Slavery and St. Nick

A few weeks ago a lady at my church, an amazing wife and a homeschooling mom of 6, completely shaved her head.  She said she felt the Lord calling her to shave off all her hair in order to raise awareness for sex trafficking.  She is courageous, she is obedient, she is changing the world. 

When I first heard about it, I admired her bravery but honestly did not see the connection between a shaved head and sex trafficking.  I would have understood more if it were to raise awareness for cancer.  BUT, let me tell you, I have never thought so much about this issue that is truly modern day slavery as I have these last few weeks.  Of course, when I see her at church, I immediately think about it.  I also just have a heightened awareness of the issue, so when I see an article on the internet or hear a report on the news, I pause.

The other day, I read something about girls as young as Anna's age (3!!) being sold or kidnapped into this type of slavery and I was enraged.  As I watched my two girls playing innocently without a care in the world (as they should be), I felt I had to do something for the girls who are enduring much different lives.  When some of my family members asked what they could get me girls for Christmas, I asked them to donate to a charity that helps to bring freedom for these precious girls.  We picked Love146, but there are many others.

I can't let myself read too much about the horrors and evils of child trafficking and exploitation, because then I begin to lose hope and there IS hope.  I also read and listen to the stories of restoration and healing.  I need to be aware of the bad and the good to help me to pray and help me to act.  I read the following quote once and it has really stuck with me.  I reflect on it when dealing with issues such as this one.

“When you are standing in a mass grave in Rwanda, the question that came to my mind was not the question that was coming to everyone else’s mind perhaps. I’ve had people ask me, ‘Where was God in the midst of all of this?’ But I could sense, at least from Scripture, what I knew of my heavenly Father, was that I knew where God was: He was right in the midst of all that incredible suffering. The more relevant question for me was, ‘Where are God’s people?’
“… What I also saw so clearly was the biblical mandate, because when you go through Scripture with an eye for that, all of a sudden there are these very clear commands: Micah 6:8, ‘He has told you, O man what is good and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God,’ or Isaiah 1:17, ‘Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.’” (Excerpted from RELEVANT magazine, “A Call to Justice,” March/April 2007 with permission.) 

Courtesy of Compassion International: http://blog.compassion.com/rwandan-genocide-where-were-gods-people/#ixzz2FoNC8VAJ

    
Then, just this week, I heard the following story about St. Nicholas~

He did not spend his inheritance of three bags of gold coins, but considered how he might use it to serve the poor. There lived in his town a man who was poor and could not afford dowries for his three daughters. This man had determined to sell his girls into slavery when they came of age. As each one came of age, St. Nicholas dropped one of the bags of gold coins through the window of the man's house in the middle of the night, providing a dowry and redeeming each of them from slavery.  

It was both a reminder and confirmation to me that this is what Christmas is about.  This is what Jesus came to do for each of us.