For Freedom

My first 5k and I was running for Freedom.

Freedom is something dear to my heart- especially emotional and spiritual freedom. There’s something radical about people receiving freedom for the first time. Freedom brings life.

My friend Rachel and I decided, going into the race, that not only would we pay our entrance fee, participate, raise awareness, thus helping the organization (The Aruna Project) rescue the women being trafficked in India, but that we would go into the race having a heart to intercede.

Arriving at the site of the 5k, feeling a little out of it from lack of sleep and coffee, as well as trying to wrap my brain around and comprehend exactly what and who we were going into intercession for, we signed in and picked up our packets.

Each participant received a number and a piece of orange tape with a woman’s name on it. This was a name of a woman who is still enslaved in one of the largest red-light districts in India.

India. Another thing that is dear to my heart. It was the first country I spent a lengthy amount of time in and the first country I visited that became my home. With all my heart I want to go back. Some of “my kids” are there and there have been nights I have cried for them, wondering where they are, praying they’re safe and loved, and praying that I will see them again one day. Being able to run for a woman’s freedom from a country I love was sobering for me. It was also a privilege.

Looking down at the numbers we received, I thought it was quite random. 61 was what my bib read.

I really believe the importance of intercession is huge. The dictionary defines intercession as the act of intervening on another’s behalf. It is an intentional time of crying out (petitioning) for another person or situation with the goal of seeing things changed.

But you must defend those who are helpless and have no hope.

Proverbs 31:8

We began the race and we prayed, we cried out, we yelled (yes, we actually did) and we sang.

I looked down again at my number

61 

Isaiah 61 came to mind (which I thought was really neat as again, this is yet another thing dear to my heart and my life’s cry).

 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

Isaiah 61:1-3

I read this chapter out loud and verse 7 caught my attention:

Instead of shame you shall have double honor…

As we continued to walk, we prayed that shame would be lifted from these women.

We finished the race but really, this is just the beginning.

While I was running for the freedom of a woman who is located half the world away from me, there are women, men, and children needing freedom from sex trafficking located less than 30 minutes away from where I live. The statistics and the facts are sobering. This is happening in our very own cities and something needs to change.

What can we do? In such situations, I often times feel helpless. However, we are not helpless. We can do something, we will do something.

To be honest, this is just the beginning for me, so at the moment I don’t have a compilation of resources or ways to get involved. For the meantime I have a skeleton of a guide:

1. PRAY – there is power in prayer and intercession. Seriously. Get a group of friends together, dedicate a couple hours to cry out for those caught in sex trafficking.

2. ADVOCATE – raise awareness. We must do something once we have been made aware. We do not have the right to stay silent when we have a voice. Run a 5k, make a sign stating one of the many sobering statistics, talk to your friends, family, church, sports team, etc.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

3. DO – get involved with an organization or ministry that is working with those who are being trafficked. A few of my friends just went through a training by SERT Ministries in which they actively fought this battle (check out their website).

Please, please, if you know of a site, organization, resource, anything, comment below.

Let us not remain silent when Freedom is to be had.