It's Not Fair... 02/23/2012
Today I had the opportunity to share Sex Trafficking 101 with about 20 high school juniors in a Social Justice class. The teacher asked me to connect this social justice issue to human dignity and worth. It was awesome because that's easy to do when you are sitting in a private school since human dignity and worth comes directly from God. I talked extensively about God's imprinting us with his image and our search to fill an impression that was only meant to be filled by God. Like a hand-print placed on our hearts that only the person who put it there can fill. Other things and people can attempt to, but they will be too small or too big. This substitution fill will leave us either searching for something more or overwhelmed and consumed by something that is so big we can't carry it. The hand-print can only be filled by God (it's creator) and when we allow him to fill it, we find our identity. We find our God given purpose and we find wholeness. Each of us has God's image in us, we just don't realize it. Realizing it involves acknowledging that when we see each other, we should see each other with dignity and worth because we are all children of God. We are all intricately connected. And when we look at each other we should realize that we are looking at God. At end of the day, I wanted the reality of all that I had shared to sink into each of them. Why is it important to see people in this way? Why is social justice important? I had all of the girls in the class stand up. It just so happened that there were 11 of them and they were three in three rows and 2 in the last row. These young ladies all stood and I said, please understand that I want to share with you a statistic that is shocking and will hurt a bit, but my intention is not to hurt you, but instead to make this real for you. And I'm not naive enough to think that this might not already be real. I counted them out loud and asked each student to look at each other. And then I shared... Class, the unfortunately statistic is this...it is from the UN Millennium Project...1 in 3 women will be victims of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. The look on their face was indescribable. The guys in the room had a visible change in them. I continued with the class explaining that this statistic is NOT fair. It's not fair that one girl in each row statistically speaking will experience sexual violence before the end of her life. It's not fair that the responsibility has been placed on her shoulders. It's not fair that something more isn't being done to change it. The truth is --this statistic wouldn't be true if each and everyone of us began to see God in ourselves and God in others. If we began to respect, love and protect, not only ourselves, but others, if we began to live Micah 6:8 (To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.) Social justice matters and 16-17 year old kids CAN make a difference! There's no question about it! They can change the world! And it starts with our walking the straight line! I'm excited to see where this class goes! And praying for kingdom breakthrough through these kids in powerful ways!!!! Add Comment Panel Discussion on Human Trafficking 01/12/2012
We had a wonderful response to the panel discussion that our founder, Sharon was invited to sit on yesterday on the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. It was an amazing way to get the word out about how to love without expectation and without limitation! Not all sex workers are trafficked, some have made a choice that most people could never understand or ever take the time to understand, all no matter their circumstances deserve to be loved unconditionally!! Jesus' love for sex workers is as great as his love for the "religious"! Many sex workers, in both the legal adult entertainment industry and illegal sex industry, however, have been victims of trafficking or other heinous crimes and for these victims we must help to provide adequate advocacy, support, encouragement and healing! This panel opened a genuine discussion about how faith and spirituality play a positive role in healing from the trauma of sex crimes. 
Did you know?
