FIRST DRAFT FINISHED!!!!!!!!

I have shared before about writing a book based on my short story- Jessica’s Encounter at the Harbor Coffee Shop.

I have to admit it has been a struggle at times and felt like I was experiencing spiritual warfare at times.

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Today was a big step. The first rough draft is finished!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Now it is time to go over it with a fine tooth comb for editing. Then I will need to explore publishing it, the hows of it, the when of it etc.

This is how it starts:

“God I don’t know if you are real. I don’t know anything about you. God I am so scared and I can’t take this anymore. Please God, if you are real, please help me. I can’t go on like this anymore,”

That was my simple prayer. I was a victim of human trafficking. It began before I was in their trap. It began with a man I met online who seemed nice. I was only a teenager at the time. I was living in another foster home and was tired of being treated badly. He told me he wanted to take care of me. He told me things I wanted to hear, but he was only leading me into a trap. This is my story.

Jessica

I would appreciate pray as I move forward for God to guide me in publication and everything it entails. I would also appreciate prayer that God would work through the book to raise awareness of sex trafficking, and rally God’s people to do something about it. I have decided to donate $1 to Love Justice and $1 to Underground Railroad from the sale of each book once it is published. Unless by some miracle a publisher wants to publish it and pays me, then it I will donate in a different way.

Please pray for me.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

We Need to Protect Children- My Hero Band Came

About a month ago, I shared a post that was about the reason I canceled my Netflix due to the movie Cuties exploiting 11 year old girls to make a movie. The post was- We Need to Protect The Children.

More recently I shared a post about a young woman who was a victim of child sex trafficking who has now had a wonderful work she is doing. Her work is Hero Bands. For each band sold, she donates $2 to Operation Underground Railroad an organization that rescues children who have been trafficked. A person can also donate a band to be given to a child for only $10. I donated a band and ordered one for myself.

My band came in the mail yesterday.

I chose the words Be Kind for my band to remind myself to show kindness which is so needed these days.

I have decided to donate at least one band for a child each month. I figure my Netflix subscription cost me a little more than the $10 it costs to donate a band for a child. I would much rather my money goes to a child each month than to a company that paid for a movie to be produced that exploits 11 year old girls.

It would be great if some of my followers would do the same. Take the money that would have gone to Netflix and use it to help fight child sex trafficking. You can look up organizations like Love Justice, Hero Bands, or others.

Jesus had strong words to anyone who would harm a child in Matthew 18:

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea”

This obviously shows how much Jesus cares about children. Let’s care about children who are victims of child sex trafficking.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

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Out and About and Book Update

Yesterday after Blogger Chat, it was time to get out and about to run some errands. One of the errands was stopping by the place where I buy CBD oil. My fellow Spoonies will know about CBD oil.

The last time I was in that store, I had to opportunity to chat with a young lady who was working there. We had a great chat about many issues. One of the things she brought up was human trafficking. I shared with her about how I support Love Justice an organization that fights human trafficking in many countries.

That time I also shared with her about my short story- Jessica’s Encounter At The Harbor Coffee Shop. She wanted to read it, so I emailed a link to her.

Yesterday she told me she read it. She also told me she loved it. We talked some more and I shared with her the name of my church and the website for it and suggested she watch the service online. It was one of those divine appointments God sets up for me at times.

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After talking, I felt encouraged to write some more. It felt great to write some more. I am nearing the end of the first draft. After finishing the first draft, it will be time to put my language skills to use and go over it with a fine tooth comb to edit for mistakes.

Progress is being made. It might be slow, but it is progress lol. 🙂

By the way, it was a blessing to have a new person join our blogger chat. Alicia of forhispurpose.blog joined us. We also sang Happy Birthday to Vanessa of braveblessedandbeautiful.com.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

July 30- World Day Against Trafficking In Persons Day

Today is World Day Against Trafficking In Persons Day. This is not a problem only in third world countries. This is a problem in the USA and in Western Europe as well.

A very troubling statistic I found from Safe Horizon:

3.8 million adults are trafficked for forced sexual exploitation and 1.0 million children are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation

This is a cause that concerns me a great deal. I saw another stat that a child in the USA is 66,667 times more at risk for being trafficked than of dying from COVID-19.

