Prayer to end Human Trafficking

            Last night before going to bed, I already had a sense of purposefulness for this morning’s quiet time.   Rather than my usual reading and journaling, I asked God to reveal His desire through specific Scripture—though I had no idea where in the Bible such scripture might be.  With some apprehension—not in His words, rather in my ability to discern His speaking to me—I opened my Bible and landed on Psalm 70 – 72.

            The crime of human trafficking—in particular of women and children—has been weighing heavier and heavier on me.  While I sip my hot coffee, preparing for the battles of my day-- piled up laundry, cranky children, squeezing in my next run—a child is being sold for sex.  Another child is exploited by his or her own parents, who out of desperation, exchange their child for next month’s bread; dooming that child to slave labor or the black market side of adoption.

            This morning, the words found within Psalms 70-72 spoke directly as intercession for those caught in human trafficking.  The prayer that follows is almost completely Scripture filled.  It is what covered three pages of my journal entry for the morning—something I rarely share:

           

            Hasten, O God to save them!  O Lord, come quickly to help those caught in human trafficking. 

            Put to shame evil people who would commit such violence—confuse their ways. 

            May they be turned back in ruin and disgrace, may those who capture and sell children—who say, “Aha!”  “Aha!” be turned back—caught and trapped by their own crimes.

            But, may those who are targeted be rescued and give You praise!

            May they be glad in You!  Let them sing continually of Your praises,

            “Let God be exalted!”

            Those trapped in this human violence are poor and needy—come quickly to them, O God!

            Be their Help and their Deliverer;

            Let them take refuge in You, do not let them be put to shame.

            Rescue and deliver them in Your righteousness, turn Your ear to their cries and save them;

            Deliver them from the hands of wickedness—from the grasp of evil and cruel men.

           

Father, be their Hope!  Do not forget them!

For You brought them forth from their mother’s womb, You know the very hairs on their heads and You have a purpose and a plan for them.

O Lord, come quickly!  Be not far from them.  Raise up workers to be Your hands and feet;

Those who will shine Your light in the darkness and expose the horrendous nature of human trafficking and those evil enough to engage in it!

Though the women and children being trafficked are seeing trouble too deep to imagine,

Father, I ask and trust You to restore their lives.

From the depths of the earth, bring them up, increase their honor, comfort and heal them of their woundedness. 

You are Redeemer, Healer God and I trust fully in your power to fully restore what has been lost.

Thank you, Father, for faithful men and women who answer the call to expose and eradicate human trafficking;

Putting to shame and confusion those who pursue such violence;

While offering Your hope and  future to those rescued from it. 

Strengthen and support such workers.  Lead them in the specific way they need to go. 

Direct their paths—guide them through the darkest of dark holes on this earth, protecting them from harm.

Raise up a war cry among your people, O God!  Cause deep, moving outrage. 

Overthrow tyrannical governments, who turn a deaf ear to the cries of trafficked children!  Replace such rulers with Godly governments which honor and uphold all human life as precious.  Endow kings with justice and those in power with righteousness. 

You promise to defend the afflicted among the people—save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor,

You promise to rescue them from oppression and violence, for their blood is precious to You!

May we, Your people, go when You call, move to where You lead and do what You have purposed each one to do.

                       

            For all You have done and all You will do—I praise You! 

            I praise You with song and dancing

            I praise You for Your faithfulness; my lips shout for joy—even in the midst of sadness.

            For You are Redeemer God!  You have rescued and restored thousands of victims of human trafficking,

            And I look to the day when it is wiped out completely!

            By the power of Christ, I pray,  

Amen

Not for the Faint of Heart

I cannot even begin to tell you what we have been doing the past week or two. Really. It's all a blur. All I know is Time is cruelly racing ahead and somewhere deep inside me I keep screaming, "STOP!!!!!" Tony's work schedule has been so erratic. He is home on weird days and then he is gone for what seems like days at a time; then all the sudden he is home again. But unavailable to go with us to practices or games because he is on-call and must stay within 30 minutes of the hospital. Now he is gone again for the weekend and all the while there is this deep down urge within me to just drop it all and run away. Fast. That sounds so very mature and logical, doesn't it :)?

Two days ago, I learned that another family's baby died of pnemonia in Ethiopia. This is a family whom I was particularly cheering for, since they were holding out so long for a referral for two children under the age of two. With our agency's policy of only adopting sibling groups to families requesting multiples, this referral seemed extremely sweet to me and I was simply thrilled for them. Then, the baby girl got sick and she never recovered. My sorrow over this loss for them is just so raw. And it seems that there is no where to go with this bag of emotion and thoughts. I believe that our agency is doing the best they can to get families moved through court in a timely fashion and limit the amount of time between referral and uniting children with families. The adoption process in Ethiopia is still relatively new (compared to other nations) and more importantly, the number of people adopting from this beautiful country has more than tripled in the past several years. The courts can't keep up. They lack staff and equippment and technology and all the other things that go along with a smooth operating procedure. What am I going to do, shake my fist at them and say, "Shame on you! Pull it together!" No. That will not do. Sadly, the one thing I know to do, I have been finding hard to find the words for... Pray. I know this is my strongest weapon to wield and yet, I seem to just face every time of prayer with this sort of numb, "struck dumb" feeling. I'm counting on that passage of Scripture that says the Holy Spirit will intercede for me when all that comes out are groans not understood by human ears.

