I went to a human trafficking event tonight put on by REDEEM the Shadows. There wasn't a lot I hadn't heard before...27mil trafficked globally, 100,000 in the US, average age 14yrs. I didn't expect to have a big response, but I guess it went deeper than I thought...

Back at home I couldn't get the image of those suffering little children out of my mind. Children who have never had a childhood...haven't ever played with blocks, painted a picture, laughed with daddy. I danced in worship, I cried to Jesus, I called out to Papa, and with Holy Spirit, I wrestled over this injustice...how can it be? I am left without words and some tear stains on my shirt, but not enough tears to even begin to mourn the loses...
lost virginity......lost family
...lost purity.............lost beauty
.......lost childhood...........lost hope

What is it like to live in a tunnel of seemingly-eternal darkness and pain?...depression, numbness, emptiness...trapped. How would you even begin to heal from a place like that...to learn to look at a world bathed in sunshine...to believe that beauty and innocence are more than a dream...to have healing from pain, freedom from fear, hope to learn and grow and be what you were destined for?

Only by a MIRACLE can this healing come. Only a touch from the Maker can heal the wounds that threaten to shred the soul. Only time, patience, hope...can bring life again.

But oh, what a crewel, crewel enemy--steal, kill, destroy. He is no red-horns, pointed-tail, forked-tongued JOKE! He is bent on corrupting man's soul, mutilating children's bodies, destroying any remnant of the beauty of their Creator's design. But try as he does, he cannot win. He knows he's been beaten, but still he will go on ripping and taring, maligning as much of his Enemy's beloved world that he can manage to grasp.

God, is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. I delight in this truth, yet I also struggle with it. The fact that God is slow to anger means that the pimps and their client sex-addicts carry on with their evil and girls and boys continue to suffer. How Long, O Lord! How long will you wait to return and call your suffering children back to yourself? How long will you tolerate such distortion, evil, and injustice. You must hear the cries of your children...

My mind twists and turns to conceive of the God I know that watches this everywhere everyday. I realize how little I truly know Him. I am so innocent, so safe, so protected and shielded from the ugliness of it all. And I could easily stay that way. But it wouldn't be right.

How can I stay silent when I know that I know I have power to do something to bring them hope, when I have a voice.

But what I can do? What does light have to do with darkness?

Light dispels darkness. Light wins. Always.

Because I know the God who redeems,

who saves, who heals,

who restores what's lost....

I WILL NOT STAY SILENT.