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We are no longer blogging here anymore.
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http://iamatreasure.com/category/blog/
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Love, Harmony
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Do you want to get well?
There is a well-told story of a man, lying on a mat, who had been disabled for 38 years. In it, Jesus asks him a question: ‘Do you want to get well?’ (John 5)
At that point, the man started coming up with excuses, saying that nobody would help him, and every time he tried to get better, somebody got in his way. Ultimately, Jesus instructs the man to ‘Take up his mat and walk.’ He follows this instruction and is miraculously healed.
I believe that Jesus is asking you and me the same question: “Do you want to get well?”
Sometimes we think we want to get better, but when it comes down to it, we have a million excuses as to why we can’t. We complain that “Nobody will help us” and “Every time we try, something gets in our way.” We become comfortable with our condition and content to remain paralyzed on our mats.
I spent many years wishing my life would change, stuck in patterns and relationships. But ultimately, it wasn’t enough to want to change—I had to decide to change.
Ultimately, the decision is in our hands. Nobody can want it for us. God can’t force it on us. Our friends can’t fix us. Finding the “right man” won’t miraculously make our life better. We must decide to get well. Once we do, I believe that just as the paralytic man discovered, Jesus will give us the strength we need in order to walk.
By Harmony Dust
www.ScarsAndStilettos.com
(Excerpt from my memoir, Scars and Stilettos.
Appendix Chapter on My Healing Journey)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Does Jesus Love P0rn?
Does Jesus Love P0rn?
“Are you saying Jesus loves porn?” a half-dressed girl in a children’s bounce house asked us as she held the “Jesus Loves P0rn Stars” t-shirt up to herself. She was one of a few dozen girls hired at the p0rn convention to entertain the patrons by swinging on swings and playing on see saws and other children’s apparatuses.
“No. Because that would be weird,” Rachel a fun-loving, boisterous volunteer began,“but he loves p0rn stars and all of the people IN p0rn. I think if he were here today, he'd show up at p0rn conventions and say the same thing.”
Throughout the rest of the Exxxotica P0rn Convention in Los Angeles last weekend, the Treasures team partnered with XXX Church and shared that very message. Jesus loves people.
We were joined by Crissy, a stunning young woman who left p0rn at the height of her career, in order to follow Jesus. Her compassion for the women still in the industry seeps out of her pores and was evident in all of her encounters with them.
One moment I looked over to see her eyes filled with tears as she talked to one of the girls. “I was in the business for 6 years,” she shared.
The woman’s face softened upon seeing Crissy’s empathy. “It’s hard, isn’t it?” the woman responded.
Next to the bounce house was one of many tables of women signing autographs. But these women were not signing autographs for their p0rn-stardom. They were noted as being the “Scandalous Women of 2010”, a title awarded for having affairs with the likes of Tiger Woods and Jesse James. They were being given celebrity status for having sexual relationships with married men.
My stomach flip-flopped. Are we really living in a culture that rewards adultery with fame?
I was reminded of Jesus’ response to the woman at the well, a “scandalous woman” of her day. “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water," Jesus said to her.
Out of all of the people in the bible, this woman’s story resonates with me the most. I have been a scandalous woman in my own right and I identify with the depth of her need and the lengths she goes to in order to satisfy it. After years of looking to men, food, sex, attention, (you name it) to fill me, I have discovered that only One Thing will satisfy. Only Jesus can quench my insatiable thirst in a way that is true and lasting.
My heart broke as I handed each the women signing autographs a gift. Not BECAUSE of them, but FOR them. Because I believe that if they knew the “gift of God”, they would not be compelled to drink from the salty cup of infidelity. If they truly knew, they would walk away from that hollow well of fame, and instead thirst for Living Waters.
Jesus loves scandalous women. He loves p0rn stars and addicts. He even loves prideful, religious, judgmental folks. And when I contemplate my own heart and nature, it is just as awe inspiring that He loves me.
Love, Harmony Dust
Monday, June 7, 2010
Strip Clubs & Baptisms
STRIP CLUBS & BAPTISMS…
7 years ago, during Treasures’ first ever Vegas outreach, we met Abby*. A bright young woman, full of life and personality in spite of having faced some very painful circumstances in her life, she had just entered the sex industry.
