To succumb..

To succumb to the enormity of the problem

is to fail

the ONE

I am so excited to finally be sitting down & blogging about this past weekend. A whole lotta stuff has been settling in my heart & mind recently. SO this last Friday was the annual women's conference at my church. Hundreds & hundreds of women gathered to worship together, which I must add is such a crazy amazing experience ( join me next year because I am already pumped ). I have been looking forward to this event for months because uhmm hello, it's with my best girlfriends plus a whole lotta Jesus, worship, shopping, & sister love just a flowin in the atmosphere. But there is more... the speaker was Pastor Leigh Ramsey who is the founder of the SHE RESCUE HOUSE (http://sherescuehome.org/ ). This organization helps girls who have been trafficked, raped, sexually exploited, or at risk. MY heart nearly exploded as I realized she was going to be coming to speak. This woman inspires me with her bravery & passion for these girls being served such an injustice.. as one of my leaders texted me, she is ' My passion's CEO'. So needless to say, I couldn't walk my short little heeled boots any faster into that building Friday. Her message has really sat deeply on my heart more & more so as the days go on. I had already fallen in love with her ministry & spent hours & hours researching the cheapest way for me to fly to Cambodia to volunteer in anyway they would let me. Visiting the website constantly, I have seen the quote I opened up with. And I was like 'oh yes, that's perfect for this situation.' To succumb means "to yield to superior strength or force or overpowering appeal or desire." Hence, this quote all summed up is letting the overall size ( whether energy, numerical, stress level, time, etc.)  of your problem stop you from pursuing either speaking up or helping out. Human Sex Trafficking is an ENORMOUS problem that seems so unfixable that most just decide to not even bother trying. There is an estimated 27 million people enslaved right this second. That is insane to even fathom. Every 30 seconds someone is a victim of this trade of humans. It seems nearly impossible to even consider trying to help because at this rate you are one person trying to help 27 million people who are usually hidden in brothels or never given justice due to the severity of the problem & danger they are placed in, but what about the one? What about the one young 6 year old girl who has been repeatedly raped & sold for money for years who is OWNED by a man who could care less about her ?? What about the one young boy who is gang raped because he is sold by his parents in order to make a living for the household? What if Pastor Leigh hadn't of helped the ONE girl who needed help for her friend? What would have happened to that sweet innocent soul who was being sold in a brothel? chances are she would have been left for dead in the street whenever they were done with her.. Thank God she realized that just because she couldn't save them all.. she could save that one girl who was given a hope driven by a shot of bravery. what if YOU decided to help THE ONE? What if YOU decided to speak up for THE ONE? Over & over this quote has just pondered along in my mind & heart. I just keep repeating it over & over like a song I just cannot seem to get out of my head. It is what so many of us do. We let the enormity of the problem keep us from being brave enough to help who we can even if that may only be one. Brave.. when I think of brave I see a woman who doesn't let fear, doubt, circumstance, or doubt enter her heart nor her mind. She does what needs done even when she is unsure she will succeed. Pastor Leigh brought up Esther.. Esther had everything she could have ever wanted. I mean she was bling bling up in a castle. Then she was faced with a mega super problem.. now, (pause) who thinks she is (a) gonna continue eating the fancy foods & twirling her rubies, or (b) is Queen Esther gonna one up her problem ? I am just going to assume you choose choice b. YES, Esther shows bravery. She shows heart for her passion, heart for God's kingdom. she does not let the failure of what COULD happen stop her from DOING what she knows is God's plan. Sure, she probably was like 'man, I just don't know if I can actually do this because the problem seems so much bigger then me', but she didn't yield to the problem at hand, she busted right through it. ( Esther is the bomb).. but too often I choose the what could happen instead.. Is that not what so many of us do? We hide behind the problem.  We use it as an umbrella on a hot day to just shield us from the sun which is bright because we are scared it may burn us even though we have sunscreen on ( yes, I just used sunscreen & Jesus as metaphors ). We decide, that we would rather not have a hint of failure even if it means we change someone's life forever. Now, I realize not everyone's' passion is mine, so this is not geared just solely at the problem of trafficking. This is geared to what stops YOU from stepping out to make a change. When I was thinking bout all the different areas I let the enormity of my problem stop me, I immediately thought about my high school/ college. The situation of the ENORMOUS percentage of students who have decided Jesus is not a person they need & most don't really care if they know him at all. I see it all the time, everyday. The majority of the teenagers/adults I attend school with do not know Jesus as their lord & savior. They are intimidating. Now, you may have the mindset I originally did.... which is.. ' Well.. I mean, I love Jesus, I love church, I love ministry. I know God wants me to share what he has done in my life BUT nobody is going to listen to me anyways if I start being 'religious,' so I think I will just keep my mouth shut'' .. yep, that was me & to my teenage friends out there.. I feel you. It is easy to just turn our Jesus love lights on dim. but we so are not called to do that. I feel the fear of being made fun of or 'doing it wrong.'  Like if I show the joy or love Jesus gives me, I'll be walking around smiling all big & they will think I am out of my mind smiling to myself on a rainy monday. .. Or the fact jumps in my mind that chances are I will not reach every last person in my school. I feel like a failure of not being able to share the word of God 'good enough' to get everyone to Christ.. but what about THE ONE. What about the one person who gets a taste of living water? what about the one girl who is feeling abandoned & just needs the love of a heavenly father? or the one guy who is on the verge of suicide or substance abuse because he has no hope?.. but you decided to let the fact you may not be able to draw his friend to Christ , stop you from bringing him to Jesus who can & will spare his life?  ... the one. YOU can help THE ONE. Be brave.. brave enough share the life change Jesus did for you.  Don't keep it all for yourself, God gave us mouths to share his word. No matter what is spoken to you , even if someone says it is not worth it because you will never be the change for them all.. be the one who can say I, by God's lead, was the change of THE ONE. Afterall.. you were someone's.. the one.