A Giving Tuesday in Dressember

Year 5-Day 346: Today...I am grateful for a Giving Tuesday in Dressember. 

As promised... I won't mention it every day... but have joined a Dressember team again this year. It is an awareness campaign and donations go to A21 and the International Justice Mission. I love these organizations because they seek to free all human slaves, including and with a special emphasis on human trafficking as the numbers of  humans enslaved in the sex trade grows. 

Perhaps because I work surrounded by 12,13 and 14 year old girls every day, it breaks my heart to think of how many here and around the world are pulled into some form of slavery one way or the other. Pimps, politics and pushers are often intertwined. There is real evil in the world. 

My Dressember team, Shalom for All, is mostly young women with children. They are a special group. There is a passionate young teacher at MJHS who is on a different Dressember team... but we get to support each other daily in the inconvenience of choosing a dress every day. Our inconvenience is raising awareness for the many who have no voice and no choice in how they dress or who they undress to please as pawns in the powerful game of pleasure seeking. 

https://dressember.funraise.org/fundraiser/valerie-smith is the link if you feel moved to make this your "Giving Tuesday" cause. You receive a charitable giving receipt for taxes when the campaign is over. It is as easy as an Amazon purchase. 

Living in the midwest, people are surprised that it happens here. It does. With us being 2-3 hours from major cities, it is a very real threat to our children. Every day, the agencies Dressember funds are out there acting with love, justice, help, healing and hope. From the rescue, through the recovery and reaching out to help victims rebuild their lives is their mission. The power of a dress helps fund the cause. 

Remember Rahab? Her story is recorded in Joshua 2. A prostitute who lived in Jericho in the Promised Land and aided the Israelites in capturing the city. But, her story does not end there. She is the mother of Boaz, who marries Ruth. She is the Great-Grandmother to Jesse, the father of King David and is listed boldly in the genealogy of Jesus. 

Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
6 Jesse was the father of King David. 
(Omitting a list of several generations)
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
Matthew 1:5-6, 16

Yes, Rahab the prostitute is a many greats grandmother of Jesus. Her sin or her situation were not the end of her story. Neither, should it be for the many women, children and men caught in some kind of slavery. Our stories do NOT end with our biggest struggles.  Oh, no, my friend. 

In fact, that moment of feeling completely broken... when we submit to the love of a sovereign God... it is where the "rest of the story" (as Paul Harvey would say) really begins. We can by shaped by our experiences, but Jesus came to set us free.  

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.  Galatians 4:4-5

Had Joseph chosen to "quietly divorce Mary", she could have ended up like Rahab before she was redeemed by her husband and God. An unwed mother had few choices in that time and culture. Perhaps... his family often told and retold the story of Rahab, Boaz & Ruth, Obed, Jesse, King David and the others in the family tree. The choice of Joseph was not accidental. Our God is an awesome God. 

Today, I am thankful Rahab's rescue turned into her own redemption story and changed her life forever. I still delight in remembering Boaz gaining her hand in marriage through the reminder that her mother-in-law was a package deal. Our God never abandons us. In fact, he surprises us over and over again with his power to rescue and redeem. 

Dressember is a part of the mission to reach the enslaved and the exploited. We can help the fight for justice, freedom and restoration. These are not just people... they are souls. 

Today...I am grateful for a Giving Tuesday in Dressember.