For as long as I can remember, I have been captivated by the beauty of old homes, the lure of the architecture and the stories they tell. Nothing more thrilling than riding through an old neighborhood late in the evening where life is not hidden with shutters or blinds. Warmth and love just flowing from the lights within spilling onto the streets; almost whispering an invitation to join. And, I have even been drawn to the stillness left lingering in homesteads where the lights have long been extinguished.
Andy has driven me through more old neighborhoods than I possibly could ever remember. I’ll never forget the time I convinced him to be brave and just take a peak on the inside; surely NO ONE lived in the beautiful abandoned home… As we peered through windows and squeezed through doorways taking in the history we ourselves were almost history! Life had moved from the enormous old Southern home and taken up in a cozier addition just off the back-end of the old structure. Since then, he has strictly stuck to drive-bys. Bless him.
Many times I had caught sight of some of Birmingham’s old homes as I drove to Special Ops each Monday. Special Ops is the street ministry of The WellHouse. I would say it is where the ministry was birthed. There on the lawn each Monday we gathered to pray with a heavy heart for the women caught in bondage there along the streets of Birmingham. Two years later still heavy hearts gather, praying, searching for the lost and the broken.
When I think of the old Blue House, it isn’t the architecture that I remember, but, the narrow beaten down path that connected the back alley to the busted down back door. I can’t help but picture the women whose heavy burdened feet have carved away this passage of death. The thoughts that lingered as they approached this once beautiful home. Did they ever think of the life that once filled the rooms of this Blue House… or was they smothered with the evil notion that consumed this now high place?
I have seen their faces, the daughters of The Most High, taken inside and shackled with a heavy yoke. Their brokenness carving away each time at this narrow path, only showing others the way to Satan’s den. Who were they before the chains convinced them they had no other way… no hope for a LIFE He intended for them to have. A life worthy of sacrificial Love.
As we stood and peered in the back door Evil reeked from within and our spirit man cringed with the pain manifested from within the walls of the Blue House. As we marched around, crying out, singing praises as in the day of Jericho; Lord let these walls crumble to the ground. I knew He would not allow these walls to stand any longer. His heart broke with each precious step that approached.
His word tells me that He is JEALOUS for me. The world wants you to see these words in a negative fashion~ BUT our Lord is LOVE and HE is jealous for ME. He longs to be with me; His passion for each of us is unfathomable. So many resist this immeasurable love, running… Oh, how He loves me and the beautiful men and women that have beaten down that path. The very ones who play house with demons. His LOVE is so great we are baffled that He would leave the 99 for the one.
Upon our last visit to the Blue House, His cross was a reminder of Luke 15:4…
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”
This house was destroyed for that ONE.
The Lord heard our cries of desperation and our praises to The King. He will destroy the high places, they must come down.
He will bring down your high fortified walls
and lay them low;
he will bring them down to the ground,
to the very dust. Isaiah 25:12
“Over 100 rescues since 2011, over 50 this year ALONE. DO NOT LET THIS CONTINUE TO HAPPEN ON YOUR WATCH!!! Make a difference in the lives of our Princesses! “ ~Tajuan McCarty
For more on this ministry and other ways, you can get involved… The WellHouse! Thank you!
