I haven't blogged lately - frankly, I just haven't been feeling it. Everything in my world feels off. Particular government organizations are breathing down my neck for promoting essential oils as a wellness tool for my family, so many horrific things are happening internationally, we are praying and working diligently to bring our "son" home on a student visa from Ethiopia, the Super Bowl just happened last weekend in our city and the whole week felt oppressive and stifling - all I could think about was how many trafficked women and girls the city received in the days and weeks leading up to the event.
I know all of that is heavy and hard. But, that is just who I am and I am learning to embrace it rather than continue to fight it. Years ago - I can't remember how many but I distinctly remember exactly where I was - I prayed a prayer. A prayer that if I did not unashamedly and with no reservation love Jesus Christ so much, I would "unpray." I had traveled to Chicago on a business trip with my husband. It was a few days alone without our kids in tow. I am a people watcher. I love to grab a cup of coffee and just find a bench somewhere and sit. I swear, one day I am going to go to NYC completely by myself so that I can just spread out a blanket in Central Park, take a book and sit there all.day.long. I pray for people who walk by, I think, I write in my head or on paper if I have some handy. This particular day in Chicago I came down from the hotel, grabbed some coffee at the nearest Starbucks and promptly tripped over a homeless lady sitting outside the door. I went back inside, got another cup, and brought it out to her. I invited her to sit down on the nearest bench and tell me her story. She didn't talk much, I listened a little, she shuffled away. That's it.
That's it.
It completely and utterly did me in. I went back to the room, grabbed a notebook and began to write. I couldn't get words out fast enough - in my head I saw myself helping her and the thousands like her who line the streets of our cities. They have stories, families - they are made in the image of God! They are not dirty, scary, and sick. They are not leeches trying to suck the marrow out of society. They are people - people who our God created and loves - every ounce as much as He loves me. I sat for hours, tears streaming, pencil scratching - and then I got down on my knees and I said the words that forever changed me.
"God - break my heart for the things that break Yours."
Ten little words. I had no idea what I was asking for. Since the day I prayed that prayer my mind has not stopped whirling. My heart literally hurts. I have never been one for small talk but that changed even more that day. Now, I detest it. I enjoy quiet and I love deep, hard discussions. Shallowness is just more than I can take. I think that is what has brought me out of the closet today. I am sure that most of you have seen the "yoga pants" post that has gone completely viral. I haven't had much to say about it, frankly because it is shallow to me. I just don't care what you wear. But today I read a post that I agree with and my daughter said something when she shared it that I just can't get out of my head. She said, "When there are no more orphans, no more slaves, and no more wars - then we can debate yoga pants...." Truly - this girl stretches me more than any other pruning tool God has ever put before me. We are so much alike God must have just cloned us twenty years apart. I love most everything about the beautiful soul that she is - and then there are those things that hold up a mirror to me and make me have to dig deep - deep into the things about my life I need to work on. God is good that way.
So, here is the response I love.
10 Things to Get Angry About
Friends, our world is in a downward spiral. Maybe people have said that since time began. I can believe it - but we are certainly not on any up swing as far as I can tell. There is injustice and horror around every corner. There is also beauty and goodness that resides in the hearts of those who love Jesus and long to serve Him. All the while that we are hurting over the injustice and all the while that we are getting involved in the lives of vulnerable people - we can also live lives of LOVE and JOY. Today I went to our homeschool co-op with Patrick and we played games and did science experiments and art projects together. I read a book to my 12 year old. Tonight I read a stack of library books and then had a sword fight. I headed down to the college campus where my oldest attend and hugged my son. I went to the chiropractor and laughed and chatted with her. I had an argument with my husband (just being honest) - but God knows I love him! I lived my life - and I think that pleases God. But, there is more.
My point here is that each and every second of every day I live with a partially heavy heart. Patrick had a nightmare the other night and woke up crying. When I got to him and he wrapped his skinny little arms around my neck sobbing, I lost it. I lost it not because my son was crying - my son has a Mommy who loves him more than her own life. I lost it because there are 163,000,000 little boys and girls who wake up with nightmares at night and NO ONE CARES. Friends - get pissed about that!!!
