Fresh Hope: His Sovereignty Rules Over All

 Hi, little blog. 

Once again it's been a bit since you have seen a post, but I think it is time to share again. 

Goodness, you have seen some years. Years of growth in who Jesus is and how He carries season by season. 

This post will be no different than the others– it's a signpost, a memorial. It is a claim that once again the Lord is showing His faithfulness and unchangeable-ness to you. 

Except this time, it feels like the first layer in your truly adult years. You are no longer the 12-year-old baby believer tucked away in your mother's clothing store, logging on to do your homeschool curriculum with simple Bible verses pasted above your school desk as you learn to stand firm against the evil one. 

You are no longer the itty-bitty 14-year-old walking into Lamar High School ready to "be a light" to all her peers, hoping to please her Abba by being a good witness and soldier for Him. You are no longer the 18-year-old sitting in her classes at OBU thinking she has all the answers and knows how this will play out, living in the familiarity of a campus she knew for years before even arriving as a freshman. 

No, now you are a mere 22-year old. Freshly humbled. Realizing you have no idea how any of this will turn out. You do not know if or whom God will provide as a spouse. You do not know which friendships will be lasting and which ones will not. You don't know how He will call you to specifically serve Him in the coming years or where you will even live in the next 3-6 months as you continue navigating this season of theological studies. 

You do not even know what your spiritual growth will look like in the coming weeks and which layers of your old nature He will sift and expose, comfort and heal. 

You do not know. 

You are not in control. 

This is not your world. 

But...

You do know one thing,

The truest thing. 

You know the Lord God. 

The One who made the heavens and earth and in whom there is no shifting shadow. You know Him who has made you complete and called you His own.

And that is all you need to know. 

Because He is the same One leading you through this season as He was leading you through all the other ones up to this point. And He has gotten you through each of those, hasn't He? This one will be no different. 

............................................

You see, the difficult thing about transition seasons is your world changes, or so it seems. New things are added to your plate. New circumstances. New feelings. New struggles. 

It can feel disorienting and confusing. 

But it hit me today to finally admit to myself that my world does in fact look different in this season. I am no longer the pre-teen homeschooler, or the high school cheerleader and student council leader, or OBU student. My world has changed. It is expanding. There are new pressures and circumstances. New feelings and struggles. New fears and loves. 

But in the midst of that confession– once I am honest about that– the truth sets in. The Lord rules over all these new things too. Just because my world is expanding and changing does not mean His has. In fact, He has ordained this new season. 

That brings tremendous comfort and ease, even in the midst of what can feel extremely disorienting. 

And I am reminded that this hasn't been a "new" feeling. Each season's change has felt hard, different, new, and scary. It's just that this one has shown the most contrast and intensity up to this point.

But my Abba is over it all. 

It is as if my heart finally settled to some extent today, that though my world is changing, He truly doesn't. 

I don't like my world to change. I don't like the black and white boxes to be moved. But oh the comfort in realizing and remembering that there is One who created me who rules over all the boxes. And He places and organizes them in a way that is far better than my way. 

He isn't a God who delights in disorienting and bringing confusion to our "worlds", but rather calls us to trust in the way He orients and orders the world He has made. 

What a thought. 

May we stop striving against that. Or at least may I stop striving against that. Because it is there that there is sweet, sweet rest. 

..........................

I don't know what season you are in. Whether you are just entering college, marriage, or welcoming another baby into your home. Whatever the transition, I encourage you, look to the One who rules over the transition. 

Your world and experience are expanding and it can be incredibly frightening because you feel out of control and unprepared, but take heart in that you serve a God whose world never expands or changes. 

Because His Sovereignty rules over all. 

May that bring fresh hope and peace to your worried, striving soul. 

Your fellow sis in Christ, 

Brooklyn 

The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.

This afternoon I wrote an email update for one of my mentors whom I have often sent such email updates to in the past. Yet, as I finished up writing this one, I thought maybe it was one to share on the blog too. 

