Red Light Prayer

...pray continually...  - 1 Thessalonians 5:17

The term ‘Modern Slavery’ sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? One would believe that humanity has progressed and slavery had ended in the battlefields of the American Civil War. But, that is not the case as over 27 million enslaved people across the world are victims to human trafficking as it remains the battlefront of the century.

Regardless of nationality, victims are systematically stripped of their identity, battered into gruesome submission and made to perform humiliating sexual acts with multiple strangers every night. Held against their will, most are forced to take illegal drugs and are kept under constant surveillance. On average, victims are thrown into such ghastly oppression at age 13. Some are outright abducted, while others are lured out of poverty, romantically seduced, or sold by their families.

Kezia Hatfield, is the Director of Restoration for Exodus Cry (www.exoduscry.com ) which is a group that ministers to the victims of human trafficking. Their objective is to rescue victims, restore them physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and reintegrate them into society. Their approach is threefold through local outreach, international missions, professional counseling, and micro-development. Prayer, awareness, and action is key to the fight to end slavery.

Human ( Sex ) Slavery Facts

· 27 million people are enslaved in the world

· Human Trafficking ( sexual, domestic, industrial, and agricultural ) is a $32 billion dollar annual industry

· 2 million children are involved in the international commercial sex trade

· 80% of trafficking victims are women and children who are forced into the commercial sex trade

· The average age of entry into commercial sex slavery in the United States is 13

  Facts from the United Nations, Unicef, US Dept of State, and US Sept of Justice

Many have heard of the ‘red light district’ in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is an area where ‘legal prostitution’ exists in the streets and alley ways typically in single room cabins illuminated with red lights. Over the past several weeks, many across the country have viewed the documentary entitled Nefarious : Merchant of Souls (www.nefariousdocumentary.com) which is footage including interviews, dynamics of the sex trade, and focus on unveiling the sex industry.

 

 

Exodus Cry’s prayer request is this :WHENEVER STOPPED AT A ‘RED LIGHT’ PRAY FOR THE ABOLITION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING, THE AWARENESS OF, AND FOR THE WORK OF EXODUS CRY.

A Christmas Challenge

Am I the only one who feels like Christmas has taken on a whole new meaning completely apart from the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ?  I am not a shopper, so Christmas has always caused me stress and panic with trying to find the perfect gifts for everyone on my list.  And the endless traffic jams and crowded stores don't do anything for my Christmas spirit. 
After talking this dilemma through with Janeena, we've decided this year to challenge ourselves to try something new.  What if every gift we give to a person on our lists actually helps someone in desperate need of love, help, aid?  Wouldn't that truly be the perfect gift?  I can't help but wonder if after the Christmas season has come and gone if I will look back and think about how much I enjoyed celebrating Jesus' birth with my family and friends instead of stressing over gifts.  That sounds so much better to me than standing in a line to return gifts I didn't need or want in the first place. 

If this is hitting home with you, too, check out this video about how you can take back Christmas and help change the world.  We're also working on a list of websites that offer ways to give "gifts" to those on your list while helping someone in need at the same time.  We hope you'll use the list and let's see what a difference we can make in the lives of others this year!


For more information about Advent Conspiracy, check out their website - http://www.adventconspiracy.org/.

