Saturday, April 24, 2010

In Search of Hope

"I decided that if those who killed my husband were determined to show the gruesome side of humanity, I would display its integrity, beauty and resilience.  That would be my true revenge." - Mariane Pearl, In Search of Hope.


This is a book I pull off my book shelf over and over again to reread the pages of inspirational stories of women around the globe who choose to see a need and meet it.

One of the essays in the book hits my heart to its very core.  Somaly Mam, a Cambodian woman living deep in the heart of a world run by sex slavery, fights to liberate women and children of all ages caught in the web of lust and greed.  With children of all ages, toddlers and babies even, Somaly is never at the point of giving up.  Even as her own daughter is abducted and raped, she continues to work to save girls from slavery.  I don't know if I could do the same.  I look down at my little Josselyn and pray that God never asks me to make a choice so intensely as that one.


Somaly Mam is just one woman in the fight against sexual slavery and I know many more who've devoted their lives to see innocent victims rescued from such a life.

This is just a collection of 13 women but I know there are women and men all over this world unrecognized for their work to see LOVE spread across the nations.

Each of us have a desire of our hearts but some of us have not tapped into that true desire yet.  Its a desire so selfless that we know we could give our own lives in order to see that desire come to LIFE.  For me, its seeing babies and children lost without a mother and father, find love.  I'm no one great.  I don't claim to be nor do I strive to be.  I just have such a passion to make my life a sacrificial one for the rest of my days.

I have many unsung heroes in my life.  There are many people I respect and learn from; My cousin who has taken her life of common mistakes and turned it into a family full of love and sacrifice, my Uncle who can back up his actions with scripture and who has hidden HIS word in his heart,  The Haythorpes, who despite their own size in family, they continue to push themselves to see sex slavery end, my sister who see's the good in people far easier than I do and who desires to see grace in all situations, the housemoms at Watersprings Ranch who've I've had the pleasure of serving alongside as they desire to see a change in lives of children who's parents couldn't and wouldn't take care of them, and yes, even Angelina Jolie (but to a point).   


So to all you unsung heroes,  may God bless you for your sacrifice and may the Desires of your heart be made into a life of LOVE.

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