There is a conference call this afternoon with our agency. It happens once a month and it is a chance for all of the "waiting families" (those of us done with paper work and waiting for a referral) to ask questions to program director that they may be pondering. I was going to make time to listen in today. Back when I thought maybe we were further up on the list. But, after a little research (which wasn't hard) I saw how far down we really are and now I am over my wondering if we will get a referral in the next couple of months. Besides, the questions I want to ask, she can't answer... "Will this all happen while my husband is gone?", "Is there going to be two children for us?", "Can you please do something about getting our babies home faster before they get too sick and it is too late?"

My apologies if what I just shared was too much. This journey we are on seems to be quite dangerous just at the moment. At least that is how it feels. A dear friend of mine emailed me several months ago and in sharing some of her struggles she said, "Oh, Shari, this thing we call mothering is not for the faint of heart". How poignant. It is a good thing that I was blissfully ignorant back when I began on this path of being a military wife, mother, passionate follower of Christ, etc. I would have certainly known how "faint of heart" I can become, then turned and ran the other way! :)

Grace and Peace,
Shari

All the several things

I know I said in my last post that there were several things I wanted to post about. Honestly, I don't really want to post about them, because it is hard to think about sad things happening and feeling so out of control and unable to help or cause a change. But, I want to keep those of you who read this blog for adoption updates and information to be... well... informed.

Last week, one of the families who had their referral for an infant girl received news that their daughter was sick with pneumonia and in the hospital. Sadly, the next morning, they learned that their baby didn't make it through the night. She was only 3 1/2 months old and the family had their referral for her for a little over 20 days prior to her getting sick. I know that I already hold my children deep in my heart and long for their arrival-- though I have never seen them, or know anything about them, they are already a part of our family. Please pray for this sweet family as they grieve this loss of a child never seen (other than pictures), but dearly treasured.

The second "several things" involves one of my bloggy friends whose daughter is undergoing treatment for Pott's disease-- tuberculosis of the spine. Right now, her daughter is in a body cast from her hips to the top of her neck. In October, she will undergo a surgery and then it is just one step at a time to see how to proceed. You can read about them here Please keep this family in your prayers as well. Apryl has such a positive outlook and I know God is sovereign in all things. This is good. That is why He is God and I am not :).

The final of "several things" is more about me learning how to exhale. It seems that as each week passes, I inhale more and exhale less. Like I am holding my breath for the big crash that could happen at any moment. What crash, you say? Good question, I am trying to define that as I write. But really, I think what it boils down to is living too much in the future and the past-- and not really living at all in the moment. I won't give you all the boring details of the "past" or the "future", but I will say that if you mix those two things together with this annoying personality trait I have of craving "perfect"... there you have it. CRASH!!!! And if I had a quarter for every time someone said to me, "Shari, you are too hard on yourself," I would have so much money that we could wipe out hunger, sickness and disease in ALL of Africa, let alone Ethiopia!!! :)... Hmmm... maybe I should start charging...

Well, I wasn't really going anywhere with that last "several things", except to maybe say-- pray for me, too. I could use some "faithful prayers" from some "righteous saints" (James 5:16). For some reason, I seem to be more like the seed sown in the thorns, than the one sown in the fertile soil (Matthew 13:22) . But, I know that my God is faithful and mighty to save, and if He can clothe the lilies so perfectly-- and I am worth more to Him than all the lilies in the field (this is the Shari Dragovich translation-- you should look into it)-- then I know He is already taking care of EVERYTHING in my life and the lives of my loved ones... perfectly (Matthew 6:25-34).


So, those are all the several things. All rolled up into one theme only. Pray.

Grace and Peace,
Shari

Praising God in the Storms

There is this song by Casting Crowns called, "Praise You in the Storm" (the post above it has a cool video with the song-- yes, I messed up trying to post the video AND the written part). I have always loved that song, because it is so real, so authentic and so where God wants me to be when I walk through the storms of this life. I can't say that personally the storms are so severe in my life, right now... but when I look out around me, it looks like the radar map on the Weather Channel lately-- somewhere, across the country or around the world, is getting pummeled by severe weather. Have you noticed that? Every time I look, there is severe weather somewhere-- the threat of tornadoes, flooding, hail, high winds, lightening strikes, and the list goes on. It is the same way in life, and it seems like the more I stick my neck out into the world and follow God's lead, the more "storms" I either witness or personally experience. Now to some, that could sound like a contradiction-- especially if all you think about God is that if you follow Him, He is supposed to provide you with all this outward, visible peace and security and wealth and protection from the bad things in life. And He DOES do those things!!! I have seen it in our lives and in the lives of those I love. But it's not about all the outward stuff we can see. He goes one further-- He provides peace, protection and security even IN THE STORM. And to be sure, there are storms. Every day, there is a storm somewhere. They are unavoidable. And for the follower of Christ, sometimes I think they are even more!! God calls those who follow Him to be "Light" and what is the purpose of light except to shine and illuminate the darkness!! Well... you have to GO INTO THE DARKNESS if you are going to light it up!!!

Why am I blogging about storms? Because there are a lot of people I know right now who are smack dab in the middle of a "severe weather pattern". Families in our adoption group, dear friends and fellow ministry partners at church, friends of friends, etc. My heart is wrung out for each one as I think of their storm and pray for them. And exactly how do I pray for them? Well, after I read this particular blog this morning, I feel like I have new direction. For those of you who believe in the power of prayer, I want to share this link with you:

How to Pray for those in Trials

I hope it encourages and directs you as much as it did me. For those of you walking through storms... just know, that this is how I am praying for you.

Grace and Peace,
Shari