“This is perfect,” I thought. “Perhaps after meeting the Treasures team, she will decide to leave the industry before she gets too deep into it-- before it gets too deep into her.”
The journey that has followed has caused me to practice everything I preach—Loving people right where they are at, trusting that God will do a work in their heart as they draw near to Him, knowing that it is His goodness that leads people to change.
I would ask God, “What do you want me to say to Abby?”
“Nothing. Just listen,” He would speak to my heart.
In the past 7 years, there were moments when I had the opportunity to tell her how much God loves her or to pray with her about a challenge she was facing. I have to admit, there were times when I thought to myself, “Okay God…I know that healing is a journey, and that I am supposed to love people where they are at…but 7 years?”
He would remind me that His love is unfailing, unchanging, unrelenting, unstoppable, and that I am to love as He does.
This weekend, God’s work in Abby’s heart had our team in tears. She let us know that she wasn’t going into work, despite it being a potentially lucrative holiday weekend and that she just wanted to be around us. So she joined in all of our activities for the weekend. During our volunteer prayer, she jumped in and asked us to pray for her. Before we prayed, she turned to me with tears in her eyes and said, “Every night when I show up at work, I pray that ‘the Prince song’ will come on because I want to leave like you did, Harmony.”
I literally started balling. I couldn’t even hold back the tears if I wanted to. Because I know that she was referencing a pivotal moment in my own life when ‘the Prince song’ Purple Rain came on, and I had an encounter with God in the middle of the strip club. It was at that moment that I left the industry.
We all cried and prayed with Abby. We told her that God’s plans for her are good and encouraged her that He would make a way for her, just as He made a way for me.
The next day, Abby asked us to come to church with her and was delighted to show up with an entourage of girls. That day, she told us that she wanted to be baptized but had no one to cheer her on they day her church offered baptisms. She asked if I would be willing to do the honors of baptizing her. So, with her Treasures family cheering loudly at the hotel pool, Abby was baptized!
I love that God loves us and meets us right where we are at—in strip clubs and hotel swimming pools, whether we are still dealing with pride or envy…or stripping—He loves us and He always shows up! He is unrelenting in His pursuit of us and I am honored to witness His pursuit of Abby and the beautiful work He is doing in her life.
Love, Harmony & The Treasures Team
(*Name changed to protect confidentiality)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wounds and Stilettos
Wounds and Stilettos
If I had to come up with a word to describe Friday’s strip club outreach, it would be “breakthrough”. From getting into a club for the 1st time in 7 years with gift bags, to talking to a manager who says he is leaving the industry in 3 weeks because “God told him to” and he wants to “follow in His footsteps”, to seeing the intense compassion in a bouncer who says his own heart breaks for the girls and seeing what they go through, it was an incredible night.
One of the most rewarding moments on a personal level came when we gave gifts (and lots of hugs) to the girls in a dressing room I hadn’t been in since the night I last worked there.
Over 12 years ago, I showed up at this particular club for one of their weekly contests where I, along with dozens of other women, paraded naked around the stage hoping for the loudest applause and the $300 prize. Early that night, before all the parading and madness began, I found myself sitting in the empty club next to a “competitor”.
“I think I am going to write a book about it.” I said starring at the empty stage.
“About what?” she seemed surprised I was talking to her.
“About this…about stripping.” I began to ponder the nature of it all. Exposing myself to the scrutiny of strangers and being openly judged solely on physical appearance. How familiar it had become.
The idea of writing a book lay dormant for years to come. I suppose I had to live out
more of the story before I could record it. If I had written it then, I probably would have had to call it “Wounds and Stilettos” rather than “Scars and Stilettos”. Because before they are scars, they are wounds. It would be a long while before the healing process turned my wounds to scars.
Last Friday night, we passed the spot where I sat talking to the girl years ago. I pictured my 20-year-old self and remembered what it felt like to be her. If I could, I would give her a little pink gift bag and a hug and tell her “Precious Harmony, you are loved, valued, and purposed…”
Love, Harmony
PS. If you’re not following @TreasuresLA and @HarmonyDust on Twitter, here’s what you missed!
