Friday, February 27, 2015

If We Were On a Coffee Date | No. 14




If we were on a coffee date, I'd probably want to meet you at a coffee shop towards downtown. There are so many cute shops here in Austin that I have yet to experience. Houndsooth, Mozart's, Cafe Java. Or we could to go TOM'S. It's my fave! 

If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you this month has gone waaaaaay too fast. I know it's the shortest month of the year but seriously, wasn't it just Feb 1st? 

If we were on a coffee date, I'd ask what the highlight of your month is. 

If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you the highlight of my month is watching people get excited about changing the world of some sweet Filipino girls! It's seriously blows me away at how people in this blog community have grabbed a hold of the fight to stop sex-trafficking. 

If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you I'm so anxious to see how much $$ was planted in the My Refuge House birthday month. !!! I know our goal was lofty ($2700) but I ain't neva scared. 

If we were on a coffee date, I'd ask what you're crazy passionate about in life. Like the kind of passionate you could just talk and talk and talk about for hours and hours. You know that kind? Is it writing? Parenting? Marriage? Chemistry? Counseling? Music? Non-profs or health? 

I'll run and get us a muffin and then I want you to tell me. Tell me everything! 

Original photo via

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Films & Books Talking About Sex Trafficking


"This list is not an endorsement of everything that is presented in these pieces—there is a great amount of nuance in such a complex issue. You’ll rarely find a full piece that uses your favored perspective, level of explicitness, or correct language. It shouldn’t stop us from coming together and being educated." - Love146.org


F I L M S
*Available on Netflix


B O O K S
It's easy to be overwhelmed when talking or hearing about such an atrocity as Human Sex Trafficking. But now is not the time to lose heart. That does nothing for anyone.

We must rise higher and take even just ONE STEP forward. They deserve it. Will you step forward with me right now?

We're raising $2700 in leiu of my 27th birthday, to support the education and restoration of 12 rescued girls in the Philippines. My personal friend and rockstar, Crystal, oversees this home and the stories she shares would blow. your. minds.

It's real. It's here. And you can do something about it! Got $5?

Plant your seed here.

G I V E
Click to give your donation of $5, $10, or $20 via My Refuge House's super secure and tax deductible site. (Make sure to use the provided link so we can track how much $$ raised.)

S H A R E
Know someone who is passionate and overwhelmed about this too? Tell them you found something small they can do to start with! 

G E T
Yup. We want to show you your sacrifice means the world, so we're giving you a little gem of music. A free download will be coming later this month! You're the first to hear about it!

Thursday, February 19, 2015

What I Want to Tell My Daughter About Sex Trafficking




Hopefully, if we do this generation right, nothing.
Hopefully, it will no longer exist.
Hopefully, it will be a horrific part of history she reads about in school.
Hopefully, it will be one of the biggest victories the Christian Church has seen to date.

When my girl comes home from school and asks why bad men take girls and do bad things to them, I hope that my generation did everything they could so we can say, because there is evil in the world baby. 

But we know God is bigger than that! And by His power, because He said with Him we can do anything, the people in our world gathered together and gave all they could to make sure it was stopped on our watch

I want to be able to tell her it looked impossible, but we did it.
I want to be able to tell her that while evil is real and dark and big, God is bigger and His love reaches into every nook and cranny of this earth. 

No parent wants their kid to experience fear.
(Maybe the fear of getting their booty swatted every now and then but you know...)

No parent wants to see terror in their daughter's or son's eyes when either they find out or experience how dark this world can be.

We want them to be free to be whoever they want to be, with no strings attached.
No fear.
No heartache.

Right?

And while I do not live in a world of illusions, I know, because studies have shown, there are problems that plague humanity today that are utterly and completely mendable. Annihilable. Vanquishable. Vanishable. They can cease to exist. 

We just have to do something. Anything to cause a ripple effect.

I want to tell my little girl that the her doctor is a walking miracle.
Her teacher isn't supposed to be here.
Her president, that movie star, those astronauts, that police officer, business owner, CEO, worship leader, pastor, lawyer...

...they have stories that will blow her mind. 

I want so badly, for her to see the loving hands of God, through our obedience, weaving redemption into the fabric of this world at a pace never seen before.

Don't you? 


Here's 3 things you can do RIGHT NOW ||

G I V E
Click to give your donation of $5, $10, or $20 via My Refuge House's super secure and tax deductible site. (Make sure to use the provided link so we can track how much $$ raised.)

S H A R E
Know someone who is passionate and overwhelmed about this too? Tell them you found something small they can do to start with! We have custom Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pics just for you. 

