The Scars that Call Us Beautiful
Over the past week, we have been working on a piece called “Innocence Not Lost,” a powerful story of women's’ experiences in the sex trafficking industry. This piece was created years ago by Randall Flinn, the director of Ad Deum, who after hearing a survivor share her story about her journey through this industry and the healing she seeks, was compelled to create a piece that, in sharing her story, which testifies to the realities of this tragedy that is so prevalent in our home city of Houston, TX, would awaken others to this reality and cause them to no longer stand on the sidelines of this injustice, but rise up and fight on behalf of these victims for their freedom and restoration.
This piece is so much more than a story told through movement, it is a vehicle of prayer. Each run-through of these movements is a prayer: we lift these women up to the Lord for healing, freedom, and restoration—that they can walk in victory knowing that their innocence is not lost.The Lord does not leave us as “damaged goods”; all is redeemed—taken up in His love, chosen, and revealed as beautiful. Something is beautiful because it is loved—chosen. There is nothing the world can do to us and nothing we can do to ourselves that could ever rob us of this beauty. We are beautiful because we are loved. The Lord sees us, chooses us, and sings His love song over us. As we dance this piece, we join with the Lord’s heart and pray love over their lives, and as we dance love over them, we proclaim beauty.
As we grow deeper into the Lord’s heart through this piece, we also delve deeper into our trust in Him. We enter into these stories with faith that the Lord will guard our hearts and minds throughout the process. The Lord asks us to step into the dark places of the world and carry His light, yet He never asks us to do this apart from His strength, guidance, and presence. As we wrestle through this piece emotionally and physically, we are reminded of our calling as believer artists: to be ministers to others through our giftings, while abiding deeply in the Lord; for apart from Him we can do nothing. The Lord carried the scars of our sin upon His body—are we willing to carry scars for the sake of bringing restoration and love to His children? We trust that the Lord does not leave us as orphans, but protects us, guides us, and ministers to our hearts as we walk in obedience to Him. He gives provision to whom He gives vision. We have stepped into the compassionate heart of the Lord and cannot help but testify that the Lord is trustworthy—full of compassion and abounding in love. Never will He leave us, never will He forsake us.
This past Thursday was “End It Day”—a movement started in Atlanta, GA to bring awareness to our nation about the reality of sex trafficking. People are encouraged on End It Day to wear red x’s on their hands as they stand in solidarity with victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. As we learned “Innocence Not Lost” this week, we chose to stand with others throughout the nation by offering our bodies and hearts to these women through intercession and speaking to the realities of their experience in hopes that others would be compelled rise up and stand for justice as well. As we prepare pieces like “Innocence Not Lost” we prepare our hearts for the ministry we will be doing this summer specifically in Atlanta, Georgia, where we will be working with other dance companies who have a heart for justice and the restoration of trafficked women. We will be collaborating with them through dance and service as we minister to women who have been rescued from the sex industry. We realize that the fight for justice is so much more than a physical battle for freedom—it is a spiritual battle. As we intercede throughout rehearsals, we prepare the foundation from which we will be ministering to these women and fighting for freedom, justice, and healing.