• World Vision - Fund much needed items for children in need around the world. 
• Funky Fish Designs - Really, really cute jewelry that helps fund a Ugandan adoption.
• Wild Olive Tees - 10% of the sales by Wild Olive Tees goes to support 60 Feet and An Orphan's Wish.  Lots of cute tees!
• Given - Clothing line inspired by World Vision whose proceeds go to benefit the work World Vision is doing.
• MFG (Made for Good) - This is a website listing brands who are aligned with a non-profit partner and use their proceeds to help the global community.
• Bow in the Clouds - This website sells items to benefit Dube Bute, a village in Africa the Alexander family is raising money for through the Soli Deo Gloria blog.  They have committed to building up this village with schools, wells, doctors, etc., and are raising money for it.  Lots to see!
• Amazima Store - This website is a result of the labors of Katie Davis in Uganda.  It features beautiful, hand made paper bead jewelry.
• 147 Million Orphans - This website has so many great tees and other products to raise awareness.  I like the magazine bead necklaces the best!
• World Crafts - Hosted by the WMU, this is a catalog full of gifts made by artisans around the world who depend on their craft for survival. 
• Good News Goods - Buy fair trade products! 
• Samaritan's Purse -  Interactive online catalog.  Funding of some projects also includes a gift made by artisans in impoverished areas.
• Simply Love - Tees help adopting parents fund their adoption process.
• Ordinary Hero - This website has great tees.  Their sales go to support adoptive families and mission trips. 
• Rafiki Foundation - Shop the Rafiki Exchange and find handcrafts from East and West Africa.  The Exchange is in place to assist widows and impoverished women with a source of income.  Lots of beautiful things!
• Living Water - Great website with lots of info on the water crisis facing many around the world.  Donate!
• World Relief - This website gives the opportunity to give many gifts to show you stand with the most vulnerable.  Good ideas to check out with kids.  (For example, volleyballs to be sent to children in rural areas of Indonesia.)
• Gobena Coffee - Gourmet, fair trade, organic coffee!  100% of profits are reinvested into the lives of orphans in charitable programs. 
• Compassion - Donate to enrich the lives of those in need.
• Open Doors USA - Help support the persecuted church around the world
• Show Hope - Steven Curtis Chapman and his family started Show Hope.  They have several ways to donate by sponsoring a child, a surgery, or donating to where aid is needed.  Their online store has some really cute tees.
• Danita's Children - This website features a group working in Haiti to rescue and care for children orphaned and in need of care.  Lots of ways to help out this group!
• Project Hopeful - Buy tees to support and raise awareness for families adopting children with HIV/AIDS in Africa. 
• Neverthirst - Wonderful local group who is working to bring clean, safe water and the Gospel to those who need it most.
• Charity: Water - Very cool tees and water bottles to help raise money for sustainable clean water solutions in developing countries.
• One - Help this group fight extreme poverty and preventable disease, primarily in Africa, through raising awareness.  Tees, phone covers, bags!
• One Verse - End Bible poverty by translating verses for an untranslated people group.  Sponsor a verse in someone's name who is on your list!  They also have tees to promote One Verse available. 
• The Hunger Site - Help fight famine in the Horn of Africa and hunger in the US by purchasing fair trade items.
• International Justice Mission - Help give aid to the victims of human trafficking around the world.
• 58: Store - Resources for living out Isaiah 58.
• Hello Somebody - Purchase products to help feed and educate children to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.
• Noonday Collection - Fashion + Orphan Care
• Exodus Cry - A Prayer Movement to End Slavery
• NightLight - Shop jewelry and accessories to support this international organization committed to addressing the issues surrounding human trafficking and prostitution.

The Lightkeeper's Ball by Colleen Coble

I just finished A Mercy Falls novel by Colleen Coble called The Lightkeeper's Ball.  Socialite Olivia Stewart is an heiress in New York City at the turn of the century who finds herself in a difficult situation.  Her father has recently been killed, and her older sister has died under suspicious circumstances across the country in California where she was to marry Harrison Bennett, one of the wealthiest men in America.  She needs an advantageous marriage to keep her and her mother living well, but she also wants to find out what happened to her sister.  She leaves the city under the guise of her English title, Lady Devonworth, to learn more about Harrison and the cause of her sister's death.  What begins as a scheme to solve this mystery turns into an exciting novel full of drama, suspense, mystery, twists, and romance. 

I very much enjoyed reading this novel and was truly surprised by some of the twists Coble threw into the story.  I haven't read the other two titles in the Mercy Falls series, The Lightkeeper's Daughter and The Lightkeeper's Bride, but I am interested in giving them a chance. 