As we go through our lives we are selfish and remiss if we EVER think that arguments about pants please the heart of God. We need to be loving each other. God knows there is enough hate to go around.
I know what some of you may be thinking. I know what I was thinking about people like me before I prayed that prayer. I was thinking - "Well, some things are important. We have to stand for something. We have to do what is right." The problem was that I was reading the Bible like a Pharisee. I was reading a list of rules - dos and don'ts handed down from the mountain by a holy and angry God. And don't get me wrong. I still believe in justice and I believe in right and wrong. I know that there are things that God expects from His children, the same way I have things that I expect from mine. Those who know me know that I do. My kids have rules and often they do not like them. Sometimes they think we are rigid and old fashioned. But....
But.... God did not give us a list of rules from a mountaintop because He thought we would obey them. Who among us thinks that our kids are always going to obey? Maybe before you had kids you thought that - but I guarantee you that they proved you WRONG before their second birthday. No, the Israelites are not held up to us as an example - they are held up as a mirror. In them we can see the worst of ourselves and we can see the mercy of God. Mercy and grace that triumphed at the CROSS. Mercy and grace that we DO NOT deserve. God's plan is always, always about redemption. Our hearts must be like His. Crushing people over their pants is NOT the way God works. I submit to you right now that Jesus - who I am totally, head over heels in love with is (as my friend Linny says) an awe inspiring, mountain moving, gasp giving God - He loves to bless His children and He does not care what kind of pants you wear. (I said that about the pants, not Linny - just so we are clear) Does this mean we have no standards in our home? Oh, you bet we do! Ask my shorts loving daughters. But I can assure you I am more concerned about their hearts than their pants. The heart MUST come first, otherwise you are a Pharisee. And I dare you to dig into your Bible and find out how Jesus felt about them.
Friends, let's get righteously angry over what matters! Children matter, starvation matters, human trafficking matters, poverty and injustice matter - orphans matter. Look into the eyes of an orphan. Sit down with your son's birth mom for lunch and then watch her eyes when she hands you her baby and walks away. Clean the infected and oozing wounds of a street child in another country. Parent a child that you love with all of your heart and soul - who lives on another continent. Head down to your nearest homeless shelter - look into their eyes and get a glimpse of what NO HOPE looks like. After you have done these things, then talk to me about pants. Geez - I just can't.even.
I am going to stop here - I know you all now have a mental picture of my girls and me running around in our leggings. Oh - the horror! Let's just all strive to keep our eyes on Jesus - if everyone does that, both men and women, we would probably be too focused on what matters to notice what anyone is wearing. And for the love of all things - can't we just love each other where we are?????
Showing posts with label Causes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Causes. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Hope
I am struggling with the topic I need to write about today. In fact, this is about the fifth time I have called up this post and tried to finish. It is hard. It is disgusting. To be quite frank, it makes me sick.
Literally.
When the Lord first began to turn my heart toward this topic a couple of years ago, I was completely blown away by the enormity of the issue - in America!
The topic I am speaking about is Human Trafficking. Selling women and girls into bondage as sex slaves. I know this is very indelicate and I hope that you are as disgusted as I am. Because there is more. Much more.
Yes, I knew that trafficking was a problem - in Asia and Africa and India - and please do not get me wrong, those women and girls are no different than American women and girls. But, let's face it, those places seem a long way off. They are places we read about in books and see on the news. Then, we turn off our plasma televisions and get in our soft beds and forget. The problem is, those women and girls in bondage never have the opportunity to forget. And neither does God.
Then, because the wolf has been fed in the darkness for so long, now he is knocking on our door.
In fact, he has blown down the door.
Did you know that by the end of this year Human Trafficking will be the #1 crime worldwide?
Did you know that if you live in FL, you live in the biggest trafficking state and if you live in South FL, you live in the highest trafficking area in the entire country?
