Freedom

     

I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend! Mine was good. Mom and I watched a movie on Friday and I packed for a trip. Saturday I went to my best friend's house and we left for Greeneville, Tennessee. We went to a concert that had a couple of live bands who played country music. The fireworks were great and we just talked and had a good time. Sunday we went sight-seeing and went to Andrew Johnson's house and museum. We even visited his cemetery in the rain! We did a little shopping after that and drove around for awhile. Then we came home and went to church. After church we rented movies and watched Gone Girl while eating pizza and ice cream. It was a great 4th of July weekend!

I was very thankful, and more aware, for the firefighters and police who worked on July 4th just to make sure people were safe celebrating our freedom and the men and women who are fighting to keep us free. I'm also appreciative of the men and women who worked in restaurants on July 4th to make sure people had food.

Also, July kicks off Hope for Justice's 31 Days of Freedom campaign. If you go to the website you will see ways to help spread the word about Human Trafficking and other ways to help! Sevenly is another website that has a different charity each week. So be on the look out for the Human Trafficking charity or just any charity that you want to help. Some other resources for bringing awareness about Human Trafficking are The A21 Campaign and Polaris. We get to celebrate freedom everyday. Let's work together and make it possible for others to celebrate it too!

Voice for the Voiceless- Part 4

"It's estimated that there are more than 5,000 brothels disguised as massage parlors nationwide." - Polaris Project

"Sin causes a madness which makes sick souls dream that Fifty shades of... No Waythey are in sound health." - Charles Spurgeon

"50% of all Christian Men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography." -ChristiaNet Poll, 2006

I start off with these quotes from the 31 Days of Freedom Bible study because I want to talk about how our social media and our culture have fooled us into believing forms of Human Trafficking are okay. 

First, let's think about what clothes look like these days. As a young Christian woman I feel that every summer shorts are getting shorter and shorter and tops are getting lower and lower. There is also the whole legging issue. Now, I am a fan of leggings. They keep you warm when you wear a dress during the cold months. They also come in different patterns and colors that pants don't. However, leggings are NOT pants and when I see a girl who wears leggings as pants, I honestly think it just looks trashy. You can see underwear lines when you wear leggings and they leave nothing to the imagination. No wonder when we see a young girl on the street corner in a short, almost see through dress we just turn the other way! It's what we girls would put on or have seen our friends wear! Wake up people! We are making it harder to tell the difference between a girl in prostitution to a girl who is just out shopping!

Now for media. I have seen previews for a new TV show called Satisfaction. The preview shows that a man comes home one day to catch his wife cheating on him. He hunts the guy his wife was with down and learns that the wife has been paying, yes you read right PAYING, this man to sleep with her. So the husband, trying to save his marriage, starts selling himself for sex so it will keep their marriage interesting! Where do I even start on how wrong this show sounds and looks?! People are practically paying their TV bills to watch male prostitution! No wonder more brothels are popping up around the world and more people are disappearing into the life of prostitution!

Finally, let's talk about "50 Shades of Grey", the book and the movie. Now I have not read the book and I never will read the book. But, I did watch the movie trailer and right away a person can tell it is just going to be about sex and different things you can try. This has to do with Human Trafficking because in the documentary Whore's Glory that I watched the men would honestly admit the reason they would pay for a woman was because they would do and try anything they wanted. Sounds like what the book "50 Shades of Grey" is about to me.

"We can only end slavery by partnering together. It's too big of a problem for any one organization to handle alone." -Stacia Freeman, Abolition International

Meet Mr. Grey, NO WAY! Fifty shades of... No way

Vocie for the Vocieless- Part Three

 "a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak," ~ Ecclesiastes 3:7

Abolition International

The Hope Soap Project

The A21 Campaign

The links above are all organizations that are working to put a stop to Human Trafficking. I would like to share a story from the Abolition International Bible reading plan:

"One 8-year-old girl from California decided to use her lemonade stand to raise money to stop child slavery. She asked her customers to simply give whatever was in their heart. she raised over $100,000. Her small lemonade idea has since evolved into a corporation. Make a Stand Lemon-Aid sells fair-trade, organic lemonade at 137 stores. She is expected to gross $2 million this year alone, all for the sake of freedom. God can use small, simple things to do great and mighty things! Whatever your contribution, your gifts are invaluable to the body of Christ."

I know I needed to read that, because I was wondering if I was helping at all by writing about Human Trafficking. But, now I know God has given me what I need to do what He wants me to do for this cause!

Now, here are some stories from The A21 Campaign of rescues. Three weeks ago they wrote this on their Instagram page: "We are excited to announce a new survivor in Bulgaria! She is a young mother and was trafficked for sexual exploitation. One of the many interesting things about her case, is that she was recuited via Facebook. She is now in our care and FREE."

Two weeks ago they wrote: "BREAKING NEWS: We are thrilled to announce that we have just welcomed a new survivor into our Greece shelter who came to us through our national hotline! She was trafficked through a modeling agency for the past 10 years. We are so thankful that shi is in our care and finally FREE."

One week ago: "BREAKING NEWS: We've just welcomed a new survivor into our Greece shelter. Recruited by a boyfriend at the age of 12, she was repeatedly sold and abused. We're now happy to say that she is safe in our care. And to top it off, both traffickers pleaded guilty when arrested. Today is a good day at A21!"

Two days ago: "We're happy to announce a new survivor in Ukraine! Lured by a false job opportunity in Russia, this young university student was trafficked across boarders for exploitation. We're now helping her get back on her feet and build her education so that she can achieve her dreams for her future!"

One day ago: "BREAKING NEWS: We welcomed yet another young woman into our Greece shelter! After years of abuse and hurt, she is finally free. This makes four lives rescued and given hope in two weeks! Thanks to all our supporters who make our fight of freedom possible."

I share these stories to give hope to all of you. No matter what you are doing to help, letting people know, praying, donating money, whatever, it IS making a difference and we need to keep it up! Keep fighting the good fight and God bless all of you!