So here it is. In all of it's rambling glory. And when I reached the end, the one thing running through my mind was, "The longer I serve Him the sweeter He grows." So thus the title of such a blog post as this. 

.................

I am in Colorado this week with my family and it has already proven to be a sweet time. A refreshing time. This summer has been hard. Like really hard. The type of hard that you can't really pinpoint and don't really feel like you have a reason for. It has been spiritually challenging and dry, a time in which more than ever God has been showing me my sin and disciplining me deeply. 

About a week ago, I realized just how embittered and angry I was towards God deep down. Again, I didn't even really know why, but could tell when it came down to it I was mad at God. I was mad at what He was doing inside me. And for the first time I was probably the most tempted than ever to just go my own way. And that was scary. Like really scary to me. 

So I started getting still and really crying out in prayer for God to change my heart and not leave me in that place... because I was identifying with disobedient and hardened Israel more than ever before as I read through Scripture. He has over and over this summer led me to chapters in Isaiah or Jeremiah where He is calling out Israel for their sin and idolatry– for choosing their own way instead of His. And that is exactly where I had found myself. 

Around a week ago, I felt like God clearly started showing and speaking over my heart, "You are not God. I am." 

I don't know when, or if there is even a specific when... or maybe it is just now being molded out of my heart in a deep way... but there cannot be any room in my heart that trusts in myself. God wants all of me. Like ALL. Like Brooklyn is to be put to death every. single. day. He is to be my treasure and the single authority over my life. Not just with the big things, but the teeny tiny things as well because they reveal my heart maybe even more than the big things. 

And if I am easily embittered as God starts calling me to forsake little trivial, earthly things, then there is still much to be molded inside of me and much to surrender and learn. 

Anyways– this is a lot of rambling, but that is what I do in these types of emails. 

So on the plane ride here, after several days of just crying out in prayer and being absolutely miserable (which is a posture we often see the Psalmists in as they know their sin and that they cannot do anything to fix it apart from God drawing them to repentance and forgiving their guilt), God again led me to Hebrews 12 where He discusses the discipline of His children. I teared up and let out that deep sigh that comes all the way from the bottom of your soul as I read those words. 

This is discipline. 

I am on an upward call to holiness. And holiness is costly. Holiness is costly. Sanctification will cost us everything we have... but it is there that we will truly find life and learn to forsake the crumbs of this world that will never fill us up. We find the authority of Christ there and truly start to deny ourselves as He has called us to do. 

The lesson I am ultimately learning (I think): 

This Christian life–following Jesus– will never be easy. It will cost us EVERYTHING. It will require us to go through dry seasons and seasons where we feel miserable with sin... but it is there we cry out and see God answer. We realize more and more that it is absolutely only by His grace and strength that we can take a single step with Jesus. And we can really trust Him to carry us and make us steadfast. 

And perhaps that is just the place He wants me as I step onto Southern Seminary's campus in nearly two weeks. 

So my update: I am still walking with Jesus. I am growing ever deeper in my knowledge of Him. He is drawing me to once again trust Him as I transition into this next season (And He is providing the trusting heart and spirit). 

And it is ONLY because He is faithful and full of grace, truth, and strength... only because He keeps us close to Him... Only because He answers our cries. 

Otherwise, I would be in the posture of trusting in self and headed towards destruction. 

How good the news of the gospel is. That Jesus loves sinners. Jesus remakes sinners. Jesus makes sinners His own and sanctifies us through His discipline. 

How much sweeter this news grows over time. 

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.         Hebrews 12:12-15

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know... I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’      Jeremiah 33:3, 6-9

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.    Hebrews 11:6 

Wherever He Leads I'll Go

I spent seven weeks in Italy. Rome, Italy. I set up this blog again so that I could share of my adventures there as it happened, yet I never once felt the pull or need to write. I updated individuals with emails. I shared videos with family. I even thought about my blog from time to time and the fact that I hadn’t shared anything yet. There was much going on, much learning, and awesome moments of getting to plant seeds in the lives of others and share of my faith and relationship with Jesus. I learned so much from the believers there and their testimonies. 

