March 29th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Don’t miss out on the Pearls of Hope pendant/chain giveaway from Women at Risk!

Gillian Ferwerda of Women at Risk, International will be sharing amazing posts with us during the Redeemed series– I pray you will join us and be changed through it!

Outreach in Thailand

The safe house staff hit the street for another night of outreach. Walking into the bars, they purchase a drink with the women trapped there, buying time with her.

Time of peace, time with someone who actually listens to her instead of uses her. They tell the woman that there is a safe place for her with job training and education. She can escape to another life with hope and a future. Yet, many are too afraid to leave, trapped by fear and lies.

Traffickers have organized and purposeful techniques to keep their victims physically and mentally chained to beds of horror. Some victims are in debt bondage, demanded to pay back their ticket to the city where they supposedly were to find a good job. No matter how hard they work, how many men they serve, the debt keeps growing—for food, clothing, perhaps a medicine, for this, for that. Hopelessness sinks in.

Some traffickers use blackmail, brain washing, drug addiction, beating, chaining, etc. to keep people enslaved. Others use threats against the woman’s life or against her family or children back home—these are real, because often the trafficker met the family before bringing the girl to the brothel. In fact, some say that a major cause of American children to remain silent about commercial exploitation is that traffickers threaten to harm their younger sibling.

Lies play a major role, and girls are told that the police will arrest them, hurt them, deport them, etc. They are ostracized from anyone who could help. A cycle of abuse and kindness, twisting the concept of love, keep others emotionally chained to their trafficker.

Escape can be fearful.

And if they do escape—what then? Do they have a job? How will they provide for themselves or their family? What will they tell their families, many who will reject them if they knew what happened to them, considering these women “shamed” and “dirty.” Many have bought into the lies that there is no hope, that they are good for nothing else, that this is all they are worth. Other women have become hardened, so hurt they refuse to trust anyone offering escape.

Escape can be terrifying.

Prang’s Story

The safe house staff watched in disappointment as Prang got into a taxi with yet another customer. They had talked with her often during their outreaches. Prang wanted out, but fear had kept her from joining the safe house.

Through God’s orchestration, the staff saw her once again that night, broken and beaten. She had hit bottom, and this time agreed to escape. Even in this safe place, her sense of shame overwhelmed her and kept her in emotional bondage.

Image property of WAR Int'l

Slowly, through the love offered her, she began to learn that she is truly beautiful and precious, a “temple,” as her name Prang means. Because of the extreme poverty of Prang’s home village, ninety percent of the women end up in prostitution. Having been there herself, Prang has returned to her village to do preventative work by running a small silk craft co-op which employs other women.

What you can do!

Image property of WAR Int'l

Get involved first hand! Travel to the safe houses and visit the orphanages on our bi-annual Circle Tour!

Sponsor outreach—$15 pays for two drinks, giving the trapped woman twenty minutes with someone who loves her and a chance to hear about the safe houses and escape. Contact us at info@warinternational.org or 616-855-0796 or www.warinternational.org .

For you

God is also offering you and I a new life in Christ—but it can be terrifying. We have to die to self, let go of control, and let go of the sin that we have grown attached to, even while it enslaves us (Luke 14:27; 2 Timothy 2:21). There is a cost to be counted (Luke 14:28). But the joy and peace is overwhelming.

He gives us a new heart that is able to love, feel peace, and feel joy (Ezekiel 36:26; John 14:27; John 15:11). He gives us true freedom (John 8:36). We might be afraid to really trust that God is good enough to offer this gift for us, freely, and that he does not demand our perfect behavior first. But we come to him broken and sinful, and he takes us with open arms (Romans 5:8). His love restores us to be free from fear (1 John 4:18).

From Kristi: Want to know more about how to find freedom through Jesus Christ? Please email me – I would love to talk with you.

March 28th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

I’ve been feeling battle-weary lately.  Tired, worn, alone.  Know the feeling?

This weekend God refreshed my soul.  We had our annual women’s retreat in a beautiful inn located in our local Amish country.

