I've had a number floating around in my head for about a month now. It's a pretty large number – larger than the $18,000 I need to raise to go on the World Race.
But honestly, it's more than the number. I've had vivid dreams in the past few weeks and they've had faces in them. They've been in scary dark places. They've been so full of darkness.
I am going on route 1 of the September 2012 routes this year. We're going to a few countries that are wracked to the core by this number that's been on my heart. Their people are hurt, damaged, and irreversably touched by this number.
It's possible they don't even know this number…but this number knows them. The enemy is making it grow and threatening them, instilling in them a fear that has absolutely nothing to do with the infinite love and protection provided by our Abba.
God planted the seed in me for World Race over four months ago and cultivated it through His word and so many great influences in my life. One of the main ways He attracted me to this specific route was through the Spanish language. I was taking my final Spanish course required for my BA last semester and fell in love with the language, the culture, and when I saw the number of Spanish-speaking countries listed on September Route 1, I couldn't resist.
In the past month, He's used a number and the faces and places in my dreams to point my heart to something else so big and so much a part of HIS heart.
I absolutely can't get it out of my head and I know that something must be done about it.
Among the countries on the September Route 1 list, none of them are exempt from the impact made by human trafficking, but among those countries there are some astounding facts:
Ukraine, Moldova and China are among the top eleven countries where human beings are trafficked.
According to the International Labor Organization, an estimated 15% of India's 2.3 million prostitutes are children. India is known for being a destination for trafficked victims from Nepal and surrounding countries.
Prostitution in the Philippines is legal. LEGAL. And it is now the fourth largest source of GNP for the country according to a study done in 2004.
There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today.
This is the number I can't get out of my head. And these are the places I'm going in nine months.
That's right, I'm headed right into the heart of human trafficking and sex slavery.
Scared? Sure. Did you read the part about my dreams? They've been unreal lately. Absolutely unreal. But I know that God's had a plan for this to happen from before time began.
Right now, my worst nightmares have become reality for 27 million people. And they're God's children, too.
All I have to say is this:
NOT ON MY WATCH.
