The other day one of my friends and I headed out for lunch and on a hunt for a "skinny" Christmas tree! She had on a shirt that read "To Write Love on Her Arms." I was curious as to what the saying meant so I asked her about it .. her husband had been to a confrence and this organization was there. They supported people who were addicts & cutters with hopeless lives filled with depression. I got this off their website and it kind of sums up their goal...
"We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home. "
"I have learned so much in one week with one brave girl. She is alive now, in the patience and safety of rehab, covered in marks of madness but choosing to believe that God makes things new, that He meant hope and healing in the stars. She would ask you to remember."
If you are like me you know there are so many organizations out there that support people in all walks of life through mission work or whatever it may be, but hearing about this breaks my heart! We often are so wrapped up in our own lives we forget about the ones that suffer in so many ways that are beyond what we could imagine!
We got to talking about another organization called Love146. This one really got to me! It is an organization to help end/prevent children from becoming victims of slavery, rape, and exploitation. I got curious and found this organization's website. To my surprise not only is child sex slavery taking place in Asia and other parts of the world, but it is happening right here in the U.S.! How can we all be so blind.. I wanted to help..these are children..toddlers even! I begin to read and look into this website and balled my eyes out reading the stories.. my heart hurts.. this is their story..
"In 2002 co-founders Rob Morris, Desirea Rodgers, Lamont Hiebert and Caroline Hahm traveled to South East Asia to witness first hand the atrocity of child sex slavery and the hope of abolition and restoration. While there, Rob and Lamont went undercover with professional investigators into a brothel. In that brothel, they witnessed little girls standing behind a wall of glass, each wore a matching red dress with a number pinned to her chest; they were watching children’s cartoons on small television sets. Men were purchasing these girls by the number pinned to her dress. As Rob and Lamont looked at these children watching cartoons they were struck by the eyes of each child. Their eyes seemed empty, without spark of life, like robots. And then there was #146. The only one not watching cartoons, she was staring back through the glass with fire and fight left in her eyes, there was still life there. In her eyes we found our calling. In her number came our name. "
I bought a T-shirt from this organization and made a donation and you can do the same. I hope people ask me about my T-shirt just as I did hers so I can help spread awareness! I think any little bit helps :)
Click here to check out these websites, stories, videos, and skip buying one Christmas gift to make a donation ;)
O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear..Psalm 10:17
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause..Isaiah 1:17