1) FREEDOM SUNDAY - Invite The Free2BMe Project, The Daughter Project, Second Chance, or STOP (all local Toledo organizations combating sex trafficking right here in our home town) to speak (or have a presence) at your Church on SUNDAY, February 26th. 2) Pray - Commit as a Church to pray for freedom in all forms: physical, spiritual and emotional for trafficking victims and survivors. Pray for the above mentioned organizations, the leadership and their volunteers. The A21 Campaign has an awesome prayer guide (http://thea21campaign.org/downloads/a21prayerguide2010.pdf) 3) Build awareness - Educate your Church - host a human trafficking event at your church, recommend books and films that speak on the issue. 4) Localize the issue! Don't keep pretending it's not happening here! We are #4 in the nation! Human trafficking exists in EVERY city! 5) Put information in your bulletin or on your pre-service big screen! 6) Coordinate and lead a donations drive: All of the above organizations need monetary help to fulfill their missions, as well as numerous items to help in their efforts. Also don't forget Cherry Street Mission's Women's Division for new clothes, socks, personal hygiene and much more. Many of their guests are sex trafficking survivors! “But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of them snared in holes and hidden in houses of bondage. They have become a prey, with no one to deliver them, a spoil, with no one to say, Restore them!” Isaiah 42:22 Merry Christmas 12/19/2011
Free2BMe has been busy playing elves for Santa! Last weekend we had our first ever Breakfast for Santa for the children of the women we serve! The event was held at the Eastern YMCA and we had our very own visit from Santa Claus! The kids had fun and we were even able to invite Y guests to join in on the fun! We have also been working on blessing the ladies we serve with Christmas gifts for their children. Several churches and organizations partnered with us this year to make Christmas happen for several families! Thank you to Genesis Christian Fellowship, Madison Church of the Nazarene and Bay Park Community Hospital. We also want to send a thank you to Nu-Vizion for our new partnership for our Praise & Prayer Gatherings. They have generously opened their building to Free2BMe once a month! We are excited about this ministry partnership! Signature Harley-Davidson Fundraiser 12/11/2011
 It's that time of year again! Our team spent two weekends this Christmas season wrapping gifts at Signature Harley-Davidson for a donation! We were able to have a lot of fun, build awareness and raise some money for our Christmas party! We are throwing a Christmas Brunch with Santa for The Free2BMe Project, this coming Saturday, December 17th at the Eastern YMCA. Sending a big thank you to Signature for partnering with us once again to make this year a success!!! Battered 11/17/2011
For quite some time, I've been tossing around some tough things in my brain. I've kept them to myself because I'm not sure how to express them, but I've come to the point that I have to speak because it was in realizing these truths that I have finally found freedom. Please read this entire poem slowly and contemplate the truth that it reveals. Battered  I think I have Battered Wife's Syndrome. I have been beaten up. I have been bruised. I have been heartbroken. Relationships have been cut off. I have been discredited, discounted... and that's just the beginning... I haven't left. I haven't left because I am fearful. Fearful that I will be at more risk out in the world alone than I am inside the walls. Fearful that I will be further discredited further discounted. I have not left because the resources available are all I had. I haven't left because I've been isolated. I have been psychologically dependent. This is all I have. I have worked so hard for this one relationship. 6 years. If I walk away... I'll have to start all over. My kids. While I'm drowning... my kids are doing okay... at least they appear happy. If I left... it would be my fault. I didn't try hard enough. I didn't jump through the right hoops. Guilt. I will have just given up. If I left, I would be leaving others behind and they need me. I haven't left because time and time again I'm told "It will get better" "Just hang in there" "Tough it out" "Be the pioneer." I want this to be true. I want it to get better. I've listen to the promise of change ...only to be disappointed every time and yet, I haven't left. I haven't left because I am a woman and as much as I keep hearing women are equal (and I believe we are) actions speak louder than words the continual forcing of domestic roles and degrading of feminine attitudes has taught me that... I am less than and I will always be dependent on my abuser. I've withstood the pain. I haven't left because I've believed that this is all to honor my God. I've believed that this is my taking up my cross bearing the pain of 6 years. I haven't left because I cling to the happy moments the times when I can't help but smile and be proud... I cling to the all that is good to the hearts of those I love... For sure moments have--have been there moments that feed my soul until the next abuse These moments have kept me still. I haven't spoken of my abuse, except to my closest friends. No one would believe me anyways. They would never believe the stories, the abuse, the neglect, the pain... they would choose to side with my abuser, even though if they were really honest, if we were all really honest, we would have to admit that it has happened to us. Probably the