Yet this blog saw none of it. 

Now I sit in the bedroom in the upstairs of my Nana and Papa’s house after leaving Rome with 48 hours of notice. It was quick and fast. It went against everything in my personality. No lists or organized packing. No systematic goodbyes or visits. Just get on a plane and get home. 

Yesterday was hard. Reality and grief hit. I lived in Rome. My daily life was there. I was just feeling settled and as if I was really catching my breath. I was planning on being there for nine more weeks. 

But now I sit in this room where I will spend the next week and a half settling in and processing, and it is the time I feel I have something to share. 

I have been processing. I have been crying. And yes, in the midst of that I know God has been whispering over my heart, “Come, daughter, tuck into Me. I know.”

But more and more (especially this morning as the sadness didn’t hit in the same way when I opened my eyes), my mind was drawn to another truth. 

God doesn’t change. He rules over all. He remains the same no matter where we wake up. 

We are called to live by faith and walk by the Spirit. 

These are the truths that have stuck out to me the most. The ones that are currently running through my mind and rolling around in my heart, making all the emotions break up and settle in the right places. 

What if all of this was just for that? Just for that image and the truth that God is working me through-  that He is Lord. He is steady enough to transcend any culture or country. Any culture shock. Any time zone. Any tiredness. He can move us in 48 hours. But He is Lord. And we can rest in that. 

We can walk by the Spirit whether our feet are in Arkansas in the backyard of our homes or if they are walking through the cobblestone streets of Rome.

And we are called to boast in Christ. Not in our circumstances. Not in our experiences. Not in our location. IN CHRIST. The One who steadies and directs and moves our feet in the direction of following Him. 

So there is a blog post. Sharing those truths that I am processing and that are covering over all the rough emotions in my heart today. 

May these principles and truths run ever deeper in my heart and spirit as I am planted in this room for the next week and half… and wherever I am after that. 

Jesus is Lord over Arkansas, Italy, Germany, Greenland, Canada, and all around and in between. We are steady. And we are followers of Jesus- the One who has complete authority to direct our steps. And I know He directs them to good places that have purpose- even in moments when it is hard to process and understand. He can be trusted. His ways are good and right. 

So with all of that, my heart is processing and working on voicing and truly meaning... Wherever He leads I'll go. 

But the substance belongs to Christ. Colossians 2:17

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other.  Galatians 5:25-26 

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

Peace and Preparation

It's a Tuesday night during my last week of class at Ouachita. I fly to Houston for a study visa appointment on Thursday and everything around the dorm is winding down as we are preparing for finals week. The semester is closing and tonight my heart is feeling like it needs to share a little about how God has just tucked me in His presence the last few days.

I was driving back to Ouachita on Sunday and as the sun was setting a plane caught my attention. Immediately I felt the Holy Spirit bring peace over my heart. I will be in one of those in a few short days, I thought. There has been so many little moments as I have been gathering paperwork or been working on other to-dos that God has reminded me of His soveriengty. He is in control. He has gone before me. His hand is so firm and strong- He is holding me and this whole situation. He has called me to go. I can trust Him with the details.

A verse that has constantly come to mind again and again (even as I am falling asleep some nights) is Joshua 1:5,

No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. 

Although I am not Joshua and God is not calling me to lead a people in taking hold of a promise of land, this verse has provided comfort in many different ways over the past few months.

It has reminded me that God is greater than all- greater than any lie or fear Satan could try to use to discourage me. It has brought me back to the truth that no one can stand against God's children because His power indwells us.
This verse has also reminded me that God goes before us. He whispers courage and strength over our hearts as we get ready to take a step in obedience- even an action that may seem as trivial as stepping onto a plane and attending a Consulate appointment.

