by Lucy | Jul 28, 2010 | biblical counseling
The sad sad sad statistics.
Did I say sad?
Nearly 2 million
Number of children trafficked each year for sex around the world. (UNICEF)
11
Average age of sex workers around the world. Some are as young as 5 years old. (CIA)
100,000
Number of children and young women who are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11. (FBI/ABC News)
$32 billion
Amount of money generated annually by human trafficking. (International Justice Mission)
2nd
Ranking of human trafficking among all income-generating syndicates (after drugs). (Born2Fly)
I feel sick to my stomach. I want to kick something. I want to do something.
What about you?
Chances are. . .you don’t know what to do. Here’s one easy thing. Think about it. Pray about it.
1. Have a yard/garage sale. On my website, I got a bunch of free resources to help you “save the girls.” Click the Save the Girls tab on my website and get your free Save the Girls Yard Sale Kit.
2. Hand out information sheets at your Save the Girls Yard Sale.
3. Promote Save the Girls by wearing Save the Girls tee shirts (if you like). Sell them too. They’re available at my store.
4. Donate a % of your proceeds to one of the anti-slavery charities at the Save the Girls page or another charity of your choice.
Ta-da! That easy.
If you have no plans for a yard sale or garage sale, consider talking to the youth leader at your church and hosting a Save the Girls car wash. Or do a lemonade stand. Or a bake sale?
Or?
Question: How can YOU make a difference?
You Are Amazing!
by Lucy | Jul 22, 2009 | emotions
I AM POOPED.
Cranky.
Just an inch shy of exhausted.
Many, many reasons explain my sad state of mind and body.
1. Save the Girls Yard Sale concluded. We raised a bit more than $100 in donations for ministries that rescue and care for child sex slaves, numbering 2 million worldwide, with 80 percent of them female, some as young as 5 or 6 years old. Sick, sick, sick.
What has tired me out? While I made change, bagged and passed out info on child sex slavery (with a daughter or friend to help! Yay peeps!), dishes stacked, laundry overflowed, floors got sticky, and the meals did not make themselves. Oh, how I wish I had a maid.
And not just housework bowled me over. I tweeted, facebooked and blogged and even went to church. Woohoo. <<Did ya catch the sarcasm? I should read this baby into a nifty mic so you could download it on your iPod and catch the intonations.>>
2. Money woes. Yep, just like you, I have to make do on less money with higher gas and food prices. Before I begin to pity-party <<don’t go there, Lucy. . .don’t go there, Lucy>>, I’m one wealthy lady compared to Jesus’ day. Then if you had an extra set of clothes and food for the next day, you were very, very good to go. A regular Mrs. Steve Jobs. So who am I to complain?
3. Eating poorly. My food choices aren’t particularly horrible. No Ding-Dongs for din-din. I’m just not eating. Don’t worry. No anorexia. I’m choosing work over meals. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Food provides energy, right? And I’m skipping meals?
4. Skipping exercise. Hey, why not? <<More sarcasm.>> Skip meals, skip exercise. Not even a walk around the block.
I confess: I’m a meal-skipping workaholic who doesn’t move her butt out of her chair and instead worries about money.
Now that I recognize my error in thinking — BIG PROBLEMS, small God — will I:
a) wallow
b) kick a chair
c) think right
Hmm. Wallowing seems sickly gratifying, since it’s all about me me me. Kicking a chair could be radical. . .not how I usually behave. . .something new and different.
I KNOW C is the right answer. (I wrote the quiz, remember?) That’s what I should do because when I think right about God and me then my problems shrink. Should I? Maybe I don’t want to. Sulk, sulk, sulk.
Okay, Okay, God, I hear you. C. I pick C. <<How I wish WordPress.com let me put the C in 72 points! It doesn’t. Err. Guess I gotta deal with it.>>
When I think right finally I can C (bad pun, I know, please forgive me):
BIG GOD, small problems.
What about you? Right now, which is bigger in your life? Your problems? Or God?
You Are Loved, Lucy
by Lucy | Jul 16, 2009 | biblical counseling
As you may know, today was Day One of my very first Save the Girls Yard Sale. The purpose: To help rescue and care for child sex slaves by raising awareness and funds.
The nagging question: Can a girl or young woman with a difficult past — a prostitute, a heroin addict, porn “star,” or child sex slave — find redemption? Ever?
As a friend asked, Can she ever find wholeness?
Her pain. So deep. Fissures of the soul, to the core of the earth.
Can she get over it?
The easy answer: Yes. Of course. Christ can do anything. He is the Redeemer.
The tough answer: God uses the path of suffering to grow us up to be more like Jesus.
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ANYMORE THAN YOU DO.
I DON’T DO SUFFERING WELL.
One Scripture that speaks to the suffering-then-glory truth is 1 Peter 1:6. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” Super-bad trials. Worse than not making rent. More like the suffering endured by those violated in the deepest way.
