Our Boots to the Ground on Human Trafficking

For 5 years I've have the honor of carrying a portion of the human trafficking burden. It's something that's real and that, thank God almighty, people are becoming more and more aware exists right in their backyards. 

After a series of horrific dreams of brothels, trafficking rings, and hopeless girls in 2009, Tyson and I decided do something, anything, to be a part of this giant solution. We found and sponsored a fantastic organization called LOVE 146. Our girls conference played a huge part in raising awareness on this injustice and YOU gave hundreds of dollars to support them! 

M y  e y e s  w e r e  o p e n e d . 

In 2012, I met Crystal and within 3 minutes of chatting with her I knew her heart was bleeding for this issue. She headed up My Refuge House in the Philippines; a safe home for rescued girls to experience freedom and restoration. The last girls conference was in FULL SUPPORT mode for these girls. We wrote them letters, gave our hard earned money and we even ran, like RAN, to tell the world about them! 

M y  h e a r t  w a s  b r o k e n .

And then, last year I met Lindsey. A girl whose heart became arrested with this injustice and whose mind could not fathom the gap that existed between her world and theirs. Prostitutes. Street girls. Modern day slavery. And even the pimps. She couldn't live her life another day and not do something. And she asked me to come along. 

M y  f e e t  w e r e  a c t i v a t e d .

And I believe yours will too after you watch this:

WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS - 

Because I trust you. Most of you have been with me on this journey from my initial awareness to every hands on opportunity we've had. The last 6 years have been our journey in changing our corners of the world and I want to extend, yet another invitation. 

WHO WE ARE - 

All Worthy of Love is a justice focused non-profit that reaches out to men and women enslaved by street-prostitution. Our mission is to restore broken dwellings, based on the teachings of Isaiah 58.

We work in a three stranded cord; prevention, rescue, and restoration.

We prevent sex trafficking through awareness.

We rescue victims of trafficking through weekly outreach. 

We restore victims of trafficking through partnerships with local organizations that offer safe housing and restorative care.

We believe all are worthy of love.

Amen?!

WHAT YOU CAN DO. RIGHT NOW. THIS MINUTE. 

PRAY. This is not a pat answer. Pray hard and pray every Monday at 7:00PM central time. Set an alarm. That's when we drive and find girls and pimps to give hygiene kits and lunches to. We ask God to bring them out of the darkness, both literally and spiritually. It's His job. We're just there when they show up. 

MAKE LUNCHES. If you're local to Austin, Texas, and you have a couple hours free on Monday afternoons, and you love us, you can make and pray over 20 lunches for us to give to the girls! Not kidding. Email me. If you're not local, but still want to donate to meals, go here! 

DONATE A HYGIENE KIT. Or a part of it. Each kit includes 9 travel-sized items: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, washcloth, deodorant, and a razor.

We also like to add in some special items when we can, such as make up, nail polish, or perfume to help the women to feel beautiful. So send those lip glosses and nail polishes right over! You don't have to be local to do this one! 

LUNCH BOX NOTES. Did your mom ever write "I love you!" or draw a smiley face on your lunch napkin? No? Just me? Ok. Well it's awesome and we want those girls to feel absurdly loved. Even down the the napkins. Will you write a note or a bunch of them and mail them to us? 

These are our main needs for the Austin Outreach location, but you can see more ways to be involved here.

If you're doing ANY of the above, will you tell me in the comments below?! If you'd like to ship or donate physical items mentioned above, email me and I'll send you the address.

You guys are the best and I am honored to have this community restoring the world with me and my friends :) I am praying this will be one of the biggest victories the Christian Church has seen to date.

- - - - -

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. - Proverbs 31:8-9

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. - Isaiah 61

Photo quote via

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. 

Every Girl Needs a Safe Place

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. 

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!

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!

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!