I could tell by her void face she didn’t want to be there, she told me she hates dancing.  She said she doesn’t like to drink often but drinks at the club because it numbs her so she’s able to get on stage.  Slumped on the bar stool the other night Lea reminded me of a lyric from a Bob Dylan song, “you fake like a woman but you break just like a little girl.† Lea drinks before she dances so she can fake it on stage and fake a smile and flirty conversation while keeping customers company.  As I talked with her I could tell that Lea feels completely broken, utterly shattered and helplessly trapped in the industry.  She reminded me of a little girl lost and without any idea of what else to do except what she’s always known.  Lea talked about her life growing up and the struggle between a father who worked in the strip clubs and a mother who taught Sunday school.  Lea pleaded with me and said she didn’t want to dance anymore, that she just wanted out.  I was able to pray with her and we exchanged phone numbers.  She was very appreciative of the prayer and said that she doesn’t pray for herself because it feels selfish.  It’s interesting to me that women will start dancing because they are desperate for money.  But once they are in they become consumed with the lifestyle and then they are just as desperate to get out, but how?  After all, if they knew another way to provide many of them wouldn’t be in the clubs in the first place.
My very first night in the club with Scarlet Hope, sister and delivery team member Debbie asked me, “Why is it that some girls wind up on this side of the bar and others end up dancing on it?† That question has stuck with me since February and I still struggle with the answer.  I think at that time my answer was that our choices in life dictate where we’ll end up.  I still think that’s partly right but I know now that there is a lot more behind it.  The women who end up dancing have sometimes been sexually abused as children, as is the case with Lea.  She saw abuse, she knew abuse, so it makes since that she’d settle for a profession where she could be abused.  Another reason may be that they have no one in their lives who believe in them.  Growing up, I was handed everything.  A stable and encouraging family, a consistent roof over my head, the list goes on and on.  The stories I keep hearing from the women in the industry is that they never had those things.  They didn’t grow up knowing that they had a loving support system around them who would be there if they needed help.
At Sojourn we sing a song called There is a Peace and it says we’ve “been so far from Jesus and too close to Hell.†Touché! Seeing Lisa so broken last night was heartbreaking but the very fact that she knew she could come to us Thursday shows me that God is working in her life.  The women know that we’re there weekly, and that WE’RE THERE FOR THEM.  They can come to us and we’ll pray with them and encourage them to put their faith in Jesus.  Many of them know Jesus but need to be reacquainted with Him.  Lea grew up going to church with her mom on Sundays.  Come Monday her dad would take her to work with him when they couldn’t find childcare.  She literally grew up in the industry.
I spoke to Lea tonight.  She said again how desperately she wanted out of the industry and how depressing it was to her to see how far she’s fallen.  She told me one of the other girls ended up giving her home Thursday night because she was too drunk to be working.  I hadn’t talked to Lea since Thursday so I wondered all weekend if, out of desperation for rent money she ended up going back into the club to work.  She said she didn’t work all weekend and wouldn’t you know it, she got a call from the club while she and I were on the phone.  She didn’t answer it and didn’t plan on calling them back!  She said something about how ironic it was that she hadn’t heard from them all weekend and then when she was talking to me they decided to call her.  I said, “Honey, that’s God.â€
To be continued..Kassie”
All names in this story have been changed to protect identity…
