Six months
ago I ended my time on the World Race: Human Trafficking edition, with the
expectation that I would spend a little time in Charlotte
before moving to Cambodia
to live and open a coffee shop. Having a coffee shop that provides a skill-set
and transitional space for women and men who have come out of sex trafficking
has been my dream for a few years now. And Cambodia has had my heart since I
first stepped foot there in 2007.
But this
summer, God changed my desires. Well, He didn’t exactly change my
desires – to see men and women live in freedom and walking out the
Kingdom, to see the slavery of one human over another abolished, to see healing
from brokenness and pain in the lives of those in sex trafficking – those
dreams are all still alive and kicking. But He did reveal more of how I am to
be involved in all this, and it is much different than I had expected. God said
“not now” to Cambodia
and opened my eyes to sex trafficking in the US,
and more specifically, in Charlotte,
and burdened me to be involved.
And so today,
after months of asking the Lord where my gifts and skills fit long-term into a
non-profit or ministry setting, He has brought me to Asheville to work with Hope House. “Hope House offers a safe
place of seclusion, restoration, and healing for domestic minor victims of sex
trafficking. The Hope House serves victims by supporting the United States
Trafficking Victims Protection Act and their three-pronged approach of
protection, prosecution, and prevention.”
I’ll be
interning here for the next 4 months, and could not be more excited to get
involved with the girls here and see how this ministry operates!
have provided a matching grant to further our programs in 2012 and are
challenging YOU to match that amount to demonstrate that the community
cares deeply about the victims of sex trafficking. They will match
every dollar we raise up to $45,000.
www.oewm.net or by mail (On Eagles Wings Ministries/The Hope House PO Box 9737, Asheville 28815).