. Wow! I just went into the dressing room of a club for the 1st time since I worked there. Got so many hugs from the girls! 10:59 PM May 21st via Twitterrific
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Strip club mngr told us my # is written in sharpie on the dressing room wall 4 emergency help. Not the 1st time my # was written on a wallJ 10:42 PM May 21st via Twitterrific
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Bouncer says his heart breaks evry night 4 the girls that work in the club-that seein what these girls go thru makes him wanna b a better dad 10:30 PM May 21st via Twitterrific
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We just got into a strip club with giftbags that we haven't been able to get into for 7 yrs!! Via @TreasuresLA 9:54 PM May 21st via Twitterrific
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Strip Club manager is leaving the industry in 3 wks because God told him to...says he has to follow in His footsteps. Via @TreasuresLA 9:22 PM May 21st via Twitterrific
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Strip Club Outreach tonight! May we show God's love 2women who feel separated from it. You can be part of their stories http://bit.ly/dpvIru 8:53 AM May 21st via Twitterrific
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Facing the Giants
FACING THE GIANTS
In the well-known story of David and Goliath, David faced and defeated his giant with a sling and a stone. Historically, in the days of Exodus, the Israelites had been afraid to enter the promised land because of the many ‘giants’ who inhabited that territory. It was the fear of the giants, not the giants themselves, that kept the people from God’s promise for them.
In my own journey, I have had to face some big giants: sexual abuse, rape, father issues, fear, rejection, abandonment, unforgiveness, and bitterness, to name a few. To rattle them off in a list like this is easy, but to actually face each of these head-on has been a battle. I can distinctly remember fighting though Los Angeles traffic to make the one-and-a-half-hour commute to see my therapist, where I had to pay upwards of $60 an hour to face some of my giants. I would much rather have been sitting on my couch, eating chocolate ice cream and watching reruns of Seinfeld. But if I wanted to walk in the fullness of God’s promises for my life, there were giants to be faced. Sometimes I felt like David: as if I was facing a seasoned combatant with weapons as puny as a sling and a stone. But during those times I learned that, like David, God has given me the tools I need to face the giants in my life, and that I never have to face them on my own. (Taken from the appendix of my memoir, Scars and Stilettos.)
If you are ready to face the giants in your life, you don’t have to do it alone! We are launching Celebrate Recovery at Oasis and all are welcome! This is a safe place where you can get on the road to recovery from your own hurts, hang-ups and habits. For more details, visit http://www.oasisla.org/life--oasis/celebrate-recovery/
Love, Harmony & The Treasures Team
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Forced into Sex Work...
Women will walk in freedom because you care.
Angela (not her real name) never thought she’d end up in the sex industry. But at age fourteen, she was homeless. She was kicked out of her last foster home, left with nothing but pajamas and slippers.
Preying on her vulnerability, a man in a fancy car told her that “a girl like her” shouldn’t be out on the streets. He promised to care for her and help her find a job. In the wee hours of the night, he delivered her to an underground brothel where other under-age girls “serviced” men who showed up drunk after the local strip clubs closed at 2AM.
What happened to Angela that night scarred her deeply.
She was forced into sex work
and continued working in the industry for ten long years.
In her adult years, she appeared like any other girl in the strip club. Naively, onlookers assumed she was there by “choice.” People believed the story that was that she was a struggling college student. In fact, she was a victim of domestic sex trafficking.
Then Angela escaped. But it was the only life she’d known -- her only means for survival . . . or so she thought!
Angela’s journey did not end the day she walked out of the strip club. It only began. Like many women we serve, Angela must now learn to walk in freedom. She must learn to resist the human urge to return to the familiar—even when the familiar means captivity.
Today, Angela works hard to rebuild her broken life. She faithfully participates in Treasure’s one-on-one weekly care team sessions. And she seeks stable employment, is growing in her faith, and bravely allows God to heal the deep psychological and emotional wounds she sustained.
Along with so many others, Angela is on the path to recovery. And because you care, Treasures equips her for the journey. Your faithful and generous partnership means freedom from the chains of bondage is offered, with God's love.
Thank you for supporting women just like Angela. Your best gift today goes to immediate use!
Sincerely,
Harmony Dust, Founder
P.S. Your gift of $50, $100, or even $250 or more will go far in helping women just like Angela.
Donations can me made at www.IAmATreasure.com/donations or
Mailed to: Treasures PO # 2013 North Hills, CA 91343
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