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs

Author Liz Curtis Higgs has always been one of my favorites.  She has a fascinating way of re-telling a Biblical story set in Scotland of old.  Here Burns My Candle is a take on the Biblical book of Ruth and is set in 18th century Edinburgh during the Jacobite Rising.  Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage.  She is caught between the auld ways and those of her husband, Lord Donald Kerr, and the novel follows this family as secrets come out amid Prince Charlie and his rebel army riding through the streets of Edinburgh in September 1745.  Due to circumstances, Lady Elisabeth is left with her mother-in-law, the dowager Lady Marjory, to sift through family secrets and pick up the pieces as they lose everything they hold dear. 

I would highly recommend reading Here Burns My Candle, and I am looking forward to reading the follow-up novel to find out how Lady Elisabeth and Lady Majory's journey ends. 

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

God Gave Us the World by Lisa Tawn Bergren

Following in line with the other great books in this series, Lisa Tawn Bergren's book God Gave Us the World follows Little Cub as he learns something new about God and His creation.  Little Cub takes a trip to a museum exhibit called "Bears Around the World."  He has all kinds of questions about why bears from the different parts of the world look different from him, so Mama Bear explains to him where God has put the different bears to live, what they eat, and the kind of fur they have.  Little Cub is curious about why God didn't just make all the bears the same.  Mama Bear teaches Little Cub that God created all the bears and each bear has a special purpose for being in the world.

My two children really enjoyed this book and brought up thought provoking questions of their own.  They loved the bright, colorful pictures, and were quick to point out the difference they noticed in the bears and where they lived.  This is a great book for families to use when teaching young children about their roles in God's world and about diversity among the people around them.  We loved it!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Turmoil in the Middle East

Dear Friend,

The media is full of reports of turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa. Uprisings have rocked the governments of Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan. Angry crowds are protesting in Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, and Yemen. South Sudan has voted to secede from Sudan, and demonstrations have broken out in the capital city of Khartoum.

This is a critical time of unrest and uncertainty, and Christians need to join together in prayer for this volatile region.

I've probably spent more time working in this part of the world than any other. Over the years, Samaritan's Purse has helped hundreds of thousands of suffering people with medical care, food, and other aid. We have helped train and equip hundreds of pastors, distributed thousands of Bibles, and even built over 400 churches in Sudan. More than 2.5 million children in the Middle East and North Africa have received shoe box gifts from Operation Christmas Child.

Please join with us in praying for the Christian minorities who could face increasing persecution in the days ahead. Pray that God will use these current crises to open doors and hearts to the Gospel and that many will find "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). Ultimately, we know, true peace will come to this region only when Christ returns in power and glory.

One of our most faithful ministry partners sent a note saying, "Throughout the Middle East, there is a new generation of evangelists ready to continue the work of our Lord until that blessed day when He returns to us. I ask you to pray that they will be fearless in their work in any circumstance."

We are committed to lifting up Christ in the region in any way that we can. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Sincerely,

Franklin Graham
President, Samaritan's Purse

Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado

I recently read Max Lucado's new book, Out Live Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference.  The world is a difficult place to live in current times with poverty, disease, natural disasters, and other reasons for hopelessness.  Closer to home, many people we come in contact with on a daily basis are lonely and looking for a reason to hope.  Max Lucado uses 16 easy-to-read chapters to explore ways to make a difference in the world around us, both near home and internationally, by living out our one and only life.  We have one chance to make it count.

After reading several other books dealing with similar issues (like Radical and The Hole in Our Gospel), I felt Out Live Your Life was the encouragement I needed to start living my life the way God intended.  I feel like it is possible for me to make a big difference in my world without feeling overwhelmed myself.  What a waste it would be if I leave this world without making a difference to someone else who needs hope.  Each chapter begins with a Bible verse and then ends with another Bible passage and prayer that corresponds with the chapter.  I really liked that about the book.  I also like the fact that 100% of the author's royalties will benefit children and families through World Vision.  I would recommend this book and give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimer:  This book was provided by Booksneeze for the purpose of this review.