Now What?

She's the antithesis to the casher at Golden Corral (if you are confused, see previous post on "Spreading Awareness"). She's aware...very aware. She's heard the statistics, the stories, detailed descriptions of the horrible evil that is sex trafficking...she's overwhelmed.

She hears presentations and talks. Attends forums and discussions. Reads the articles. Watches documentaries. But in all of this she feels something is missing.

They never tell her what she should do about it. She's sure she has a role in stopping it from happening, in the restoration of the victims. There is something she can do! She's just not sure what.

At this point, many people become mired. They want so badly to do something but they don't know what and they feel helpless. Some of them continue listening, reading and watching because they care but some of them just shut down.

Not her. She is a college student. She knows about research. So she starts researching on the internet. She makes some phone calls. She finds Wellspring Living. She talks to one of the staff there and they help her work out a plan and empowered she begins to do something.

She forms a project called Sister to Sister and begins recruiting help and asking for donations. They collect toiletry items, journals and ink pens. They decorate boxes and set them up in different areas as drop off points. In the end, there are ten of them filled to the brim with donations. I'm talking big boxes...big, heavy boxes! (Having loaded & unloaded them, I'm familiar with the weight! lol Big, huge thanks to Trey for helping! I'm a lucky Mom to have such an awesome son.)

I got to meet her this week when I drove up to the school to collect the donations. My new role means I get to work with her as she takes the next step and then the next and then...

She talks to me about the drive she wants to do in January to collect some winter items for the girls. She wants to take a team of girls to do a project at one of the stores. She has plans to get some more students together for a Saturday activity at the Girls' Home and she wants to recruit female students to be mentors for the girls. She even intends to write a grant proposal to get the money to cover the cost of the background checks and training the students will need to be mentors.

I am just blown away by this girl. During our conversation she's informed, clear about her goals, and so enthusiastic her eyes light up and her face is glowing. She is empowered. She knew there was something she could do and she found it.

What about you? Maybe this isn't your "issue"...maybe it's extreme poverty, illiteracy, obesity in children. Something that gets under your skin and you think "Someone needs to do something!" That someone is you. Maybe you want to do something but you just don't know what. Start researching, start calling. Most non-profits, even if they can't help you, can send you to a person or organization who can. Maybe you are thinking you don't have time. But you don't need nearly as much time as you think. In most cases, just a few hours a month can make a big difference. But don't just sit there.

I'm reading a book called "Just Courage" by Gary Haugen. It's one of those books I have to read slowly because I read a bit and then I have to think through and process what I've read. I love those type of books, even more so if someone is reading it and processing it with me! (No hint there, really.) Anyway, in chapter two he says Christians tend to feel a sense of discontent and begin to wonder "Now what?" He calls this a "divine restlestness", a "voice of sacred discontent", "the voice of the holy yearning for more"

"This is the moment in which we can see that all the work God has been doing in our lives and in the life of the church is not an end in itself; rather, the work he has been doing in us is a powerful means to a grander purpose beyond ourselves. This is the supernatural moment when the rescued enter into their divine destiny as rescuers. This is the critical transition-when we who have been rescued by Christ come to understand that our rescue has not been simply for ourselves but for an even more exalted purpose. Indeed our own rescue is God's plan for rescuing the world that he loves."

You were rescued not only because Jesus loves you so but because He loves them so and He wants to use you to rescue them. So what are you going to do?