AM I trying to draw attention to this? YES YES YES

That is why I support Love Justice. You can check them out at lovejustice.ngo

We need much harsher laws against trafficking in the USA. We need it to be a Federal Crime with extremely long prison sentences.

We need a Global Effort to Combat it.

We need PRAYER for justice, for more workers to combat it, and for those fighting against it to be safe.

SO much more could be said. Please educate yourself, contact your Senators and Representatives if in the USA and if in another country contact who you need to there.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Wisdom In Giving At This Time

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

This passage from Matthew 25 gives us a glimpse into the heart of Jesus. It can also be a guiding principle for us during this time of the COVID-19 crisis. What should our focus be when it comes to giving money?

My little sister Beverley shared a post yesterday I suggest reading. She deals with the issue of people claiming God will bless you if you send money to their ministry. The post is Are We Selling Our Brethern For Profit. It is a good post to read anytime but especially at this time.

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We should look to give to our local church where we worship together and consider giving to a benevolence fund if our church has one. We should also look out for the needs of those in our local church as we are charged to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Do we know someone affected by a layoff due to the crisis?

I do not like to talk about my giving, but realizing that a ministry on my heart, Love Justice, is concerned about the group homes they have for children and young women who were victims of sex trafficking, I made an extra donation yesterday. It wasn’t a big amount but I did what I could.They have group homes in various countries and each country has far less ability to care for the sick than my home country the USA.

Another ministry that is doing wonderful work is Samaritan’s Purse. Samaritan’s Purse set up and is running a field hospital in Northern Italy where the virus has hit hard. Talk about caring for the sick!!!

Let’s be wise and be guided by the heart of Jesus for those who are suffering at this time and guided by the wisdom in Proverbs 31:

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
    for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
    defend the rights of the poor and needy.“

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

International Women’s Day- Spotlight on a New Blogger

Today is International Women’s Day which is celebrated in many countries. I would like to wish my followers and readers who are women a Happy Women’s Day.

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There are so many wonderful examples of women being blessed in the bible. I often think about Mary Magdalene who Jesus rescued from a life as an outcast. He blessed her with being the first person to see him after his resurrection and giving her the responsibility to go tell the others.

Each morning I am blessed as I teach a group of moms English. I am proud of them and impressed with them as they take time from their busy lives as moms to learn English, so they can help their children.

A new blogger I follow is Alejandra of alejandrafong.wordpress.com. She shared in her post What Makes a Woman, A Woman? some wonderful thoughts. One is that woman is the only being referred to as helper besides the Holy Spirit. That is good company to be in.

As co-image bearers of God, women should be valued and treated with dignity.

So to all of my followers and readers who are women and to the women whose blogs I follow, Happy International Women’s Day. 🙂

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

My Saturday, Book Update, Spotlight on a Fellow Blogger

Yesterday was a FATIGUE day. I felt it as soon as I woke up. The trees are waking up where I live, so it means allergy season has begun already. I did manage to go to a coffee shop for a while though.

I like wearing my Love Justice hat when I go to coffee shops. Love Justice is in my prayers for the groups for the children and young women rescued, for the school, and for the people who do the work of intercepting. Human trafficking/sex trafficking is a terrible evil in our times.

Update on my book- I am almost finished with the first rough draft. I had hoped to finish it in February, but fatigue days come with no warning. I am making progress. My prayer for the book is that it helps to raise money for ministries that combat trafficking, reaches victims of trafficking and of abuse with the love of Jesus, and helps motivate people to support efforts to combat trafficking.

If you haven’t seen it, my book is from a short story I wrote- Jessica’s Encounter at the Harbor Coffee Shop.

Trafficking is a terrible problem in our world today. My little sister Jenny wrote about it in her blog last week in her post- Getting Educated About Human Trafficking and Abuse.

My fatigue is not as bad this morning, but still hanging around. I will go to church and am looking forward to it. Hopefully I will have energy to write some more this afternoon.

Hope you have a blessed Sunday.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.