biggest reason I haven't left... Love. and despite all the evidence proving otherwise, I still believe that this is what love is. This is the best that one can hope for because we are just imperfect people. And then I realize that I've got it all wrong-- my abuser is NOT my spouse... I am a Bride... with my groom there is no fear Even if I walk away I will not be alone my groom goes with me... He promises He will never leave me nor forsake me and He means it. My groom supplies all my needs and it is Him that my hope must be in... not my abuser. While I have been isolated and made to be dependent on my abuser... My Spouse promises that there is a community where relationships are holy, sacred. There is a healthy dependency in His community. While 6 years doesn't count to some... to my Groom... they mean EVERYTHING. He has seen my tears, He has heard my cries. He has cried with me and has even suffered some of the same abuses by the same abuser. My Groom assures me that my children will be okay because His community belongs to children, to the least of these, to the abused, to the battered... There is no shame or condemnation in my Spouse... there is no reason for guilt and every reason for wholeness and health. My Groom does not make shallow promises for distant hope or change... He makes promises He keeps and offers hope and change today. My Groom values me as a woman... He treasures women and builds them up. He created me beautiful in His image He completes me and I complete Him... And I've realized that my abuse was not His plan, that His heart cries out to the injustice that I and many more have withstood in His name. And I've realized my hope had been misplaced... in something bearing His name... that freedom lies in walking away that freedom comes in standing up for myself in loving myself because I am worthy I am called I am Loved and my purpose doesn't lie in the walls of my abuser but in the community that is my Grooms Freedom to love myself so that I can effectively love others... My One Hope is my Groom, my spouse, Jesus Christ... Where am I, you ask? 11/15/2011
 That is a great question. As I sit here and reflect on the two months that have passed since my return from my five month stay at the Refuge for Women, I am amazed at the blessings that have been poured over me. Upon my return I was hopeful about a job position with a local ministry and before I could unpack my bags from my car I was told that I did not get the position. It took me a moment but I knew that the Lord has something for me and because that door shut, I knew that was not it. I was sleeping on an air mattress at my dads on the living room floor as I contemplated going to the Sparrows Nest to attend the Ready for Life program they offered. I prayed over it and decided to stay at my dad’s house over the weekend so I could transition back to my life in Toledo. After telling my dad my plans to stay at the Sparrows Nest he told me that if I wanted to I could live in his 3 unit house in Toledo. He informed me that the upper 2 bedroom unit was vacant. I went over to check it out and saw all the work it needed. I decided to pray over it and start to get it cleaned up because regardless if I stayed there or not it needed to be done to get a new tenant in. As I was cleaning and becoming overwhelmed with confusion of what to do I went to my brothers and sisters in Christ for wisdom. They confirmed what the Lord was telling me. This is where the Lord needs me to be. After two months of cleaning and painting the apartment looks amazing! I absolutely love it and finally have a place to call home. After two years of house sitting, living at a ministry, and doubling up I have a stable and secure place to live. The Lord told me that after I get into the apartment that I should then focus on employment. I applied to various temporary agencies with a successful 3 days of work, just enough for gas money and my first utility bills. I had an interview with an amazing ministry in Toledo and am waiting to hear from them. I am once again hopeful and am trusting that the Lord is going to open the door soon. I have been helping with various ministries and joined a new home church that is close to my heart. The Lord opened up to me an amazing opportunity to be a Rescue Chaplain for Cherry Street Mission Ministries. I never dreamed that the Lord would have me in such an amazing place. I am so grateful that I am able to serve. I was gone for 5 months and am just now getting settled in and getting the opportunity to catch up with friends and family, hearing about what the Lord has been doing in their lives. I have been able to spend time with my children that I missed so much while I was away. They are very excited about our new home and my return. When I moved into the apartment I had very little. Now I have a bed, furniture, bathroom and kitchen supplies thanks to the amazing people of the community that came together to help someone they didn’t even know. In summary, I drove back to Ohio from Kentucky, was blessed with an apartment, cleaned and painted, was blessed by the community with gifts for my new home, I get to see my children, volunteer with amazing people with incredible ministries, and became a Rescue Chaplain. I have been blessed with pure abundant overflowing joy. Happiness is temporary, joy is everlasting. I just finished reading exodus and it reminded me of…me. I just turned 40. I feel like I have been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years and now the Lord is bringing me into the Promise Land. So where am I at you ask? Heaven on earth-The Promise Land God Bless, Peyton Rock the Nest Outreach 10/17/2011
