It was June 2007. I came home from college for Summer break as a newly empowered woman worship leader, thanks to this guy. (Side note: He's the one who pushed me out of my comfy-background-singer zone to leader-of-worship zone. Will you thank him on my behalf? ;)
I led in the middle school and high school ministries that Summer and our worship leader (at the time) and I decided it would be cool and fresh to write our own camp theme song. The passage our youth pastor was focusing on was Micah 6.
"With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:6-8)
A weird little passage I'd never really studied before.
So Ty and I sat down to write this song, and as we began talking about the concept of compassion and Christianity, I could almost feel a tiny flame being ignited in my soul.
Little did I know that flame was about to set my world on fire.
A lot of things have happened between that cold June day and this one; things like a soap opera turned love story, a wedding, a trial, some babies and more weddings, and a big ol' move, but nothing has impacted my life as much as a nightmare, December 2009.
In short, I dreamt I was in a brothel; this dream recurred for nearly three months. Each time the dreams became more real and more graphic. I knew there was more to it than my average nightmare.
God was telling me to do something.
He was telling me to do something about the girls who didn't get to wake up from my nightmare. Girls who live day in and day out, not ever knowing how beautiful and valuable they are. Girls whose families betrayed them and others who abused them. Girls whose lives might never know freedom in this lifetime.
That was not okay with me.
I needed to do something. We needed to do something.
That verse, that song, that dream and those girls, change the course of my life.
Looking back, it is so clear to me that on that June gloom day, God was preparing me to help change the world. He was showing me, ever so clearly, His heart for this wonderful place that's been tainted by the greed of mankind.
He showed me I can do something. And you can too.
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*I apologize for the crazy amount of linkage in this post. It was easier to point to the backstories than to retell them all in a post ;) Feel free to disregard.
**If you're just joining us, I'm sharing through the month of October, 31 verses that have guided and directed my life. Welcome!
