Author: Liz, a survivor
The girl in the little red dress…
(Circle Tour 2026)
In Thailand there is a place that is much talked about but rarely known.
A place where love comes at a cost and where the heart of a man is truly shown.
A place for searching, by those purchasing, by the ones who will pay and those on display…
Many there by being missed, stripped or tricked.
This place is called “The red light district”…
As I walked through the sea of faces the smell of street food and all the dark spaces
I prayed in my head God would give me divine appointments
I half-heartedly thought it would happen again, from years of disappointment….
You see years ago my heart had been broken
from a calling I received in the same red light district I spoke in
a little girl that forever changed my life in an instant, led me to adopt years later
that would inevitably be ripped from my hands by the same trauma that was greater
than what led me to adopt in the first place…
Nonetheless I walked never knowing I’d meet a girl in a red dress this night
I walked with confidence as if somehow I could radiate the light within me from the freedom I felt no longer in that life
and there she was blank stare to the world stick-straight hair tall heels and legs that were bare.
Tattoo on her back, fake smile attached, while in a marketplace mess there she stood the girl in a little red dress…
as I walked by I did a double take of a girl standing outside a bar door
I couldn’t stop looking as I noticed her dress because it’s the exact one I once wore….
I turned around and blinked a few times.
She looked at me with confusion on her face, cocked her head sideways, what was I looking at in that place.
For a moment I saw myself, like looking in a mirror but the mirror of my past that was becoming less clear
I was no longer the girl on the street, on the corner in the heels.
I had been rescued, restored, and healed.
So why did this girl catch my heart like it did.
I think because God knew I needed to see this girl felt hid.
Walking far past this girl on the street we had other partners we needed to meet.
For an hour I prayed I would find her again,
I didn’t know how and I didn’t know when, didn’t know when God would cross our paths again.
And with every closed eye and every bowed head all I could see was the girl in the dress that was red
God took me to a peaceful place far away from here where there was no trafficking prostitution or fear.
It was just God and me on a bus in Thailand.
Nobody else just God sitting there holding my hand.
We rode around the city God showing me his people.
Him pointing out how he made each one on purpose and for a reason
As I turned around what I saw was a girl in a dark shade of deep threads of red sheer eyes begging to be held..
tugging at the bottom edges of her dress for fear of being disrespectful wanting a way out of this mess a life she walked into but nobody saw through the dress that showed so much to men, it was a dress that showed her body, curves, and figure to them
but beyond that dress was a little girl once free to be anything she wanted that girl was once me…
me and her are so alike I didn’t see if before
we both hid behind the dress so nobody had to look at our soul
You came to our banquet with your blazer and high-waisted pants not your red dress that you wore when you danced you looked comfortable, you looked beautiful, you had no idea the prayers I prayed to get you there.
Everyone knew I had met the girl in red and desperately wanted you to attend.
That night I did a dance representing freedom and rescue but that last dance I danced it for you
I danced with my husband and I jumped off the stage
into his arms for every church that closed their doors in my face
he stood there with open arms to catch me every time
after I was caught and knew I was safe
I gave him a lipstick kiss and felt like I could walk away..
I found you in the audience and pulled you on stage
When I met you in the bar we pulled you from the stage you danced on
but tonight I pulled you up to the stage I danced on
and I bowed to you low to show the ultimate sign of respect
because you were worth every sacrifice every dollar to fundraise
every prayer every thought every napkin that was folded
for in that moment I got to be with the girl in the little red dress, who that night became a princess….
Liz is a survivor of human sex trafficking. She was groomed and trafficked by a fake boyfriend in her teens. Thankfully, she escaped and is now married to a wonderful man, and they have 2 young boys.