Okay Black Friday is over and you've spent more than you saved. Forgive yourself. Now its time to buckle down and knock items off the lists... But where to shop?
I'm not here to tell where NOT to shop, simply to introduce a few campaigns that support the End of Human Trafficking.
This organization is present in India where they teach women the life skills necessary to exit the cycle of poverty and trafficking. The products sold online and at the Gainesville store are made by the hands of these women. The products are only a small representation of the impact they are making in the U.S. and abroad.
Michael is a boy in Children's Garden's aftercare program (the program in the Philippines that I fell in love with) Here is his story.
... I have a request...
Today I heard some very somber news. Michael's mother passed away.
This is a message from a friend on facebook.
"Mom's body is still in the hospital and Michael's family doesn't even have the money for the casket for their mom! Just breaks my heart. Please pray for Michael in this saddest time of
his life. I remember him telling me about his dream in giving his mom a
good life."
This is what we are going to do and I need your help.
"Michael urgently needs the amount of P18,000 or US$430 to
cover for the casket and cemetery fees (packaged funeral service) of his
mom. Let's continue to pray!
Any amount you feel like giving will be highly appreciated and all the money will go to Michael to cover for his needs.
Since, this is an urgent need, you can send your help through Western
Union or Xoom.org."
This month has been a whirlwind. Leaving Georgia in a van of 4 people and belongings for a week, we set out into the known and unknown. We met with old friends and did a lot of Luke 10:9.
Heal the sick, and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now.'
In fact, we lived out Luke 10 in its entirety, and found that it works. The Kingdom of God IS LIVING and MOVING in the US right now, not just overseas, not just on a mission trip. We collided with every day lives, every day people, every day ministries. We stirred amidst people who struggle and push God for more in the US then we walk away thinking we met the most amazing people in the world. We united and stoked the body (of Christ that is).
On Sept 26th, I am going to leave Gainesville, hop in a van, and travel around the States. This is a journey God clearly has been telling me to do since returning from my "Texico" trip. Doors have been opened and money has come in. I have been given a month off from the "Y", and guaranteed a job upon my return. Everything has easily fallen into place.
So, what exactly will it look like?
I know and I don't know. (Read Luke Ch. 10).
I know that it will look like traveling north of Gainesville to the D.C. area, west to Ohio, Michigan, and Iowa, then heading south through Kansas and my HOME stomping grounds of Dallas, TX before returning east to Atlanta.
I know that it will be a visionary trip in which the team will lay foundation, encourage movement, and pray life.
I know that we will meet friends and new friends along the way who will share with us life, as we share life with them.
I also know that God will show up like crazy (because He always does).
"Rejoice with those who rejoice; Mourn with those that mourn."
Romans 12:15
Ministry looked a bit different Friday in Atlanta.
Much heavier, much more somber.
Just before we left the church, we received a phonecall: A homocide reported that afternoon was indeed one of our friends from the streets. Although I had never met "Nini", I was reminded immediately of the effects that death has on a community. "Nini" was young woman with a five year old daughter. Our hearts sunk deep.
We all piled into a van and followed the Spirit's leading to the area in which she was known, prayed for both men and women, and simply spoke peace and comfort.
Fear and reality hit many of the women's minds. "It could have been me," they'd say. Indeed, it could have been any of us, and we all have the grace of God to thank. Our prayer is that it'll open eyes to see the dangers of the lifestyle they live and that they'll "choose out".
On Monday night, Nightlight held a candlelight service for family and friends, truly ministering from God's heart. They were able to represent how God mourns with us and how that is a form we can love others. His heart breaks for injustice and so does ours. He wants to use us to set the captives free and bring light to the darkness.
Please continue to pray for Nini's family and friends. Pray for the sex industry and for safety of this at-risk population. Pray for Atlanta and revival's to start from the center of NightLight's kid's club in red light districts. Pray for light to break through in the areas of Atlanta kept in the dark. Pray for hope.
We pull into the trailer home park. Littered trash, stolen shopping carts, one lone kitty, and the strip club lights next door welcome us to our prayer walk location. We walk down alleys of no order save the sticker on the backs of the trailer which indicate that inspection has been paid. We arrive at a designated stopping point: the home of a woman whom NightLight has been discipling for a couple years.
The fence around her home right away symbolizes "protection" to me, that and her big dog that starts barking immediately.
As I pray God protects them from this dark place in which they live, her 3 year old who must be alerted by all the noise, comes out to greet us at the gate. Soon his mom and dad follow and are delighted to see all of us.
Our two men talk to the husband, leaving mom and son with plenty of attention from us women. Before I know it, I am having a telephone conversation between my handphone and the young boy's plastic toy phone that he carried outside. "Hello, how are you?"
Other neighbors pass by: A large monster truck that is for sale,
a boy on a bicycle,
the town drunk,
and a group of girls accompanied by one mom and a little brother.
We strike up a conversation with the latter group as they recognize some of the staff from the kids club that frequents the neighborhood. The group was returning home from a quest "to find a fourth shopping cart," a part of their slumber party adventure.
As a part of our routine, we ask if we can pray for them. I specifically was given the opportunity to pray lifting up the fatherless homes and men in jail or with sickness. But as soon as we all said "Amen", one of the little girls (3rd graders) burst into tears...
"I just wish my daddy were here!!!"
My heart breaks.
We find out that her biological father had died when she was younger, and her step father is in jail. Her mom assures her that her step-father would be released soon and that he loves and misses her very much. One of the NightLight staff assures her that Papa God will always look after her.
I give her a hug and ask for her name.
She no doubt would be added to my prayer list as soon as we hop back in the car.
Wanna learn more about NightLight Atlanta? Click HERE for my information.
We walk in, straight past the men gawking, playing pool and sipping their selective alcoholic drinks. We walk past the woman dancing, practically naked, and continue into their dressing room.
The temperature raises dramatically. The fans and stale air are evidence of broken a/c. Make-up, clothes, and towels litter the floor and counters, with mirrors covering the walls.
"Y'all always come at just the right time," one woman states upon our entrance.
Another woman walks out of the bathroom, stark naked, and greets us. The veteran outreach members quickly recognize faces and begin conversation while I and a few others begin to take it all in. Some dancers are quickly ashamed while others flaunt their bodies as if they've forgotten cultural standards all together. I wonder if some have completely become the identities of "worthless" and "hopeless" that they simply embrace a new character. I try to battle shock by replaying what a Nightlight leader told us: "If you don't know where to look, look at their eyes."
"Look at her eyes." "Now look at HER eyes." "Lisa, look at her eyes," I tell myself over and over again.
I begin to feel like a fly on the wall. I begin to think about how I want to disappear. Then I begin to think how the girls probably feel the same way. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb; around us they probably feel the same way. 10 white woman WANT to hang out with and pray for a room of naked black strippers?! In the South?! The thing is, we actually do.
Oh yes, Jesus sure did come to break every barrier & turn our world upside down. I mean, think about the woman at the well and how Jesus broke through social, cultural, and even RELIGIOUS barriers to show love.
I finally snap out of my zone and pray for one woman. I pray for her five year old who she is raising without a daddy.
A friend prays for a woman to find her talents and worth outside of dancing and pleasing men. We remind her that at least she knows she can make white people laugh!!
Another two pray LIFE into a woman and her unborn child, who is scheduled to have an abortion in the morning.
Later, at a renovated convenience store next door, we talk to three adults who will soon open a new restaurant. We pray for health, prosperity, success of the business, and positive change in one man's life. While we politely reject their offer at a bbq sample, we make three new friends.
