Wednesday, January 9, 2013

A Passion for Justice

I am silenced by fear and that frightens me. So, God, use these trembling hands to write something of worth in a world full of so many words that few actually resonate in our souls.

When I attended Prairie from 2008-2009, Jamie McIntosh from International Justice Missions Canada (IJM). He spoke about IJM's work in human trafficking and sex trafficking and shared a video about their work. I don't remember exactly what he said or what the video showed, but I remember being absolutely broken about what he shared. I could hardly pray with our worship team afterwards because my heart was just reeling from what I had heard about sex trafficking. I remember feeling that this was something that I wanted to dedicate my life to. But I don't trust my emotions and I didn't know what I could possibly do because who am I to be able to work in such an area? I have no experience, no skills, and certainly no idea of what I would be getting into. So I let the idea sit idle in the back of my mind and went on with life at Bible school (i.e., lots of Frisbee and late nights).

Fast forward to the 2010-2011 school year. New city, different school, a heart weighed down with emotional wreckage. And the same call. And the same doubts. This time I put a word to what the call was: abolitionist. To work towards the abolition of sexual slavery and one of the main things that exacerbates sexual slavery: poverty. But again, who am I? So I finished my diploma and started to work for a law firm and settle into a career. But I was not as comfortable in Edmonton as I had been the year before and I was looking for a way to escape. So could I escape through a very "Christian", acceptable means and go on a missions trip? I could get away from having to put down roots in a city that daily reminded me of my heartbreak and I wouldn't have to face my own "demons".

Enter 2012. What a year. Blessings and mistakes beyond measure.

I went to BreakForth in January and attended a session entitled "Screaming Injustice" that Simon Guillebaud of Great Lakes Outreach in Burundi was leading. He was so passionate when he spoke about his work and he urged us to choose one area, however small, to get passionate about. But he didn't ask us to just become passionate about the area, but to GET ANGRY! Anger does not come easily to me because I have always assumed that all anger is wrong. But anger towards the injustice in our world isn't wrong. And I got angry. Angry that we live in a world that allows, and perpetuates, sex trafficking. That children the age of my beloved cousin, Rachel, and of my cousin's daughter, Elleah, are trafficked. How do we allow this to happen? But most people don't know that it's happening, or they turn away because they assume or hope that someone else is dealing with the problem.

I came to the conclusion in 2012 that this is an issue that I just can't drop. I can't let go of it. It has grabbed hold of my heart and it is there to stay. So I dived in. I began researching and reading about trafficking; the causes, the perpetrators, and the victims. I have so much more to learn, but I know I will never fully be able to comprehend the utter depravity that is the heart of man to allow sex trafficking to exist. It needs to end.

I am not an expert on this subject. I am only beginning to understand the roles that poverty and politics play and the many faces that trafficking takes. But I am learning. As I learn, I pray that my heart won't become callused and jaded to the suffering of the victims. That they won't simply become a statistic or a story. That my heart will break for them and fight for them and work towards their freedom with everything that I have in me.

And amid the knowledge and the wrestling I have done, both mentally and emotionally, I am constantly driven to God's grace, sovereignty, and His heart of justice. I am passionate about His justice, but His heart screams for it. He IS justice. He IS grace. He IS sovereign. What I can only show a fraction of, He is in its entirety for He is the beginning and end of grace and justice. I become so disgusted with the world and our sin and I sometimes find it so easy to read about the traffickers and think that I would never do something like they do. Not only do I not know that, but my own sin is just the same in the eyes of God. And His grace is just the same for me as it is for someone who traffics children. His grace is the sweetest thing in my life.

So why am I writing this? For a few reasons.

1) I attended a film viewing this evening at Grant MacEwan entitled "Trade of Innocents" based on Ratanak International's work in Cambodia to free victims of sex trafficking and bring the traffickers to justice. Charlotte Bellis, Ratanak International's representative, urged us to do something about the urge we felt in our hearts about the movie, even if doing something meant just telling a friend. And I can write and I need to write, so I decided to write.

