Stones of Hope
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water and create many ripples.
~ Mother Teresa
Women are amazing warriors, let us be fierce warriors of compassion.
Imagine Having No Way Out
Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, with nearly 27 million victims. It generates an estimated $31 billion each year, most of which comes from commercial sexual exploitation.
While sexual slavery is a global problem, the needs of each survivor are extremely unique. To learn how Rescue:Freedom provides effective care, sensitive to the cultural and the community context, visit their about section.
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Between 100,000-300,000 U.S. children are enslaved in sex trafficking each year (Ernie Allen, President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children).
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In the U.S., the average age of recruitment into sex slavery is 12-14 years old (Polaris Project: Comparison Chart of Primary Sex Trafficking Networks in the U.S.).
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The CIA estimates that 45,000-50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States. Approximately 30,000 trafficked annually from Southeast Asia, 10,000 from Latin America, 4,000 from the Newly Independent States and Eastern Europe, and 1,000 from other regions (O’Neill Richard, A. DCI Exceptional Intelligence Analyst Program.1999).
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Approximately 20% of all internet pornography involves children who are victims of human trafficking (National Center for Mission & Exploited Children).
There is a Japanese art form called Kintsugi, also known as the art of broken pieces. As a philosophy, it suggests that brokenness creates beauty. I love reflecting on the difficult seasons as part of our history, not as something to hide rather a celebration of our resilience.
It is our privilege as women to lift each other up, to pray for each other.
We all know pain, brokenness, and the drowning depths of despair. But have you noticed, when you look back on those desperate times, they are often the defining markers which revealed your strength, your heart, and your inner beauty?
I t is our privilege as women to come alongside our sisters
When we witness the pain and the brokenness in our world, how can we not be drawn to make a difference?
I want to be courageous in my quest to make the world better place. I believe when we seek to touch, teach, or heal, we find a part of ourselves not revealed in any other way.
I would like to encourage, no I would like to challenge you to explore a need that calls your name and reach out to serve. Whatever it may be, children, elderly, poverty, education, hunger....the needs are endless. There is no act of service too small. Together we can make great change.
Find your calling. Be the light for someone else. Cast your stone and make a ripple!
