From last year to now, I think most of us have at least heard about the global epidemic and injustice of human-sextrafficking and the $32 billion dollar a year industry it has become. Truthfully, I hope and pray that when January of 2014 rolls around the 27 million currently enslaved will be lesser and the testimonies of action and freedom more abundant. We must move and pray towards seeing the enslavement of mankind eradicated sooner and ask God to align our actions accordingly that it would be for His glory.
I think it is important for us to remember that this is not just a glamorous fight for justice that should leverage us to action. It is not even about doing it because the church has been awakened to the need either. I am continually hearing young girls with all the right intentions respond to God's call upon their lives by sharing they just want to stop human sex-trafficking. And dreams of how they will one day burst into a brothel and grab all the girls and break them free and everyone will live happily ever after still plague me. I don't express this fairytale frustration to claim to know better but more so because for several years those were my thoughts too.
I dreamt big and hated the practical here and now not so glorious side of ministry. And before I knew it, I'd lept across spaces far too wide for my feeble knees and I never did quite make it all the way across. My desire to rescue these girls so horrifically enslaved was certainly legitamate—and in the most basic ways even founded upon a biblical mandate we share as followers of Christ which is to proclaim liberty to the captives and seek justice for the oppressed. Yet my heart was all over the place and my own wounds from the past still wide open.
My life was not founded in the love and redemption of Christ and for that very reason I believe God allowed my dreams to fight for injustice to come crashing down. I has been a painful and challenging couple of years but I am so thankful my sufficiency is now in Him because it frees me up to truly fight for these girls from an understanding of my own life belonging to the One who is able—and through His love for me and His spirit at work inside, I can now more fully love the broken and helpless, as one whom I used to find my identity as well.
It is amazing the publicity that has manifested over sex-trafficking this year and at times I think it is a fad and I fear it will grow old as the glory of it all fails to manifest among us, yes even among those of us who are in Christ. Fellow brothers and sisters, let us be on guard.
One of the most practical ways to guard against this fight for justice becoming a thing of the past is to actually find a place within the fight that enables you to do something with the ways God has gifted you and the season of life He has you in right now. Dreams and vision are certainly purposeful and yet I think when it comes to seeking freedom for these girls, it's the big dreams that actually keep them bound up.
We feed ourselves heavy doses of vision and we fill up on the glory of it all that is coming through us. Full belly, we drift to sleep and fail to move to action afterwards. The truth is these girls don't need dreams—they need practical, applicable, measurable, timely actions that bring results.
As a blogger I have been really challenged in how to do this well since most days talking is my meat and action simply a side dish.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. -Theodore Roosevelt
Most days I sit behind this screen in this office forty hours a week entering data and ordering samples from China while also trying to finish my degree, just dreaming of one day being on the front lines of this war against slavery and doing all I can to grow in knowledge and understanding of God's word—all the while seeming more and more removed from this global injustice which has moved into 137 countries to date.
As a victim of sexual exploitation myself, I understand the victory found in telling a story and more importantly the healing that God brings through the process. Writing is my way of speaking and God's way of healing me. My hope is that He would provide healing for many through the stories and words shared in the future months to come. One thing I do have is a voice—and a blog from which I often use it. God has been faithful to challenge me and firm up a steadfastness in my words this year that I believe He will continue do into the future.
Here's how God has enabled me to move to action in this season of life—I have decided to commit some time and space here to serving as a blogger for the Exodus Road.
You will hear a lot more about them in the weeks and months to come, but in the meantime, please go watch this video to hear more about what they are doing to rescue these girls.
It is a humbling lesson and so indicative of the this deceitful heart of mine, but this year I have been learning what it means to truly be faithful to the small without seeing the promise of the bigger just yet.
It has taught me that only Christ truly satisfies—not even the glory that comes in serving Him can compare, though we are still called.
Friends, let us be faithful to the small. Here are some very practical ways some of my friends are being faithful to the small and you can too—
- I have some friends running a 1/2 Marathon for Nisa and if these feeble knees strengthen up, I'm going to join them. I run most days and when I do, I pray.
- Pray for a long list of activists and non-profits who are on the front lines and fighting for His glory to be known and that ultimately these girls would find both physical freedom and freedom in knowing Christ as Lord.
- Give more—to places like Exodus Road who are actually bursting into the brothels and bringing girls to freedom—that Christ might be made known among them.
- Promote awareness—social media is huge. Follow organizations on facebook and twitter. Share statistics with your friends and family. We can't do anything until we know what is happening all over the world—and the gravity of it.
Organizations to Give to and Pray for:
The Exodus Road
http://www.theexodusroad.com/
The A21 Campaign
The Not for Sale Campaign
The Polaris Project
International Justice Mission
Mercy Ministries of America
The Home Foundation
International Crisis Aide
Love 146
http://love146.org/
Nvader
http://nvader.org/
End It Passion Conference 2013 Movement
http://268generation.com/passion2013/freedom/
As Her Own
http://asourown.org/
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