G E T
Yup. We want to show you your sacrifice means the world, so we're giving you a little gem of music. A free download will be coming later this month! You're the first to hear about it!

I'll do my part, you do yours and together we can change the world. I promise. 

Friday, February 13, 2015

The Face of Slavery is an Innocent School Girl

*Please note the contents of this video may be emotionally disturbing and not appropriate for anyone under 13. But it's a little girl's real life story. Click the picture above to watch the video.


This is not okay. That's obvious. 

When I watch stories like this, something inside my heart begins to swell. First with anger and confusion, how could this really be happening?! 

Then sadness and grief set in, I want to hold that sweet girl and tell her I'm sorry and that she is loved, precious, and valued. 

Last, I feel helplessness, this issue is way too monstrous for a 27 year old girl like me to make a difference. 

But that's just not true. 
There is something I can do.

I can tell my little part of the world about this horrific form of 21st century slavery.

I can raise money to fund organizations that are preventing, rescuing, and restoring girls pulled, saved, and booted from this disgusting industry.

I can help prevent girls from desperately running into sex trafficking by teaching the ones in my life that they are valued, loved, and cherished as they are. 

It's not a lot. But it is something! And you can do something too. 


G I V E
Click to give your donation of $5, $10, or $20 via My Refuge House's super secure and tax deductible site. (Make sure to use the provided link so we can track how much $$ raised.)

S H A R E
Know someone who is passionate and overwhelmed about this too? Tell them you found something small they can do to start with! We have custom Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pics just for you. 

G E T
Yup. We want to show you your sacrifice means the world, so we're giving you a little gem of music. A free download will be coming later this month! You're the first to hear about it!

I'll do my part, you do yours and together we can change the world. I promise. 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Tried to Save Her Family and Ended Up Trafficked | Stories from My Refuge House

This post was written by my dear friend Crystal. Crystal is what I feel like Mother Theresa was like when she was in her 30's. True story. She is the Executive Director of My Refuge House, a girls home in the Philippines. (You might recognize the name because Becoming partners w/them!) The home cares for 12 girls who have been saved or rescued from sex-trafficking.   Below is a nutshell of what she does and why she does it. -JM


If you've become recently aware of human trafficking, you may be asking something like, “How do those kids get trafficked anyway?” 

And I would give you semi-cryptic answer like “Well, there are various common scenarios.” 

Unfortunately, that answer doesn't even come close to the glaring and horrific realities of sex trafficking. But I find often find myself resistant to creating stereotypes by explaining a common path, so I give a couple of fairly generic and common scenarios and leave it at that.

However, I can tell you this: Of the girls who have lived at My Refuge House, a full 95% were trafficked by someone they knew: a neighbor, a cousin, a classmate. (Click to tweet!)


And 100% of them were behind in their education and the majority of them were trying to  help supplement their family’s daily needs. (Tweet that fact!) 


Brave, Sweet Jacky* stood up at the blessing of our new home and told her story last month. 

Quivering chin, she read through the entire speech she carefully prepared. It involved dropping out of school because of poverty, trying to find work to help support 5 younger siblings, false representation about a job opportunity and isolation from anyone who could protect her.  

She began with, "I hope you will find meaning from my story."  You will. I promise. 
She continued:
When I was a child, I’ve been through a lot of challenges and problems. I have so many siblings who never had the chance to go to school or finish our studies.  I came from a very poor family and my parents didn’t have enough money to send us all to school. I stopped my studies when I was in grade 3 and my parents didn’t search for a way to re-enroll me, so I never went back. Over the years, I witnessed poverty in our very own home and so I decided to find a job myself.
One day, a woman came to our place and offered me a job to work in Manila as an internet café attendant. We were promised it was a good job in Manila and they left money for my parents which also motivated me to work and take advantage of the job opportunity. All I was thinking about at that time was that I will be helping my parents and somehow, someway, will save my family from poverty.   
I told my parents to use that initial payment that they gave us for my sibling’s schooling and they agreed– as long as my siblings had the opportunity to study, I was happy.
We stopped first in Cebu and we were about to leave for Manila, but I was very shocked because there were policemen all over the place asking us about our trip and our purpose of going to Manila. I just told them, “I will work in an internet café there”. All of a sudden, they escorted us, gave us food and brought us to Social Services.  
I was really afraid and scared that time that I might not be able to see my family again. Then I learned it was a rescue conducted by International Justice Mission (IJM).
After we stayed at Social Services for few weeks, our Social Workers brought us here at My Refuge House. This is where I experienced studying again after a very long time of being out-of-school. I am very happy because after 2 years of staying here, I am able to finish my elementary through the Angelicum Home School. Now, I’m in my 1st year in High School and I am hoping to finish my studies here.
November of 2012, I received a very shocking bad news. My mother died because of pregnancy complications. She died without me by her side. I was confused what to do that time. 
We went to the public hospital and I saw my mother’s dead body lying on a bed. I didn’t know what to do when I saw the nurse covering my mother’s body with a white cloth. I was crying all the time with my father. I really felt that God wasn’t there or if He was, he wasn’t that close to me. 
I questioned Him why of all people He gave that challenge to me. This situation was very sad for me and for my family but it didn’t give me the reason not to know Him better. After a while I realized that God won’t give me problems I cannot solve or carry. I learned not to give up. I went back to My Refuge House and continued my studies.
I’ve been here for 2 years and 4 months and I learned to know more about God. I am very grateful because through our spiritual activities I have deepened my relationship and faith in God. I realized that the job I was hoping to have in Manila wasn’t right.  I used to regret being trafficked and rescued  but now I realized that because of that event, I was brought here to My Refuge House. That event made me the person I am right now. I was given the kind of love, care and provision that I haven’t experienced before. My life has been changed and I will always be thankful for that. 
- - - - - - - - - -
Jacky is one story. One girl. A real girl whose broken life was made beautifully mosaic by the love and grace of God, through the hands and feet and hearts of the men and women who built and live within the walls of that home.