I'm just thankful for God's Word. His plan. His strength and the way He breathes courage and boldness into our hearts so that we can follow and obey Him.

God is moving in my heart and mind, drawing me near as I start stepping closer to going to Italy. I am thankful for His might. Thankful for the way He prepares His children so gently, yet so mightily. And that was another word that came to mind as I watched that plane on my drive home- prepared. Not perfect, but prepared.

In the same moment I saw the plane and was comforted in God's peace, I also thought "Goodness. I want to soak up this preparation time with joy, gladness, and excitement. Just like I would if it were the days leading up to my wedding day." Why wouldn't I?
It seems like society can put so much stock and pressure on the excitement leading up to marriage and I am sure it is rightfully so in many ways, but who is to say you cannot carry that same joy and anticipation as you think about stepping into other seasons in obedience to the Lord? I don't want to dim the excitement in my heart over this seaon. I don't want to be thinking in the back of my mind, "Oh, but I wonder when this season will happen" as I am getting ready for Italy.
No, for now I just am really thankful for this. Thankful for the life of following Jesus and drawing near to Him and seeing how He is preparing and fortifying me in His truth. And that is something that isn't just bottled up in one season- it is the call of a lifetime no matter the circumstance.

Jesus, have all the seasons and every part of my heart- whether it is Italy... the US... college, the workforce, or at home. Help me watch Your face continually and follow Your footsteps. 

Thank You for the ways You speak peace into our hearts and for the times of preparation. 

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philipians 2:13

Then he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord os hosts. Zechariah 4:6

You're Not Finished Yet

Hi, sweet blog that brings back so many fond memories of stretching, growing, and just learning who Jesus is.

It's been awhile. These past few years have kind of been confusing and I kind of stopped feeling like I had anything to share- especially on here. But oh how things are shifting. How God is bringing this blog and those years back to mind.

My last post was written as I wrapped up my junior year of high school and now I am wrapping up the Fall semester of my junior year of college. I re-read it just now and it still gripped my heart. Yep- that quote of my brokenness "being a better bridge than my pretend wholeness ever was" still runs through my mind. That wasn't a lesson learned just one morning in my quiet time as a 16 year old- it kind of has been a theme for the past four years in a sense. Let me just be really vulnerable for a minute and my hope is that this post is full of light, truth, and comfort because I know God is present and moving and He always has been and will continue to be.

As I wrapped up my senior year of high school and began my college years at Ouachita Baptist University, I found myself in a continual season of the desert and confusion and just defeat when it came to my relationship with Christ. It started out as just feeling like a desert (junior-senior year of high school), but somewhere along the way (senior year-college) I let darts from the enemy steal my confidence in the Lord and His promises. I became defeated and my perspective was just not centered on the truth of Scripture anymore. I was still having quiet times in the morning, but I think I just stopped truly listening and relying on Jesus when it really came down to it. And I was just confused. Confused where my heart and mind had landed. Confused why I did not feel confident in my purpose for Christ and where my passion for a life spent with Him had gone. I missed being a light. I missed having daily joy. Yet I continued my time at OBU blending in with everyone else. Just walking day by day, shoving all of this down and not giving it attention. Still having quiet times, listening to sermons, even leading a discipleship group.... and I think deep down I hoped it would all make sense at some point. So I just kept doing the things I knew to do for the time being. I just kept walking as my mom says...

But then this summer came.

I had an internship with a coffee company that was tied to a school project I had worked on all of sophomore year. In fact I hadn't just worked on it- I was highly invested. The goal of the summer was to write an entire business plan that would allow the OBU school project and this coffee company to merge and for me to get more experience in the coffee world. I am a business major and love coffee. I should have been as fit as a fiddle... but I wasn't. I was weary. I was broken. I was tired and getting nowhere with this project that I had so highly invested in for the past year. I thought I would continue to lead it through my senior year of college and that maybe this would be the direction I would follow career-wise, but all of this weariness began to surface. And I mean SURFACE.

