not for sale

Okay, so seeing that I am done with school for the next four weeks, I decided that I should read something. Something that would motivate me, challenge me, and stretch me. I just finished reading Forgotten God by Francis Chan and absolutely LOVED it. The Lord has blessed him with such a unique ability to articulate the things that the church needs to hear the most, and allows him to speak in a way that will spur the body into action. Having read this book, I feel incredibly compelled to encourage the people God has placed in my life to seek him in a BOLD and unconventional way. To live in such a way as to bring him GLORY and fully surrender their lives to HIM, and the work that the Holy Spirit desires to do in their hearts if they just would give all everything to him.

My dear friend Emily is the Not For Sale rep at out school, because her uncle started the organization. Naturally I desired to learn more about this incredibly impactful ministry and gain a more thorough knowledge about the problem of human trafficking globally and in our own country. So, I cracked the book last night and dove into the extremely moving story that David Batstone unfolds page by page. Just in reading the introduction chapter I felt absolutely drawn in and immediately began thinking about what it would look like for me to join this fight for freedom. This afternoon I read through chapter one that specifically focused on Thailand. I couldn't put my pen down because every page was chalk full of disturbing statistics that continually blew me away. My brain is literally spinning thinking of all of the injustice that goes unacted on. I cannot imagine living in such poverty that my family's best option is to sell me into prostitution. How is this possibly happening in our world? Another thing made me absolutely sick to my stomach. Batstone was talking about how the concept of purity is completely skewed for these women. Culturally, "when an unmarried woman has lost her viriginity, she is considered despoiled. Purity is all or nothing; either she has it or she doesn't. The girl might as well be sold into prostitution, for she has lost her innocence" (Batstone 34). This made me so incredibly sad. In high school I made some terrible decisions regarding purity, but I repented from them and know that God in his UNLIMITED GRACE has forgiven me and given me a new fresh start. Those decisions NO LONGER DEFINE ME, and God says that he has removed them from us as far as the east is from the west. The fact that these women don't know this truth about their creator makes me want to cry.   

Let's just say I feel so incredibly excited about the fact that I'm going to India in 10 days, because I am not sure that I'd be able to sit here in the comfort of my beautiful home in Newport for the whole break now having started to immerse myself in this problem. I am honestly not sure as of right now what it looks like for me to play apart in this, but I do know that God has placed a burning passion in my heart for these enslaved women who are forced into prostitution. I firmly believe that on this trip coming up in 10 days, he is going to speak and move in my heart, making it a little bit clearer what he has for me to do. I am praying that once he shows me or gives me a slight hint as to how to play a part, that I will have the BOLDNESS to act on that and actually make steps forward to do something rather than sitting around. 

If you want to read more about the organization and their mission visit: www.notforsalecampaign.org