Heavy Heart

When life seems unfair, I turn introspective.  I struggle with questions like every normal person.

Why is there so much evil?
Why can't we make it stop?
What could have been done differently to protect those precious children?
Why won't the Lord just come back and rescue us from all this destruction?

I get overwhelmed with the injustice in our world.  Twenty innocent lives were lost on Friday at the hands of a young man who was more than likely mentally ill and fighting his own demons.  We point fingers at guns or politics or communities who surely saw the violent potential in this boy, yet we refuse to analyze our own lives, shortcomings, and mistakes and see where our words and actions kill, even if not literally.  Thank God I have been blessed with a mind that thinks clearly and impulses I can control.  But do I ever look twice at the people around me who may be struggling with illness?  Do I lend a hand or volunteer my time?  No.  I rely on the "system" that is in place to deal with these people.  I didn't go to medical school to learn about the depths of mental illness, nor do I have the understanding to genuinely help, which makes me feel helpless.  Instead, I do nothing.  And this is where the cycle of feeling overwhelmed loops back to the beginning, and I feel crushed with anguish and frustration.  But so often I forget I have a powerful tool in my arsenal; I have prayer.  As much evil as there is in this world, we have someone who is already victorious and who listens to the cries of his people.  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)  Prayer.  I have prayer.

Sadly, while people in all walks of life are up in arms about this very public, media-attracting tragedy, little boys and girls in your town, where you sit reading this, are being kidnapped, drugged, and sold into sex slavery, and yet you never hear about it.  Ever.  We turn a blind eye to prostitution because we want to imagine that it's dirty men looking for their sexual "fix" and filthy girls who are willingly subjecting themselves to it for money and drugs.  Yet, that is the minority!  The majority of these girls, some not even old enough to attend your local kindergarten, are being taken and forced into sex with much older men.  Not always the men you'd expect either; a lot of times it's husbands, lawyers, doctors, pastors, the "good" men in our communities.  And though these children might be the "throw aways" of society: the orphans, runaways, "bad" kids, they are still someone's little, sweet, innocent girl, and she is being sold, like livestock, to men who beat her and make her do unimaginable things.  They grow up in this environment of fear, with no resources, and no way out, so they continue the only thing they know, selling their bodies.

While people are screaming about gun control, can someone please scream about sex trafficking?  Can we get some help prosecuting pimps (those forcing them into sex) and johns (those paying for the sex), rather than blaming the girls (the victims)?  Until we kill the root of the sex trade operation, it will continue.  According to the FBI's webpage on Human Sex Trafficking, "It is the fastest-growing business of organized crime and the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world."  It generates billions of dollars world-wide each year.  It is a much bigger problem that you ever thought to imagine.  If you have 2 hours, please watch the documentary "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls."  I think it's on Netflix now.  It will make you cry and hold your children a little tighter.

I am happy to say that there are some ministries out there to help these precious children get out.  In East Texas, "Refuge of Light" is raising funds to build a facility where sex trafficking victims can come to safely get out, be educated, and grow into adults with options.  Please look at their website: http://refugeoflight.org/  When I was in college, I went on a mission trip to the Dream Center of Los Angeles.  It was my first exposure to sex trafficking, and it was terrifying.  They offer a safe place to recover and also be educated.  Here is their website: http://www.dreamcenter.org/resource-project/human-trafficking/  These are the ones I personally know and have worked with and can say are worthy of your money and time.  These girls, these children, are worthy of our money and time.

Please educate yourself on human sex trafficking.  I know it's not the only evil out there, but it's one that I feel I can impact with prayer, time, and money.