Freedom Street.

Bangla Road, Patong. 

Phuket, Thailand. 

I have spent a lot of time trying to avoid actually writing about things that happened on Bangla because this is the place my heart was completely destroyed. Transformed. Moulded into something completely different. 

And it's hard to talk about the things you see when you know there is no way to accurately describe the smells, the music, the lights, the heartbreak. 

It was the hardest month of the race in many ways.

But the absolute best in so many others. 

Bangla Road was where I found Him.

Staring up at the glass boxes where white girls danced against their own free will.

Completely void of emotion. 

These women are not women at all, I thought

They are shells. 

Carbon copies of whoever their customers/pimps/tourists wanted them to be. 

Staring up, as a beautiful Russian girl twirled aimlessly on a pole, completely unaware of me. 

Completely unaware of the street below her. 

Completely unaware of anything but her own sorrow. 

That was the moment my heart broke in a way it never has. 

That was the moment my heart found His. 

And I was forever changed. 

It's impossible to ignore what the Lord does to your heart on Bangla. 

It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, walking down that road every night. 

But I had hope. 

I STILL have hope. 

And proof that Jesus is faithful to the prayers we prayed, the tears we cried, the hope we poured out over a year ago. 

Bangla road is actually about two blocks of neon lights with side streets. 

The side streets (called soi's) are where the majority of the bars are located, and each have a separate name. 

Soi Eric is right smack in the middle of Bangla and in the absolute centre of the red light district. 

We were told as we arrived to SHE ministries that we were not to go down Soi Eric. 

It was completely off limits due to some spiritual things and some local discrepancies. 

During the first week we were in Phuket, 

My teammate Kayla and I had the opportunity to prayer walk down Bangla Road. 

We walked down to the beach, and prayed there for a while. 

And as we were headed back up towards the giant mall at the other end, we stopped. 

We were right in front of Soi Eric. 

It was during the day so it was practically empty, save for a few maintenance men and bar owners setting up for the night. 

Kayla put her hand on a sign labelling it Soi Eric.

She said as she looked down the street, that all she could see was churches filling the empty bars. 

We prayed and declared together that Soi Eric was a place of freedom. 

The place where the Lord resides. 

We declared churches to blossom and for people searching for life to fill the empty bar stools.  

We stood in silence for a minute, 

knowing that even though we couldn't set foot in any of those bars, the Lord was working there. 

Every time Kayla and I would pass Soi Eric, we would glance at each other with silent knowing. 

God is going to do something big here. 

We would pray and declare freedom every time we passed by. 

And we left it at that. 

We left it in God's hands

and trusted that we did all that we could do. 

Today, I was flipping nonchalantly through my instagram feed, when I saw a picture a friend had taken of their Facebook status. 

This is what it read:

"Hearing that one of the Soi's down Bangla in Phuket is now called Freedom Street and no longer a part of the bar scene today, really encouraged me! Jesus does answer our prayers... This one has been 3.5 years in the works for me-and hundreds of others (really since 2006-for SHE) He is faithful!"

When I asked her which Soi it was, 

I could only hope. 

She excited exclaimed "Soi Eric!"without knowing my heart yearned for it. 

Immediately, I started crying. 

It was kind of like that awkward laughing and crying in complete jubilation. 

Soi Eric. 

Aka: FREEDOM STREET. 

Soi Eric. 

The centre of Bangla Road and the red-light district in Patong.

A street that was completely untouchable. 

Redeemed. 

Free. 

Something that seemed so impossible...

Oh my heart. 

How incredibly faithful Jesus is. 

He has shown me time and time again that He hears my prayers, 

but this one was so close to my heart....

I can't even handle it.

The joy in my heart is indescribable.

There is now a sign outside of Soi Eric that reads

"reserve your business spot today!" 

How FAITHFUL. 

How incredibly faithful. 

Join us in prayer for the businesses and CHURCHES (in Jesus' name) that are going to reside there now. 

No bars.

No clubs.

No ping pong shows. 

Just life.