God began revealing to me in my quiet times that I was not trusting Him. I was not considering His ways, but instead promoting and plotting my own proposals and that I was out of His will if I continued on the path I was headed. This came as an abrupt truth, but deep down I was so thankful because God is gentle and comforting in calling and leading us, and I knew it was time to repent and turn to Him instead of continue working as a busy body that was getting nowhere. I confessed that, asked for forgiveness, and surrendered the internship and my plans at His feet. I think this realization with my summer internship and my time with this school project was just an avenue to reveal the all of the underlying currents of my spiritual life that I first shared with you concerning spiritual defeat and confusion. So with this confession and prayer deep down my heart began to cry,

" Lord, take it all. Anything to get me back to You and Your presence, peace, and joy."

So the rest of the summer was wading through that and for the first time in a really long time I felt the Lord near- but not because I was doing all of this work to seek Him or try to fix myself spiritually and do better- instead because I finally had no choice but to just be honest and broken before the Lord and let Him heal, lead, and guide.

Oh goodness. The lesson.

So this was a theme for the second-half of my summer and the first few weeks of this fall semester. A theme of being broken and honest and seeing God restore and move through that. And I began to realize that that was all God ever needed of me- to just be broken before Him. And it was because of me hiding and not wanting to deal with that part of my heart that a desert season turned into a confusing and defeated season where the enemy was winning in my heart and mind.

BUT the point here isn't to just end on the lesson of brokenness. No- there is a much greater theme.

God's sovereignty.

You see I did not know what would come after this. Everything was surrendered. My schedule had been cleared as far as extra-curriculars were concerned for the Fall 2019 semester and I was just waiting to see what God's reasoning for that clearing of my schedule might be. Maybe He was just calling me to rest for a semester. I didn't know. I was just thankful for the peaceful fruit that had come from wading through this summer of brokenness with the Lord.

Little did I know there was such goodness and an even deeper truth to be revealed ahead.

Studying abroad had come to mind during that last month of summer as I began processing and asking the Lord what He would have my next two years of college to look like since I was called away from working on this school project. And my mind went to Italy because I had studied the language the previous two semesters and loved it.

But as I got about a month into this semester the Lord began revealing that He was indeed pulling my heart to go study abroad in Italy.... in the Spring... aka like soon. It felt crazy and fast and insane. But I knew that He was calling me. Italy has less than 1% of believers in the country and I felt the call to go be a light on the college campus there. Deep down I felt the same strong mission that I had in high school and that made me stinking excited and teary-eyed at the same time. The joy and peace and purpose was back. The desert season was over. So I applied and was accepted and weeks of doing a little bit of this and that has turned into a confirmed plan ticket, housing arrangements, and paid deposits.

I'm going. It's happening. So much has shifted. The Lord has for me to go to Italy. What.

So the Lord has been moving greatly in my heart and mind these last two months. After all, in less than 10 weeks I will step onto a plane that will take me countries away from friends and family and everything familiar.

But I am looking up this November, looking back at these last few years, recalling the years in which I even had this blog and realizing that the Lord has been sovereign all along. His hand was over my seasons and now He is calling my back, whispering "We are not finished yet." and assuring me, "My hand is so in all of this."

The truth of all of this rambling and sharing is that I have been so assured this month as I look back on everything that all that my Type 1, never want to do wrong or get off track type of a heart feared kind of happened. I did get a little off track. I did become defeated. My eyes did kind of stop watching Jesus.

BUT He is so sovereign and in control and faithful. He allowed it because He needed me to learn that even in my disobedience, He is Sovereign and will always get my attention and lead me home. I can rest assured of it.

It was all ultimately for my good, for my growth in learning repentance and brokenness (the truth of the gospel hits deeper now than it ever did in high school).

And overall my Heavenly Father is whispering, "Daughter, I am not finished with you. I was never finished with you. This was all part of the ultimate plan even if it took you awhile to learn the lesson. I am in the midst of this."

