Pray for those exploited by human trafficking

This is written by LIA volunteer Gia Hughes. Among the many things Gia does with LIA, she is director of our Human Trafficking Outreach. Please join us this month in daily prayer.
 
  By Gia Hughes
LIA Director of Human Trafficking Outreach

Day 2- Pray for those who are abused, abandoned and vulnerable to exploitation. They are women, men and children.

We, at Love in Action International Ministries, have been meeting with our local branches of law enforcement recently to become more educated and aware of what human trafficking looks like in our community. We are thankful for these men and women who put their lives on the line to protect and serve us, and who endure the forces of evil each day. One story we heard, though, is so unsettling to my heart and mind over the depths that evil will go to destroy. As a mother myself, I don’t want to even fathom the why, or how, or how could she?

“A mother repeatedly sold her 6-year-old child for money to buy drugs . . . to have whatever done to them . . . until this child was age 13.” That is seven years of being sold for sex. This child was in bondage; bondage from the very one who should have protected him.

This was not in the slums of LA or NYC or in a foreign country. This was here in my city. Oh, my heart cries. We too often look the other way and do not know or see what goes on around us. We are busy. We don’t have time to get involved. That just happens on TV. While shows like NCIS, Cold Case, CSI, etc., are entertaining and can educate and inform us, I think a lot of times they desensitize us to the very nature of the evil that surrounds us.
Statistics show that many hurting, abused and abandoned children end up being trafficked. They know no other life and don’t always know what they are doing is wrong.

When our son was in elementary school and was having a hard time with another child, we asked him to first look past the actions of what the child was doing before he got angry in return and see if there was something else going on in this child's life. Sure enough, his parents were going through a divorce, and although he didn’t say it, his actions screamed it. Children will not always speak about what they are going through, but we can sometimes hear their hearts cries if we open our eyes and ears and our hearts to theirs.

Abused. . . Abandoned . . . Vulnerable. . . It is not their choice.

“The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.” - John 10:10

There is life, hope, healing and restoration in Jesus Christ.