That's amazing.
"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell a savor or take delight in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and your cereal offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I look upon the peace or thank offerings of your fatted beasts. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice run down like waters and righteousness as a mighty and ever-flowing stream."
Amos 5:21-24

 - - - - - - - - - -
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the people involved in this story.

WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING? This month we are planting two specific seeds of faith. It's the easiest first step. Will you plant with us?
  • THE GIVING SEED
Click to give your donation of $5, $10, or $20 via My Refuge House's super secure and tax deductible site. (Link provided)
  • THE SPEAKING SEED
You have a voice. A powerful voice that has been given powerful tools in this decade. We need you to talk about this to your peeps. Tell them you found something small they can start with to change the world!  
We have custom Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pics just for you over here. 
- - - - - - - - - -
If you want to get more involve or more info about My Refuge House, visit their website or send Crystal a tweet!

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Humans are NOT 4 SALE

Sunday was Freedom Sunday. As a nation, we talked about, cried about, and shed light on the subject of modern day slavery in human trafficking. Sex trafficking to be more precise. As you know, this has burdened my heart for the past two years. 

I've said A LOT on this subject this month, so I won't be a broken record, but I will give you some real life statistics:


  •      27 million people around the world are currently (right now) trapped in the sex-trade
  •      Girls, as young as 7-9, are being forced to have sex as much as 50X's a day (Every 15 minutes for 12 hours. Not. O.K.)
  •      This trade brings in over $32,000,000,000 a year (2nd in the world, only to drugs)
  •      2 children are sold every 60 seconds (it will take you longer than that to read this post)
  •      Superbowl Weekend is America's #1 sex-trafficking revenue. 
  •      In some countries, girls escape and their police bring them back to the pimps
  •      In our country, they're called "strippers" and "prostitutes"
  •      The pimps hang out at our students' high schools and "groom" our girls

This is a stoppable slavery. It CAN be abolished. But we need help. 

I urge you to do something. Anything. 

It feels too big, but it's not. 

Our God is bigger. 

So, what can you do right now? ---

L E A R N
Read up on the issue. Educate your children, educate your teens, educate yourself.

G I V E
Click to give your donation of $5, $10, or $20 via My Refuge House's super secure and tax deductible site.  Give what you can towards destroying this slavery. (Make sure to use the provided link so we can track how much $$ raised.)

S H A R E
Take a picture with "NOT 4 SALE" written on your body and post it on my Facebook page with the rest of ours. Let's tell the world that this is not okay with us. Talk to everyone about it. Let's continue to shine light on this issue so it can no longer hide in darkness.  Together, we can be a very, very loud voice

G E T
Yup. We want to show you your sacrifice means the world, so we're giving you a little gem of music. A free download will be coming later this month! You're the first to hear about it!


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Planting Two Mustard "Faith" Seeds



I was born in February. I was born into a good home with a mother who loved me, cared for me, and fought for me. And while sexual abuse is part of my story, it does not define me.

For the entire month of February I am asking you to give the girls of My Refuge House the same level of love, support, and dignity that I was given. Not because they earned it, but because they deserve it as human beings created in the image of an almighty God. 

I want us to tell them they are loved and no matter how dark their story is, the love and light of Jesus will light up any room it inhabits. 