And so I am leaving for Italy in 10 fast weeks. And I am coming back to this little blog to declare all the ways God is preparing my heart and writing the story of this season. Oh, that feels good to say. 
Lord, I am so excited. 

My heart is back home and letting Jesus lead and standing on the truth that He has been the same all along. Which gives me the strength and courage to say,

"Hello, sweet blog. It's been awhile. But I am here to declare I am still a daughter of the King of Kings and this is just the beginning so lets get going again. God has good work for us to do."


Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 12:11
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Psalm 34:20
He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.

Psalm 103:19
The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.

Zechariah 4:6
Then he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts.

Wrapping & Stirring

Jesus, You are stirring my heart still now. I ask for the words to say and that my heart and mind would be so genuine in all I say. 

This morning I finished my junior year. I wrapped up all my final responsibilities and headed back home for some quite time on my bed with my Bible. 

It has been the hardest year for me personally. And I could write to you about all the lessons that I have learned as I have walked through this hard season with my relationship with Christ and how now it all makes sense and that I have it all together, but that isn't what God is calling me to at all and would be just selfish on my part. So let me explain.. 

I came across a picture on my Instagram feed yesterday that was posted by the Women of Faith account. The picture had a saying that read, 

"My brokenness is a better bridge for people than my pretend wholeness ever was."

Oh goodness, how that hit my heart. You see, I have gotten in a habit of thinking that whenever God starts leading my through something hard that the rewards will be sharing with others what I have learned. And I think that is definitely a blessing, but the way I was seeing that was very prideful on my part. This year, I began putting this pressure on myself and convincing myself that in order to be a witness to those around me, I had to look like I had it all together. I felt like if they saw that I was struggling to have peace and joy through this time that I was letting God down on me shining for Him. 

All of this pressure began to snowball until I felt so defeated and discouraged, I had lost all grasp of the truth of God's grace and comfort. So God began comforting and convicting my heart as a read over that post again.. 

Daughter, don't you see? Your testimony and witness is your brokenness... is Your weakness and tiredness because then they can see my strength and comfort working through you. 

So this week I have been in the process of coming to the feet of Jesus and reminding myself that He is right there with me in every moment- in my weakness and brokenness He still has an oh so perfect plan and everything I need is right there in His presence. 

But I would also like to share with you what I read in my Bible this morning that just overwhelmed and stirred my heart and is still even now. I was reading in the first chapter of John and would like to share with you a few of the verses. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The truth of Jesus Christ was planned from the beginning of time when God created the earth. And in His timing, God gave us Himself by coming and dying on the cross for all our wrongs and failures. He gave us the truth of who He is so that we may could have life and darkness and sin will NEVER overpower the life that Jesus brought my heart six years ago. Gracious, just the simply truth of these verses began stirring my heart. 

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were [i]born, not of [j]blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

I have so easily lost sight of the single fact that whenever I accepted Jesus into my heart, I became His daughter forever. I am safe forever. I am protected forever. God came full of grace and truth. 

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of [l]the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth...

16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 

He mended my efforts with His complete strength and wisdom, my brokenness with His wholeness, and my fear of sinning and failing with His ultimate triumph over darkness. 

I just wanted to share with you how Jesus is stirring all of these truths in my heart as I close my junior year and I hope it encouraged you towards Jesus and the fullness in Him that stirs Your heart with wholeness, love, and peace. And that it is okay to be broken and a little discouraged, because it is then that God's strength can move in the mightiest of ways. It's okay to be in the middle, to be in the process of growing, and just working on being completely surrendered to Jesus, especially on mornings when you wrap one season up and He stirs your heart to the next.

Lord, break my heart.

27 million. MILLION.