This is huge and we need to wake up! We should have woken up years ago and been the voice for those in the faraway places. Now, we must wake up, because the wolf wants your little girl!! The target age for traffickers is 11-14. Apparently, little girls bring the highest prices. I know, at least I hope, you are feeling sick to your stomach about now, but please don't stop reading. Don't stop, because stopping is what has brought us to this place. I believe that frankly, we do not want to examine ourselves as a people or as a nation. We truly do not want to admit that behind our neighbor's doors or in the basement level of our favorite restaurant, there are little girls chained in cages waiting for night to fall so that they can be raped over and over again, night after night after night. Raped by American men, who during the day work in your bank, your grocery store, and maybe even sit behind you at your child's soccer game. Men who are so perverted by the culture they have grown up in that somehow they have justified in their minds that sex with children is an acceptable "thrill."
When I look at my two girls - one of whom falls smack in the middle of that target age and the other who is barely out of it, I know that someone has got to take a stand for these children. Someone has got to say enough is enough! Thank God, there are many such someones that God is raising up right now. I happen to personally know a man and woman who have started an organization to help these young girls. There are safe houses being set up all over America and all over the world through their organization to give these rescued girls a place to heal.
In America alone there are an estimated 150,000 young girls being held in trafficking rings and the number rises to over a million worldwide. I am talking about little girls - like mine, and like yours. Little girls, many whom should still be playing with baby dolls, completely stripped of their innocence. Brutalized for money, over and over and over. The reusable "drug."
I realize this is hard. It is disgusting, but it escalates because of that very thing. No one wants to talk about it or hear about it. It is just too horrific to comprehend. But, that leaves these girls with no hope that anyone cares. They have no choice but to comprehend it, every single day. I believe though, that people do care - or would if they knew the problem. Most of us just don't have to see it as our day to day reality - and we should thank God for that more than we likely do, because the truth of it is that over 2 million America men are using these little girls. Paying their "pimp" for 20 minutes of terror - each girl used 7-9 times per night, 7 nights a week!
Try to swallow that.
Through the years pedophiles have always been viewed as "unacceptable." Even in prisons, fraught with murderers and drug dealers, men who sexually abuse children have always been treated unmercifully by inmates. I assume they still are. The issue with child trafficking is that there are not enough stereotypical pedophiles in the United States for them to be the only ones who are raping these little girls. What I hope you understand me to say is that many of these men are NOT stereotypical pedophiles - they are stereotypical "soccer dads," raised in a culture that exalts sexuality. A culture where hard core porn is pumped into our homes at the stroke of a keyboard. They have been brought up on a diet of illicit sex, to the point that they are desensitized and bored. Making love to their wives, in a bed at home is boring now. The thrill that God intended in that relationship is gone for these men. They have seen and experimented with everything by the age of 20.
We can place part of the blame for this industry right at our own doors. We have allowed the pornography industry to run wild and rampant and now we are all going to pay the price.
I hate having to write about this, but I can not do anything else. It is on my heart all the time. I try not to be fearful, but I worry about my girls. I worry about my boys who are growing up in this culture. I worry about the church, who for the most part is standing silent on this issue. God is clear - anyone who causes one of His little ones to sin would be better off never having been born. These little girls are being forced to sin, night after night, while most of us do nothing to help them. It is enough. It is time for this madness to end. I have to believe that God will not remain silent on this issue very much longer, and personally when His wrath pours forth on those who have tortured these innocent children, I do not want to be standing there saying that I knew it was happening and did nothing!
There will be more to come on this topic. My church is having an awareness meeting the end of this month. If you are interested in finding out what is going on in your area to stop these crimes, please leave a comment and I will get back to you.
Also, check out the website sharedhope.org -- they are operating in many larger cities in America and around the world and they will let you know how you can get involved. Above all, please pray. God moves to the prayers of His people.
Literally.
When the Lord first began to turn my heart toward this topic a couple of years ago, I was completely blown away by the enormity of the issue - in America!
The topic I am speaking about is Human Trafficking. Selling women and girls into bondage as sex slaves. I know this is very indelicate and I hope that you are as disgusted as I am. Because there is more. Much more.
Yes, I knew that trafficking was a problem - in Asia and Africa and India - and please do not get me wrong, those women and girls are no different than American women and girls. But, let's face it, those places seem a long way off. They are places we read about in books and see on the news. Then, we turn off our plasma televisions and get in our soft beds and forget. The problem is, those women and girls in bondage never have the opportunity to forget. And neither does God.
