“I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” – Harriet Tubman
In order for anyone to truly heal, we need to let God reveal the truth about the root of each issue we struggle with. The truth about ourselves is what sets us free more than anything else. When I was a slave to the sex industry, my perspective had to shift of how I viewed my life in order for me to see that I needed to be freed from bondage.
After what Jesus had done for me, I wanted to offer that same hope to others. How could I not? It would be so selfish to keep it all to myself! I became a very eager student of wanting to give this freedom to others. Many times I wanted to jump out into the world and start a full-time ministry. But God would gently whisper in my ear, “Not yet, Annie. I want more time with you alone. Healing takes time. I want you to be ready and equipped for the journey ahead. You can’t help others effectively if you still need help yourself. Focus on My love to heal you first.” One of my favorite scriptures that ministered to me and stopped me from jumping too far ahead of myself was Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.” I camped on that one, especially when I was tempted to jump ahead in my own timing. And trust me, that was often!
But God kept speaking to me and encouraging me, showing me things that prompted me to continue following in the direction He wanted me to go. As I studied the book of John, I read about Jesus during the Last Supper when He washed His disciples’ feet, and it touched the very core of my being. Jesus taught the disciples at the Last Supper to give thanks for the breaking of bread, which represented His body, and the drinking of wine, which represented His blood, and signified the sacrifice He was about to become for all mankind to save them from their sins. Not only was He showing that He was willing to give up His life for His disciples, He was showing them how to be truly thankful for the pain and brokenness that was necessary in order for them to be redeemed.
What I took away from this event was Jesus’ reminder to us as His followers to always be thankful to God – no matter what incredibly difficult thing He is asking us to do for Him. It signified to me how painful ministry can be, and that we need to always remember that going through the pain is so worth it because on the other side of death is a resurrected life! Many times in ministry we must sacrifice our time, energy, money, and pride to help someone else out the pit of despair. And it will especially hurt and humble us when we help someone ends up betraying us. Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him, but He still chose to wash Judas’ feet as act of servanthood.
Here was Jesus at the Last Supper, knowing He was about to be crucified, washing His disciples’ dirty feet as a servant and not as Master. He could have been doing something else, like giving a final sermon to a huge crowd or performing a miracle in front of thousands of people. But He chose to do this very intimate, seemingly small and meaningless task behind closed doors. Because it wasn’t about being seen or doing something amazing to go out with a bang; it was about the heart of being a servant, and loving someone enough to assist in cleaning the junk off of their lives – of being willing to get dirty for the sake of another. And not just people who are good to us, or people we are comfortable serving, like our friends, family, colleagues, etc. But the very ones others would reject – the Judases that we suspect and know have a plan to hurt us – we must clean their feet and be their servant too. We are never greater than the people we serve…ever!
Watch Annie Lobert this Tuesday on LIFE TODAY. This is an excerpt from Fallen: Out Of the Sex Industry and into the Arms of the Savior by Annie Lobert. Copyright ©2015 by Annie Lobert. Published by Worthy Books. Used by permission.
