Earlier in the year you read about my Thai girls, Wan, Glon, Kung, Kae, and Rose. More recently, you have read about Grace and the Samaritana women.
Today, I want to let you all in on a glimpse of my life. God has used these women to bring about His greater vision. When I first heard about the World Race, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to focus my love for the world and desire to help the helpless. If you look at those two things, they seem extremely broad.
Love for the world.
Where in the world do you love? How do you narrow down the options with roughly 193 countries in the world? Do you go to Latin America simply because you speak Spanish? Do you go to Africa because you know there are so many starving people? Do you go to non-Christian nations because they don’t know the name Jesus?
Help the helpless.
Can you really help all the helpless? How do you pinpoint who is the most helpless? Do you focus on orphans because they are orphans? Do you focus on the sick because they are near death? Do you focus on the oppressed or the oppressors?
Ultimately, these endless questions are how I began this journey. Very few of these questions have actually been answered. Honestly, I have more questions today than I have ever had. It is certain that I will come home with more questions than I even have now. (This seems to remind me of the beginning and end of college.) God has made one thing clear. As His children, we are required to do something about the extremity of injustice in the world.
If you know me well, you will realize that I am someone who is driven with a desire to bring justice to injustice situations. Over the year, the injustice that has captured every ounce of my heart and mind is that of prostitution and human trafficking. I believe the sex trade industry is one of the largest global problems, next to world hunger. Ultimately, world hunger is a major factor in the enormity of the global sex market. The more difficult problem is that few people decide to undertake the enormity of bringing hope to those involved in the sex trade industry. It is a complex, twisted reality with more facets than I think I will ever see or understand.
Those that control the industry have extremely tight, protective circles. They manipulate the government, men around the world, trafficked women, poverty stricken women, and parentless children. The places expected to provide protection and justice are more apart of the problem than the solution. Owners of brothels and those that are trafficking women consistently manipulate government officials into not providing justice and protection. Men around the world have disconnected their minds from the reality that these purchased girls could easily be their own daughters and mothers. Trafficked women often believe they have the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to another country for a job awaiting their arrival. The industry pushers know that poverty stricken women are often at a point that they will do whatever it takes to provide for their families. The victims of this global phenomenon are endless.
Over the last 4 months, I have been asking God questions. How do you want to bring justice to such extreme injustice? Are you really in control? Do you really allow these types of things to go on? Where is your truth inside an industry created by lies? How has the enemy taken such a foothold in a world that You created to love? How are you really going to break down an entire industry? How can my simple life really make an impact on such a global phenomenon? Where do I fit in the small and big picture of bringing hope to women trapped in the sex trade? What do you desire my life to look like in bringing truth and hope to the industry pushers, the government, trafficked women, poverty stricken women, and parentless children?
God has told me that I will see industry pushers have Saul to Paul conversions. Governments will surrender to God’s authority not Satan’s manipulation. Men will realize they need to protect rather than
victimize women. Women will receive freedom and be healed from the wounds inflicted upon them by the industry. They will be given the opportunities of a lifetime they once believed they had. Parentless children will grow up with their mother’s love and father’s protection.
In all my questions, I lack clarity in many areas. With only 3 months left on the World Race, the big question has become imminent. The question is asked, “What are your plans when you get home?” All the unanswered questions and the few answers I have run through my mind. My ultimate thought is, how do I explain that I know but don’t know at the same time? My main thought is to seek God and pray through all these things. Perhaps start graduate school to receive a little more knowledge behind my experience. Find a job where I can focus on school, or find a job that will supplement my education and experience. It is a gift to have seen and been a part of several organizations playing their part in stopping and bringing justice to the sex trade global phenomenon.
A part of me believes my place will be on a small and large scale. On the large scale, I may start a non-profit that sends people out both short and long-term to minister God’s hope in places where the sex trade industry is active. Provide legal advocacy and raise awareness of the global issue that is often pushed under the carpet. I believe prostitution and human trafficking will be my means to spreading the hope of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it will involve an orphanage, school for children and uneducated adults, non-profit business for women, advocacy center, counseling program, and platform for women and children to achieve their dreams. On the small scale, God will likely plant me overseas to make an impact in a few particular areas.
My challenge is a commitment to pray…
-About how you can be apart of stopping the sex trade and bringing justice to injustice.
-God would bring clarity and opportunity as to how to begin this next portion of my journey with Him.
-God would begin to break down strongholds within the sex trade industry.
-Women are able to find livelihood outside of prostitution and bring restoration to those who are wounded by such lifestyles.
-Brothel owners and those trafficking women would realize they are victims of the enemies’ tactics and victimizing others.
-Governments would become advocates to those trapped beneath the industry.
-For FREEDOM & JUSTICE!
