When I think about God,
I have trouble remembering that He has feelings.
Is that a strange thing to say?I mean, I know that He “loves” me,
and that He “hates” evil,
and I am aware, intellectually,
that He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger,
and abounding in love,
but more…
If you could see it, would you end it?
FIRST watch this video:
Christine Caine (an advocate to suffering and cofounder of the anti-human-trafficking organization ‘The A21 Campaign’) writes in her book Undaunted (talking to a group of rescued victims of Sex-Trafficking),
“Though no longer in a physical prison, Mary remained silent, constantly tormented by recurring nightmares. The daily horror may have ceased, but the pain screamed nonstop. Mary was safe but not yet free… ‘Oh God,’ I prayed. ‘Help me help them!’ I breathed deep and looked at Sonia for a long moment. ‘There is only one rescuer I know,’ I told Sonia and the rest of the women, ‘with the power to free us from the darkest prison. That rescuer is the God I love, who loves us so much he left everything to come for us, to free us. He is the one who made us, each of us, for a unique purpose and a magnificent destiny. He makes right what the world makes wrong. His plans are good, not for evil. His ways are straight and merciful. He came to give me a hope and a future- and to give you one too. His promises are true. His love is full of forgiveness and peace, joy and kindness, grace. He is the true rescuer. He saves us from any prison, whether physical or emotional or spiritual, the ones we’re forced into and the ones we fall into on our own. HE CHOOSES US. HE CAN MAKE ALL THINGS NEW. He loves us without condition, unrelentingly, forever. And he asks those of us who love him to love others the same way. To choose them. To be agents of his hope, his forgiveness, his grace. He asks us to join him in rescuing others. That’s why I’m here… That’s why I have come.’
Sonia could not believe all this… She knew all about promises too good to be true. The risk of allowing hope to reenter her life, only to see that hope dashed again, was too much. Her anguish turned back to anger and she pushed back from the table. ‘If what you are telling me is true,’ she yelled, ‘if what you say about your God is true- then where were you? Where have you been? Why didn’t you come sooner?’ … I could barely breathe. Why hadn’t I come sooner?… I would not offer excuses. ‘I don’t know,’ I stammered at last. ‘I don’t know why I didn’t come sooner.’ Such weak, small, light words for such a weighty question. ‘I am sorry. I am so sorry. Please forgive me.’
The silence became even more pronounced. Time seemed to have stopped. Nothing else mattered to me at that moment but these girls, their despair- and what healing God could bring to them. Though the silence seemed to last for an eternity, I felt so clearly present, so tuned into the now. ‘I want you to know,’ I said with new conviction, ‘that I have now heard your cries. I have seen you. I see you now.’ I turned to Mary. ‘I SEE you, Mary. And when I see you, I see Anna’ (a girl that died in the brothels)… I looked intently at each girl seated at the table. ‘I see each of you. I hear you. I know you by name. I have come for each of you.’
I wanted to see these girls as Jesus saw them- not as a sea of needs, but as individuals he had called by name and chosen one by one and loved. I heard his words before I spoke my own: ‘Tell them I have their names written in my book. That I came to give the good news to the poor. To heal the brokenhearted. To set the captives free. Tell them these promises are for here. Now. As well as for eternity.’
‘You will no longer be hidden,’ I told Sonia. ‘From now on, wherever I go, I will tell people you exist.’ I focused on each girl, one at a time. ‘I will ask them the very same question you’ve asked me. I will not sit back waiting, hoping, wishing, for someone else to do something. I promise you: I will BE the someone. Now that I have found you, I will find other girls like you. I will do everything I can to stop this.’”
God called Christine to be UNDAUNTED (Bold. Courageous) and fight for these victims. God calls us to be the same way, with whatever He puts on our hearts even if we feel inadequate or unqualified. For me, I know God is calling me in someway to fight for the freedom of modern-day slavery. We want you to help out in some way in fighting against this. PRAY. GIVE. SPREAD AWARENESS. TAKE ACTION.
If you read all the way through this, thank you.
Please go to http://www.enditmovement.com/ for more information.
“Now that I have seen, I am responsible.”
Today is the day we remember the courage, determination, sweat, blood and tears that went into our nations tragic, remarkable history.
And when you discover what you are going to be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Do that job so well that the living, the dead, or the unborn couldn’t do it any better.
If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper.
If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. But be the best little shrub on the side of the hill. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.
Finally, in your life’s blueprint, there must be a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice. Don’t allow anybody to pull you so low as to make you hate them. Don’t allow anybody to cause you lose your self-respect to the point that you do not struggle for justice. However young you are, you have a responsibility to seek to make life better for everybody. And so you must be involved in the struggle for freedom and justice.”
-Martin Luther King Jr. 1967
#6 A New Year
Okay, if life is not weird enough, time just blows my mind. The way we measure minutes, hours and days is so crazy. I am not even going to get into that though as that would take way to long and be way to weird for me. Anyways, The New Year is always an exciting time for me as the past three new years I have not been in one place but have been traveling through time, literally on planes and this year on a bus. It is crazy because what a new year means to me is new adventures, new things that will blow my mind and new reasons to discover how cool God is. Seriously when reflecting back on the past two new years, I have felt the Lord while on planes meeting people and sharing adventures we were about to have in remote parts of the world. I have had the privilege to embark on so many journeys that have blown my mind and shown me God in a whole new way whether I was looking for him or not.
This New Year is no different as I will be driving 18 hours to Atlanta to to go to Passion, a conference where I know God is going to move not only for me but for the other 40,000 college students who will also be attending with the same expectations. When thinking to all that has happened in 2012, there are so many memories and moments that have been pivotal and monumental but when I really think back to 2012, I think of laughing with friends at Bartosh Lane, experiencing the Lord’s love in Haiti, seeing the world through a new lens with my camera, living life in the Student Life office, going to Selma Alabama, and having my world rocked, and seeing my best friend raise a daughter. There are so many moments that make up a year filled with joy and filled with pain but when I look to a new year, I cannot help but feel excited and anticipatory. There is so much that can happen in a day let alone 365 of them. With that, there is so much reassurance and encouragement in a NEW year! “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18 and while I am writing this, All things New came on by Elevation Worship. There is something beautiful about new things as they can overcome and outshine the old “You are making all things new, you are making all things new, you are making all things and we are free.” I am not sure what 2013 has in store for me and that is great. I have some goals, not resolutions but goals as resolutions never seem to last and goals you can work towards. But even with the goals, I am not setting them in stone as being open to anything the Lord can do is far better than setting boxes for what He and I can do! Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” So great! Here is to making plans that are worth changing and living for the Lord in all I do! Life is weird. God is Cool. Happy NEW year!
1 Corinthians 15:10
reblogged from abigailgward-deactivated2013012 source: patentpeach
IT’S DECEMBER 1st.
YES. Time to celebrate my favorite holiday of the year.
CHRISTMAS. “A great way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”
Thankful for family and friends, but more importantly for Jesus who is my everything, my Savior, Lord and King. Holy is He and greatly to be praised everyday of my life, not just this season, but all seasons of life.
But really
Need.
Oh Lord, how you are continuing to break my heart for the 27 million enslaved to sex trafficking. They are not just a number. They are our sisters and brothers. Jesus bring me to them. I want to bring them hope.
Luke 10:31-34
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
“He set us free, so that we can set others free.” -Christine Caine
“It is for freedom that Christ set us free and we will stand for nothing less in our generation in Jesus Name. Nothing less in our generation.” -Christine Caine