2) I have been silent for too long about the passions of my life. I felt that I could keep myself safe from challenges and hurts if I simply said nothing about what I am the most passionate about. I was afraid that people would tell me that there is no way that I, a little country girl from Gem, Alberta, could possibly make a difference to stop the epidemic of trafficking in our world. They would be right. But I have a passion and I have talents and God is in control of the rest.

3) People need to know. People need to understand that there are currently 27 million victims of trafficking in our world. Apparently that's the same number of people as the population of Australia and New Zealand combined. Two whole countries of people have been trafficked. And people don't know about it.

4) If you believe in prayer and want to pray for me as I consider what to do next to pursue this passion, I would appreciate it. I have a few options open to me, but I am not entirely certain how to proceed so prayer for clarity, wisdom, and guidance would be appreciated.

Anyways, that's about all I have to say. If you want to read more about IJM or Ratanak International, I have put the links below. I have also put a link to the Somaly Mam Foundation, which was founded by Somaly Mam, a Cambodian woman who was sold into sexual slavery and forced to work as a prostitute for ten years. Her organization now helps to free women and children from sexual slavery and provides counseling, schooling, and training in various trades so that the women can be self-supporting.

http://ijm.org/
http://www.ratanak.org/
http://www.somaly.org/somaly-mam

Elisa.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Quest for Autonomity and Home

There is no true way to describe how my heart feels when my car turns onto the road towards home and I can see the lights of Gem in the distance, with the stars overhead and my favorite music playing softly in the background. I feel as though the armor I have wrapped around myself can finally come off for a little while because I am safe at home and this is the one place where I can truly be loved. It is the only place I feel loved...and that breaks my heart, just as the loneliness that has been lurking deep in my heart is breaking me. I have been searching for a home away from the caring arms of my family, yet I cannot seem to find it anywhere. At the same time that I have been searching for this home, I have been seeking to be autonomous (a fact that a few friends have laughed at). I have had this dream/lie inside for years that, if I can just stop being so dependent on other people for anything, then I will be free from pain. I have found the opposite to be true. I am not saying this quest for autonomity is right or good, it is just there. I have long felt that needing people is a flaw (in myself only) because I have trouble seeing that anyone could need me. And if I am not needed, then I should not need others. Did that make any sense? And have I mentioned that I fight with my pride every day and my pride often wins?

There are many reasons for me having withdrawn from people: mistrust, inability to trust, insecurities, bitterness, fears, etc. None of them are very good, but I have not allowed myself to actually explore the answers and root out the problems. Instead I have let them compound and, thus, grow in their intesity. Also, I have not considered whether any of them are truly valid reasons and simply disregarded them, and myself by extension, as being foolish. Yet another fault.

This is not to say that everyday is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. I love my job, I have a few supportive friends around me, the love of my family, and God has proven His faithfulness, just as He told me He would. I tend to discount the large changes occurring in my life and expect myself to have perfect composure and execution in every task presented in life. I believe some people would call that "undue pressure and stress"...or something like that. If I were perfect, I wouldn't need grace...instead, I am learning how desperately I need it.

Another thing I have been learning is that God is unchanging. Period. And that is a good thing. If God was as "changing" as I am, then the world would be dropped on its head daily because He would have just given up and walked away. As I dig deeper into my heart to root out the sin, I find more sin. And as I dig deeper into God, I find more grace. Always.

Anyways...that was supposed to be much more eloquent then it was. I wrote it out in my head on my way home from Edmonton but I tend to forget what I write when large birds fly out of the ditch and hit my vehicle. Also, this is why I try not to write after midnight.

Elisa.

Friday, April 15, 2011

where do we go from here?

Well, it seems like every April brings about changes in my life. I remember asking my mom at the end of last April why I was so tired and her answer being, "Oh, I don't know. You finished your first year of university, had your heart broken, moved home, and now you have to find a job. You tell me why you're tired." April 2010 will go down in history - my personal history, that is - as the most eventful to date. Yet it also sparked a deeper relationship with God and a reliance on Him that I had never before possessed. In many ways I feel as though I have lost that same desperate pursuit, but I recognized last night while talking with a friend that I am not going to be pursuing God in the same way now as I was last year. My life has gone from one of brokenness to one of great joy, blessing, excitement, and hope! I don't have to pursue God for healing from a broken heart any more...now I need to learn how to dwell in the blessings that He has given me and not just use them for myself.

