Don't Give Up

Someone recently asked me what would I say to a young woman that had been the victim of Human Trafficking. I’ll be honest… it rattled me. I come across hurting women all the time. I spent many years as a youth leader and associate pastor and all kinds of hurting people have crossed my path… but I never met a women or man for that matter that had been the victim of Human Trafficking. Abused… yes… raped… yes… beat up… yes… and each one has a permanent place in my heart. When I scroll social media and see the evidence of this horrible epidemic in our world, it makes me sick to my stomach. When I see the countless ‘missing’ children posters that flood my  Facebook wall  - my thoughts immediately go to ‘God please don’t let them be kidnapped and sold into human trafficking’ and then I pray for their safe return - then I click share. What we do and what we say in speaking with these delicate precious children of God is crucial to their recovery. I would never take on a case of this mag

You’ve heard that old saying “hills and valleys” - well I don’t know about you but my 2019 felt more like trenches and glaciers. My family went through some of the most extreme highs and lows that we have ever been through. It was a radical year. As I was preparing myself for 2020 - making resolutions, ministry plans and all that comes with a brand new year - I found myself getting so excited to say goodbye to 2019. I began focusing on all the sad and bad things that happened to our family and in that I was completely overlooking some pretty extraordinary things that happened too… then I quickly realized that kind of attitude wasn’t pleasing to God. I prayed for God to help me redirect my thoughts and what came next was nothing short of my God showing up and showing off! I absolutely love the fact that every picture I take gets backed up to my Google Drive and with one click I have all of my pictures at my fingertips. I tapped 2019 and scrolled through a year of emotional memories th