I cannot believe Shine 2013 is right around the corner! I am so beyond blessed to be leading it this year, and so slightly stressed as well. We have accepted 27 students so far and I am still sending out applications. We will be at our limit this year, and its so awesome! Please continue to pray for the Seminar as we will be super busy and I'm sure at times overwhelmed. Pray for students to really grasp the understanding that the solution and focal point to everything we do is Jesus. Always is, always will be.
Something I am so blessed with is a friend of mine with the Mallorca, Spain CCBC invited me to join in with their retreat on the beautiful beach this weekend. No internet or distractions, only Jesus, fellowship, worship, the word, and sun. I am so looking forward to this! I have missed CCBC so much, it will be so nice to study the Word with them again! I am kind of anxious because the dates are so close to Shine, but I really feel God saying to go, and my wonderful team supports me in this too. So I am choosing not to worry and just enjoy Jesus before all the crazy things start to pile on!
I want to share a story that happened a few days ago. I had lunch with some of the ladies from Not For Sale. NFS has a business called Home soup where we go window to window and sell healthy, organic soup to the ladies here in the RLD. NFS also has a program with victims of human trafficking in teaching them how to make the soup that we sell. A couple of them were at the lunch table with us. One of the victims is pregnant. It was her birthday or something and some of the team had gotten her a sweet gift of some lotion and girly smelling things. Her reaction moved my heart greatly. Before she even opened it she started to cry and thank us. The tears started to flow as she held the gifts close to her. She just kept repeating "Thank you, thank you! God bless you!" Her joy and tears were so tender. Naturally, while observing this, emotions began to rise up. Not just joy, warmth, and love for this sweet, sweet woman, but also fury. How could someone harm a beautiful lady like this? I really try to see the best in everyone here. Knowing that the Lord is jealous for each and every one of them. Whether they be clients or pimps. Prostitutes or tourists. Jesus longs for them. But there in that moment humanity really disappointed me. No disappointed doesn't even come close. They disgusted me. I was so appalled. Usually when we hear stories, we try to not dwell on the details, as many times some stories are too overwhelming, resulting in secondary trauma. So because of this, I think sometimes the realization that we humans have fallen SO far hits me like a ton of bricks. It was very intense. Thankfully, the emotion left as quick as it came and I was able to think straight. But did I realize just how much grace we really need to work in this area. Please continue to pray for us, for our team, for our community, for our ministry.
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