It is hard to know what to do with the path that God has laid (lain?) before me. The past month has been an adventure of transition for me, physically and spiritually. I will be finishing my practicum next week and then starting my career (that's a daunting word). I am moving tomorrow into my first ever apartment (so excited!) and I will be living alone. I really feel a sense of God leading me to a place of solitude where I can learn who I truly am in Christ. I have been living up to the expectations of others and allowing myself to be molded into the image of what other people want, but I find myself exhausted trying to be someone who I am not. But I don't know who I am anymore because I have been going nonstop for the past month. I feel as though God is bringing me through this season of transition to show me what He wants for my life and to restore or replace the dreams that I have held or continue to hold. As cliche as this sounds, I need to learn how to be okay with being Elisa.

However, I know that my story is only one part of a much larger story and so I don't want to shut myself out from the larger story. I am asking God to renew my vision of the larger picture because I have often lost sight of eternity in the face of a deadline I face at work or the little details of moving apartments.

Two verses have been coming to mind often lately:

"Be still and know that I am God."
- Psalm 46:10

"'Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
The she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
'In that day', declares the Lord,
'you will call me 'my husband';
you will no longer call me 'my master.'...
I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.'"
- Hosea 2:14-16, 19-20

And one more, actually...

"Sow for yourselves righteousness,
reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes and showers righteousness on you."
-Hosea 10:12

The metaphors of deserts, land, and the ever-blooming tree mentioned in Revelation have really been on my heart and mind lately. I am not sure if I am in the desert or not because I am still learning but I am not learning as much as I would like. I have been seeking other things and desiring other things, but I want to come back home now. Back home to Christ's arms so I can dwell safely in the arms of my Love, knowing that I am His Beloved.

Well, that's a long enough post for now. Yikes. I am nervous for the future because I cannot see my way forward, yet I am also excited because I know that God has promised to "give me every place I set my foot" (Joshua 1:3). He is faithful and I pray that He is growing faithfulness in me.

-Elisa.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

the adventure of finding home

Well, I need to be out of Residence by April 26 so I have been looking high and low for a place to call "home" for the next year of my life. Because I don't know what my exact income is going to be each month, I have been budgeting on the conservative side because I would rather be surprised to find that I have more income than I believe than side-swiped by making less than I am spending on rent, groceries, car insurance, etc. It has bee interesting to discover what $589/month will get someone and what $900+ will bring. The range is huge!

For example, the place that I "toured" this morning was $589/month with heat, water, and cable included in rent. Parking was an additional $55/month (that's ridiculously steep for the parking lot that they offer) and then electricity was sub-metered. So that sounds like a decent deal, right? I think that I have a fairly open mind about where I could potentially live but I was scared as soon as I walked into this building. As a single, young woman I cannot imagine living in a place like that. I felt like I was in the dodgiest area of Berlin in the middle of a Jason Bourne movie, except it wasn't the cool fight scene part but the part where he wanders through the dark alleys and there are rats scurrying about underfoot.

With all that being said, I cannot help but be thankful that God has blessed me with enough that I don't have to live there. I have the choice of where I can live and, if it came down to it, I am sure that my parents would let me move back home before they would let me live there. I don't know the stories of the people who live in that apartment building and maybe that truly does feel like home to them. I feel as though I have come across condescendingly and that was not my intent. This morning made me thankful. I have more than enough and not because of my own efforts but because God, for some unknown reason, saw fit to bless me with being raised in a family that never wanted for anything.

So what have I done with those blessings in reaching out to those who do want for the things that I take for granted? Often when I think of blessing, I am reminded of a picture that my friend drew while I was at Prairie. Amy's drawing was of a pitcher that had water flowing into it from above, symbolizing the blessing that God pours into our life. But the pitcher was also overflowing and splashing on the ground all around it, which symbolized how we should receive blessing and then let it flood out to those around us. So how do I bless people with the abundance that I have? Can I bless people if I am not dwelling in the blessing of God?