Two weeks ago- I’m scrolling through Instagram like so many times before, and come across a video of John Luke Robertson and Mary Kate’s wedding trailer. So of course I pause and wait for it to play. As I watch, I tuck my legs underneath me in the recliner while I smile. The day looked like it was absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way. It made me stop and pray for a minute, “Lord, this is what you bless us with whenever we surrender to Your will and lay our desires and hearts at Your feet. You bless us with beautiful days and spouses that have the desire to seek You so the two of us can bring You glory.” But then I kept scrolling and the very next post that comes into sight on my screen is one posted by the End It Movement. The End It Movement is a Christian organization that brings awareness and fights modern day slavery. So after my heart was so encouraged by this couple that were walking and seeking God together, I began to watch this video that shows little children working in horrible conditions and girls being rescued from being sex slaves. My instinct-to go back and re-watch the wedding trailer and push away the unsettling truth out of mind, but then it hit me.

Lord, when are we going to wake up? When am I going to wake up and realize that this is REALITY? Human trafficking and slavery is real; it’s more present than ever and it’s time to end it. Let’s end it so those girls who are trapped can have freedom and have that beautiful wedding day that we all have dreamed for. As this thought process began to take place, I began to pray again,

“Lord, wake me up. Break my heart over this.”

And what do you think took place for the next twenty minutes? My heart began to absolutely break. I thought about those girls who are in slavery this very moment, who are being violated in every way and literally wake up day after day to the same horror. They think that that is all they will see in their life. They think they have no hope. They are tucked away in darkness and they can’t speak up. But this is what I know- I serve the One True King who has already stripped darkness and evil of all it’s authority. The darkness that these people are living in is no match for the light that shines in each one of us- the light that shines whenever we speak up and pray for these girls to be protected in a way that only Jesus can protect.

I don’t think I will ever forget talking with my mom that night. As she walked in the door and set down all of her things, I began to share with her what I saw and how God was leading my heart. She was fiddling around with something on the kitchen table whenever I began to explain to her, “My heart is just breaking. Like I want to go there myself and hug those girls and tell them about Jesus. I want to look at those around me and say when are we going to wake up!” My voice raised and even I was surprised at the passion and burden that had leaked into my voice from my heart I continued, “When are we going to start praying for these people. The need prayers. They need hope. What if all of these stuggles and battles these past months been because God is preparing me to go in those places and rescuing them? I know He will shield me and give me the courage to go into those places, but those places need God’s light and redemption. They need His truth and I know what’s going on in those places can’t stand against God’s love and truth.” Oh, my heart was burning with passion and burden. All I could do was let God lead my heart in prayer.

Lord, You know exactly where that darkness is taking place. Father, I pray Your light and love would shine so brightly wherever each and every person is right now. Father, let them know how much You love them and the hope that is in You, Jesus. Give us the resources and wisdom, Lord, and let us allow You to lead us in boldness and courage. Father, keep breaking my heart and leading my in Your will. I want to be Your hands and feet. I just lift every girl up to You in this moment. Shield and protect them in a way only You can. I love You, Lord. Thank you for your hope and grace. I know You are right here with me.

 

So what can we do? What can you do? Allow God to let the reality become real to you. Allow Him to break Your heart for those who are enslaved. And pray. Pray big. There is so much power in prayer and the devil can not stand against the power and love of Jesus Christ. Pray that we would have the wisdom and resources to go rescue this people and tell them about Jesus Christ and see them heal in glorious ways. And RAISE your voice. It’s time to not be silent. Ending it starts with awareness. These cruel people can’t stand in their evil acts whenever we begin to shine a light on them. The darkness has to flee.

 

So will you join me? Will you join me in allowing God to break your heart and lead you in boldness and faith to stand up for the way in which he called us all to live? In freedom. In righteousness. In love. In purity. In light.

 

There are 27 million who need you to use your voice because theirs have become silent. It’s time to end this and it can only be done in Jesus Christ.

Even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 139:12

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

2 Corinthians 2:13-15

 

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and a sound mind.

1 Timothy 1:7

 

 

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