Then, because the wolf has been fed in the darkness for so long, now he is knocking on our door.
In fact, he has blown down the door.
Did you know that by the end of this year Human Trafficking will be the #1 crime worldwide?
Did you know that if you live in FL, you live in the biggest trafficking state and if you live in South FL, you live in the highest trafficking area in the entire country?
This is huge and we need to wake up! We should have woken up years ago and been the voice for those in the faraway places. Now, we must wake up, because the wolf wants your little girl!! The target age for traffickers is 11-14. Apparently, little girls bring the highest prices. I know, at least I hope, you are feeling sick to your stomach about now, but please don't stop reading. Don't stop, because stopping is what has brought us to this place. I believe that frankly, we do not want to examine ourselves as a people or as a nation. We truly do not want to admit that behind our neighbor's doors or in the basement level of our favorite restaurant, there are little girls chained in cages waiting for night to fall so that they can be raped over and over again, night after night after night. Raped by American men, who during the day work in your bank, your grocery store, and maybe even sit behind you at your child's soccer game. Men who are so perverted by the culture they have grown up in that somehow they have justified in their minds that sex with children is an acceptable "thrill."
When I look at my two girls - one of whom falls smack in the middle of that target age and the other who is barely out of it, I know that someone has got to take a stand for these children. Someone has got to say enough is enough! Thank God, there are many such someones that God is raising up right now. I happen to personally know a man and woman who have started an organization to help these young girls. There are safe houses being set up all over America and all over the world through their organization to give these rescued girls a place to heal.
In America alone there are an estimated 150,000 young girls being held in trafficking rings and the number rises to over a million worldwide. I am talking about little girls - like mine, and like yours. Little girls, many whom should still be playing with baby dolls, completely stripped of their innocence. Brutalized for money, over and over and over. The reusable "drug."
I realize this is hard. It is disgusting, but it escalates because of that very thing. No one wants to talk about it or hear about it. It is just too horrific to comprehend. But, that leaves these girls with no hope that anyone cares. They have no choice but to comprehend it, every single day. I believe though, that people do care - or would if they knew the problem. Most of us just don't have to see it as our day to day reality - and we should thank God for that more than we likely do, because the truth of it is that over 2 million America men are using these little girls. Paying their "pimp" for 20 minutes of terror - each girl used 7-9 times per night, 7 nights a week!
Try to swallow that.
Through the years pedophiles have always been viewed as "unacceptable." Even in prisons, fraught with murderers and drug dealers, men who sexually abuse children have always been treated unmercifully by inmates. I assume they still are. The issue with child trafficking is that there are not enough stereotypical pedophiles in the United States for them to be the only ones who are raping these little girls. What I hope you understand me to say is that many of these men are NOT stereotypical pedophiles - they are stereotypical "soccer dads," raised in a culture that exalts sexuality. A culture where hard core porn is pumped into our homes at the stroke of a keyboard. They have been brought up on a diet of illicit sex, to the point that they are desensitized and bored. Making love to their wives, in a bed at home is boring now. The thrill that God intended in that relationship is gone for these men. They have seen and experimented with everything by the age of 20.
We can place part of the blame for this industry right at our own doors. We have allowed the pornography industry to run wild and rampant and now we are all going to pay the price.
I hate having to write about this, but I can not do anything else. It is on my heart all the time. I try not to be fearful, but I worry about my girls. I worry about my boys who are growing up in this culture. I worry about the church, who for the most part is standing silent on this issue. God is clear - anyone who causes one of His little ones to sin would be better off never having been born. These little girls are being forced to sin, night after night, while most of us do nothing to help them. It is enough. It is time for this madness to end. I have to believe that God will not remain silent on this issue very much longer, and personally when His wrath pours forth on those who have tortured these innocent children, I do not want to be standing there saying that I knew it was happening and did nothing!
There will be more to come on this topic. My church is having an awareness meeting the end of this month. If you are interested in finding out what is going on in your area to stop these crimes, please leave a comment and I will get back to you.
Also, check out the website sharedhope.org -- they are operating in many larger cities in America and around the world and they will let you know how you can get involved. Above all, please pray. God moves to the prayers of His people.
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