My sister-in-law offered to watch our children in the afternoon on Friday, which was refreshing in and of itself!  I arrived early to the inn and found a beautiful corner to be alone with my God and His Word.  It refreshed me.

Then our speaker arrived – someone you may know!  Julie, who blogs at Come Have a Peace, was a person who marked my life when I was in college.  I told her this weekend that I don’t think she can fully know what an impact she had on me simply by opening her home to me as a college kid, allowing me to hear her heart, watch her parent, observe her marriage, rest in her home.  My life was deeply impacted by her example she set by walking out in front of me a life of faithfulness.

She did a beautiful job speaking at our retreat.  I think we were all fed, filled, encouraged, challenged.  I also so loved the time to sit and talk with her one-on-one.  I confess I monopolized her time for hours. ;)  I needed it.  My soul has been refreshed in so many ways – as a wife, a mother, a lay person in ministry, a blogger, a writer… it was a sweet time to reconnect.

You never know who your life is impacting.  Be faithful in your walk with God, and invite others into your life and home.  Seeing your daily walk as a disciple of Christ just might mark someone’s life forever.

March 26th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Congrats to the winner of this giveaway – Amanda!!

Much of the jewelry you will see in the Women at Risk, International online store is made of pearls.  Not only are the pearls beautiful, they also tell a larger symbolic story that is meaningful for each individual woman who works to craft jewelry and earn a living with dignity and beauty.

Deep within the darkness of the ocean, nestled on the sandy floor, danger and beauty live side by side. In the ebb and flow of life, living creatures are attacked unfairly. In the midst of this struggle, a choice is made.

As the parasite attacks the softness of the clam, creation has written a story of hope in the face of crisis. Slowly, over time, layers and layers of the costly experience cover the invader, forming what we all know as a pearl of great price. The greater the invader, the faster the growth.

So it is, deep within the lives and hearts of women, danger and beauty live side by side. In the midst of this stormy struggle, every woman makes a choice that will write the story of her life in the sands of time. When attacked, she can choose to weave a story of hope in the face of her pain. Slowly over time, Women At Risk, Int’l offers a protected place to turn this attack into a pearl of great price, hope, and unspeakable beauty.

I am thrilled to tell you that, in conjunction with the Redeemed series, WAR has chosen to give away one of their signature freshwater white “pearls of hope” pendants as well as a sterling silver chain. Every time you wear this piece it will remind you of the tears of the wounded – and you can be reminded to pray that God will wrap the evil and brokenness in these women’s lives in layers of beauty and redemption.

To enter this giveaway, leave a separate comment for each of the below that you choose to do!

Please be SPECIFIC in your responses – this giveaway is for the purpose of educating us about Women at Risk, the work they do, and ways we can help.  Very generic responses  may be removed.  Thanks. :)

• Mandatory first entry – go to the Women at Risk, Int’l online store and then come back here and leave a comment about your favorite item you found!
• Browse through WAR’s program pages and come back and tell us something specific you learned about what they do.
• Look at WAR’s pages about how you can get involved, then come back and tell us what you learned about how we can help their ministry!
• Tweet, post a link on facebook, or blog about the Redeemed series and this giveaway!  You can give yourself one extra entry for each way you helped spread the word!  (You can do this every day for extra entries!)
• Wax eloquent and let us know what you have learned through the Redeemed series thus far – we’d love to hear how this has impacted you personally!

Ready, set, go!

This giveaway will close at 10pm EST on Friday, April 2nd – winner will be chosen out of the total number of comments using random.org.

March 25th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Last week, Sandra was kindly helping to get the word out about a human trafficking series I have been running on my blog.  She wrote, “One of my on-line friends, Kristi Stephens, has a mission. Her mission is to help rescue women and children from human trafficking.”

In a weird sort of way it was uncomfortable to see in writing – someone else’s writing – that freeing victims of human trafficking is my mission.  I never felt “called” to fight human trafficking.  There was no clear sign from God.  I didn’t wake up one day and decide to be an abolitionist.

Read the rest of this post over at Today’s Housewife!