Jesus said, "I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." (Emphasis added)

People, if Jesus claims we can move mountains with our faith, we sure as heck can foster restoration and redemption in the lives of a broken and bruised generation of girls!

Are you with me?? We can do the impossible! 

Say it out loud. Together, with Jesus, we can do the impossible!

Our resources, whether financial or vocal, will plant seeds in them that we may never see the full effect of. But down the road, when a girl graduates from college and goes to medical school or runs for office in the Philippines or raises the next abolitionist or educates the forgotten of her own nation, we will know, whether now or in eternity, that we played a part in that.

There is something in each of us that yearns to be a part of something bigger. A movement.

These girls are a movement. They represent something bigger.

For the entire month of February, my birthday month, I am asking you to plant seeds two specific "faith seeds" with me.

  • THE GIVING SEED
Click to give your donation of $5, $10, or $20 via My Refuge House's super secure and tax deductible site. (Link provided) $2700 is our goal and guys, that's TOTALLY doable. 
  • THE SPEAKING SEED
You have a voice. A powerful voice that has been given powerful tools in this decade. We need you to talk about this to your peeps. Tell them you found something small they can start with to change the world!  
We have custom Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pics just for you over here. 

We want to show you your sacrifice means the world, so we're giving you a little gem of music. A free download of our newest song heard by no one ever, will be sent to those who give! You're the first!

Sunday, February 1, 2015

They're Just Girls Aren't They? | My Refuge House Art Show

"People who've interacted with our girls all come back with the same thought. 'They're just girls aren't there?' They giggle, they laugh, they love clothes and average girly things. You'd never know from first look how deep their wounds go and how vast their pain. That's because they've experienced love."

Crystal is the Executive Director of My Refuge House the bomb. I've met a lot of passionate women who are doing big, beautiful, amazingly life changing things.

But Crystal, she is changing the world. One girl at a time. 

My Refuge House, located in the Philippines, is a safe home for girls rescued from the human sex trade. Currently, My Refuge House is called "home" by 12 girls, with grand plans to house another 12-50 more. 

Tyson and I had the honor of performing at the Annual My Refuge House Art Show. These girls, this cause, this movement is something that makes our hearts bleed. We each have our stories of how we got to the place of determination to put an end to this horrendous tragedy, and together, we've made it our resolution to do everything we can, whenever we can to make sure it happens. 

And right now, that's partnering with Crystal and her team at My Refuge House.

The theme of the evening was "We Step Into the Light." 

Each girl in the home was paired with an artist who crafted and fashioned a piece of art they felt depicted their girls triumph. Victory. Freedom. 

You guys, these pieces would make you bawl. 

Some were eloquent, some were poignant. Some were filled with grace and fluidity, while others were courageous and warrior-like. But every single one beamed with love. Pure, unadulterated love. A new love these girls had never known before coming to My Refuge House. 

Isn't that crazy? They never knew love. 

The sex trade sometimes feels too big, too bad, too untouchable to be stopped. And isn't it true that when we feel overwhelmed, it's just easier to sit down and do nothing? Isn't easier to feel pity, or even disgust and fervor, and yet, when action is necessary, we have no clue where to start?

Me too. Me too

Until now. Because of men and women like Crystal and her team, we can do something. Tangible. Right now. Like 3 seconds ago. 

We can be the wheels and tracks and coal by which their train operates. They have the tools to heal and restore. I don't. But I have the tools and resources to fuel their restoration process. They don't. 

We need them. They need us. Or this thing never gets handled. 

So here's my proposition for you:

Ty and I have committed that for the month of February, we'd like to raise $2700 that goes directly to My Refuge House. $2700 is not a lot. 
  • That's 540 of us donating ONE DAY of coffee ($5). 
  • Or 270 of us not eating at Chic Fil A for ONE MEAL ($10).
  • Or 135 of us skipping that dress sale just this ONCE ($20).
Feel me? 

We can do this guys. You have been so generous in the past with way bigger goals and that's why I love this community so much.

You guys aren't the typical "blog readers." You aren't really blog readers at all. You are community. You are encouragers. You are empowers.

You are world changers. 

Will you help me change a little more of the world this month? 

G I V E
Click to give your donation of $5, $10, or $20 via My Refuge House's super secure and tax deductible site. (Make sure to use the provided link so we can track how much $$ raised.)

S H A R E
Know someone who is passionate and overwhelmed about this too? Tell them you found something small they can do to start with! We have custom Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pics just for you. 

G E T
Yup. We want to show you your sacrifice means the world, so we're giving you a little gem of music. A free download will be coming later this month! You're the first to hear about it!


^^^Opinions, two-cents, questions and ramblings are welcome. And go above. Go ahead. Try it.

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