Funny how a simple apartment tour can bring up so many questions in my heart.

-Elisa.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Jon Thurlow - Fountains



Cast all your cares on Me
'cause I care for you, I care for you
Cast all your cares on Me
'cause I care for you, I care for you

'Cause all your fountains are in Me
and I have everything you need
so just keep coming back to Me
And those who call upon My Name,
they will not be put to shame
just keep coming back to Me

So come to Me if you're weary
and I'll give you rest, I'll give you rest
My yoke is so easy
and My burden is less, My burden is less

And all your fountains are in Me
and I have everything you need
Just keep coming back to Me
And those who call upon My Name,
they will not be put to shame
so just keep coming back to Me (x4)

Keep coming back to Me,
so just keep coming back to Me
Just keeping coming back to Me

Remember that I am a rewarder of those who seek Me
I am a rewarder of those who seek Me
Keep coming back to Me,
keep coming back to Me,
keep coming back to Me

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Restoration

I wrote this post out in my journal a few nights back and finally am sitting down to put it on here.

"If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart." - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

I don't claim to know every kind of heartbreak. I have lost friends to cancer and I have lost friends to car accidents. The pain for each was different; the heartbreak was different. I have watched friends have their family members die slow deaths to cancer or be woken in the early hours of the morning to an unexpected knock on the door bringing news of a fatal car accident. In each situation the heartbreak that I felt for my friends was different. I have seen lives and families torn apart by divorce but I don't claim to know that sort of heartbreak. I have watched friends tumble down the abyss towards suicide - that heartbreak I know. I have seen young, feminine hearts crushed by undeserving boys who promised beautiful things and then delivered only tears. That pain, I know.

I have never lost a spouse to death or divorce. I have never lost a child, sibling, or parent. Yet, the loss and the heartbreak that I suffered rocked the very foundations of my world and caused me to question my existence and purpose. So how much more would these other heartbreaks shatter one's heart, dreams and possibly, beliefs? I know that a break up between a boyfriend and girlfriend resides on the lower end of the proverbial pain spectrum and that hope is renewed differently than when a death occurs. However, it is still a loss of sorts and it hurts...sometimes agonizingly.

All of this to simply say, someday you will give thanks again. Maybe you'll never give thanks for the loss itself, but instead for the various blessings that may come from such agony. Yes, there are blessings amid agony. Jesus endured such physical and emotional agony on the cross to secure our salvation and banish death forever! If salvation is not a blessing then nothing is!

God works all things for the good of those who love Him. What good is He working in your heart and life? Maybe He's renewed your hope for the future and returned dreams to your heart that you long ago cast away. Maybe He has brought new friends into your life who uplift you and are there when you need someone to lean on. Maybe God has strengthed your remaining family and given you the closeness that you've always desired. And, most of all, maybe God's revealed more of His heart and His character to you through the months of agony. Maybe you have a deeper understanding of His love, grace, compassion, plan, purpose, and rest than ever before. That is the greatest blessing.

It has taken me nearly ten months to reconcile with God and be able to genuinely thank Him for allowing my heart to be broken. I am still broken and raw in areas, but my heart is stronger now through His restoration and I am no longer chained by the label of "broken". I have found that this restoration can only come when I am totally honest with God, even if that means that I am screaming at Him. I have found that He can take even my harshest words graciously and He forgives readily when I calm down and repent. My Jesus loves unconditionally and unreservedly.

So where is your heart? If you're in the dark night of the soul and doubting His existence, He is there. If you see the light growing brighter but the dark regularly swoops in to snatch at your hope, He is there. He is by your side as you lie on the floor sobbing. He is there when you find you have nowhere to turn but to Him, however begrudgingly you may go into His arms. He is there when you seek healing or distraction in momentary pleasures. And He is also there on the good days when you can smile at old memories with fondness instead of anger. He is there to the very end and beyond, when you appear before Him as His pure, righteous bride and He says, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

Hold onto Him and hold onto hope, beloved. He will heal you.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." - Hebrews 10:23

-Elisa.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Jon Thurlow - Strong Love



This song makes me happy whenever I hear it.