Can God redeem the past?
I must believe the impossible.
If I don’t believe that God can do what he says he can do, then Save the Girls: A Ministry of Message, Rescue and Care would be a complete waste.
Here are a few photos from Day One:
Ashley checks out the stuff. Twenty percent of money made from the sale goes to Christian organizations that rescue sex slaves, some as young as 6 years old.
Mary with her daughters Emily and Elizabeth say the tee shirts are "awesome." The logo was drawn by nationally acclaimed artist Lynn Parker.
Alex slurps lemonade made my neighborhood boys and sold for 25 cents a cup. The boys donated some of their quarters to the ministry. You go, guys!
You Are Loved, Lucy
by Lucy | Jul 10, 2009 | biblical counseling
. . .is out there somewhere, and I don’t know her name.
She is hurting bad.
Real bad.
She is a sex slave. I picture her at age 13. The same as my daughter, Julia. So young yet two years older than the typical sex slave.
Just a child.
Not a woman.
Even still, her owner sells to anyone who will buy her for an hour. It’s rape. It’s sick.
I don’t want to think about her. I want to shut my eyes tight and pretend it is not happening, that two million children are not enslaved worldwide, that no bad things happen. At least not like that.
They do.
I feel sad. I feel angry. Instead of shutting my eyes, I decide to do something, but what? What can any single solitary someone do? Someone like me? Someone like you?
The truth: a lot! Together we can get out the message that child sex slavery has run rampant and we won’t take it anymore.
Instead, we will save the girls.
Save the Girls. This is the name of a ministry I founded. A ministry of message, rescue and care.
You can make a difference by doing something simple but amazing: Host a Save the Girls yard sale.
You sell your unwanted stuff and buy the freedom and care of a girl, a precious girl, made in the image of a holy God, who has been treated like trash. From junk to gems, from trash to treasure, these girls need your help.
Here’s how it works:
1. Tell us and we’ll list it on this site and promote your yard sale. Use the handy checklist (downloadable for free at Save the Girls) and send press releases to the media (also free).
2. Get out the message of this horrific crime against children. Provide informational handouts at your yard sale. Wear and sell Save the Girls tees and Save the Girls prayer bracelets (both available at Store).
3. Donate a percentage (or all) of your proceeds to respected Christian groups that rescue sex slaves and/or provide them care in the name of Christ.
So please Go to Save the Girls and read the statistics, get your stuff to host your garage sale, then do it.
Real Hurts. . .Real Hope. . .Real Help.
You Are Loved, Lucy
by Lucy | Mar 12, 2009 | biblical counseling |
God has a sense of humor.
You see, I detest garage sales. I don’t like going to them. I’ve never had one. Never.
Now I’m beginning a ministry named Save the Girls, and garage sales are a vehicle to help make it work.
Save the Girls offers hope for girls ensnared in the global commercial sex trade. Those who escape or are rescued face a difficult physical and emotional recovery process. World Vision, a highly respected Christian nonprofit organization, ministers to girls (and boys) who were sold into sex trade, sometimes by their parents. Human trafficking ranks #3 on top money-making crime list, surpassed only by illegal drugs and gun sales.
If you’re getting mad, good. Get mad! Then do something!
You can change your world because Christ has changed you!
As I pondered how to Save the Girls — recognizing I’m only one person — the proverbial lightbulb blinked on. Garage sale! Three reasons I believe this is God-inspired is:
1) I really do detest garage sales. I can think of a hundred things I’d rather do than have or go to a garage sale, and scrubbing grout is one of them. Just hand over you old toothbush and I’m good to go!
2) I am excited to have one this May. How weird! This past week my husband has inquired about my mental state. I assured him I’m sane. And joy-filled! I am having a garage sale with COMPASSION and a PURPOSE!
3) God deeply values girls. Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
A chunk of the money my family takes in at our first ever garage sale — and at my kids’ lemonade stand — will be sent to World Vision to save the girls. I so love the fact that I know World Vision workers will share Jesus with them. They will proclaim Christ!
Lord, may the day you give us be beautifully sunny, so many come and thirst for lemonade and you!
My kids, hubby and I will hand out flyers informing people of this crime. I plan to get publicity from the local news outfits too. And, the best for last:
On this blog, I will post promotional materials for you to use at your garage sale to Save the Girls: flyers, press releases, and so on. Check back in a few days and they’ll be available to you. I’ll also set up Pay Pal in case you want to make a donation through Save the Girls. Of course, you may donate directly to World Vision.
Let’s do this together, my precious sisters in Christ. Save the Girls!
A beautiful warrior reaches out to the needy.
Next post: A book review of bestselling novelist Brandilyn Collins’ latest thriller, Dark Pursuit.
You Are Beautiful, Lucy
