What a girl's worth.

Last week I spent time with a young twenty-something girl who worked as a prostitute. She was smart and clever and beautiful. We started a friendship a few months ago and that night we sat talking about life, love and past painful memories. I was hurt lots by falling into the arms and beds of men who never really wanted anything else from me. She has a very similar story. Mine ended well, her hasn't ended yet. As we finished our conversation she looked at me and smiled. In the end I thought, 'whatever why not charge them now I call it a job. I am a paid whore instead of being a whore '. She puts a price on herself because in her mind she was worthless. I wish I could tell you more of her story but it's not mine to tell and one day I hope women will hear it and be challenged and changed like I am being. This is a small bit of mine.

He said things 15 year old girls should never hear. And I listened because he was talking to me because women with dark tinted glasses (who should have known better) told me it was good. He taught me to be everything he wanted and I, desperate to keep my older boyfriend, was all too willing. He spent time teaching me and moulding me and inevitably lost interest. What was I, now that he had gone? I had spend my growing teenage years learning from a man who would never love me forever.

He said things 17 year old girls with broken hearts long to hear and I listened because you were just like him. He who ruined me. Every night I would wait hoping you would want me and when you didn't I would find someone else. When there was no one, there were things I could take that would make it ok to be alone. The hurtful, angry voices he had grown in me would get further and further away and the screaming 'you are worthless, you are just something to screw;' would fade into the darkness.

He said things 18 year old girls stopped being able to hear but I knew what you wanted because I had already known men like you. I dared not seek comfort where it had not met me before and I struggled under a hating weight that I couldn't escape from. Men came, none tried, none fought, none stayed and I was a broken.

You said things to me every girl longs to hear but I didn't listen because your kind words cut me like a knife. You said things to me that every girl longs to hear and I pushed you because they just weren't true.

You showed me the Word every girl should hear and I listen because God whispered 'this is what you are worth'.

You showed me love that wasn't based on sex or lies. You showed me love based on truth and faith

and He loved me unconditionally. It was hard and it was painful. I didn't think we would make it through with our hearts intact, but grace showed up and saved the day. Now I know that the statement of my worth should come from the lips of He who made me. Even though it is sometimes hard to hear through the din, I know to look to my Father when I need reminding what a girl is worth.