Thursday, October 6th through Sunday October 9th, The Free2BMe Project and many of our friends and supporters gave our time and energy to loving and serving the Cherry Street Missions' Sparrow's Nest! The Sparrow's Nest is a woman's shelter in central city Toledo. One of the coolest parts of this project was the "art therapy" that we had the women participate in. We brought blank canvas' for the women to paint with their own designs.They turned out fabulous! This outreach project was such a blessing to each of us who participated! The ladies we met were amazing! And after hearing their stories we all realized that their stories could have been any one of ours! Where do I stand... 09/09/2011
 Photo Credit: Matt Collins, The Tears In Action Project Our team went out last night to visit dancers! We consider it such an honor to go into clubs and have opportunity to love on the women we encounter! One of the dancers was very taken back by us. She thought for sure that we were there to condemn her and judge her. Repetitively asking us if we thought we were better than her, assuming that we did. We are NOT better than any dancer, escort, sex industry worker that we encounter! To be honest and real with you, coming out of the industry, so many years ago, I mistakenly believed that I had somehow hit a higher status in life because I had gotten out. But the reality is that I carried a lot of baggage that I chose to hide, that I chose to keep from others because I didn't want to be associated with that part of my past. AND I WAS WRONG!!!!! I am NOT better than any dancer, any sex industry worker! This women last night has encountered person after person who has tore her down, who has condemned her, who has judged her, who told her that she is somehow less than everyone else!!! THAT IS WRONG!!!! The women who serve and love as a part of The Free2BMe Project come from many different backgrounds. Some of us worked the industry, some of us never did, some of us were customers/clients, but ALL OF US realize that we are no different, no better than any woman that works in the industry. We are not perfect and we are not better. We are simply women who believe with all of our hearts that God passionately loves us! That God passionately loves women in the sex industry. God's love is not biased. It does not have limits. It does not say one person is better or more worthy than another. God does not love us because of what we do or don't do. He doesn't love a stripper any less than he loves a pastor! He doesn't love a pastor any more than he loves a stripper. We go into clubs because we have had this revelation. We are no better than the women we love and serve! And really, we believe that every woman, no matter what she does for a job, is loved by God! It's not about your job, we don't care what you do for a living! We are not against you! We are for you because you are fearfully and wonderfully made by a passionate God! You are worthy of love...UNCONDITIONAL love! While I understand that I am not responsible for the actions and words of other people, I want to apologize to this dancer for anything that has been said and done to her over the years in the name of Jesus that did not represent his love. I'm truly sorry! The Free2BMe Project believes that no woman should ever feel alone. No dancer should ever feel that she is unloved and unworthy! That's why we come! We come to let you know that Jesus loves you! He loves you right where you are. You are not beyond his love!  Sex Trafficking Awareness 09/08/2011
 While I worked in the legal sex industry for three years as an adult, my journey began long before I ever entered the club and said "sign me up!" It's hard, real hard to have to look at my life in honest ways and admit that I was a victim of human sex trafficking. Back then, I didn't even consider the facts of my life, the circumstances as part of something that encouraged me to walk into a club and say "Yes, I want to be an exotic dancer." I just knew by 14 years old that's what I wanted to do. But the reality is...that decision, that path was set long before I turned 18 and entered the legal sex industry. My story is not the story of every woman in the legal sex industry! My story is just that...my story! I realize that many share in my story. Many women in the legal sex industry were victimized as children--abused, raped, touched, sold...but I know many who do not have those recollections, who would tell you they had great childhoods and that they have simply made an empowered choice or that this was where their adult life has found them. No matter the reason they are there, they are no less loved by God than any other person. The reality of world today is such that there is legalized sex industry and there is an illegal sex trade...where people (women, men, boys and girls) are being forced, coerced, blackmailed into use their bodies for someone else's profit or gain. This should not be happening. The Free2BMe Project unconditionally loves women in the sex industry --- no matter how they ended up there! Whether it was their choice or a choice made for them by circumstance or other people. We love dancers, managers, floor walkers, door persons, bartenders, dj's, janitors, house moms, owners...everyone in gentlemen's clubs across Toledo! It is our honor to journey with them! And we believe that they are all passionately loved by a HUGE God, who does not push them aside, like our world often does. He loves them right where they are. I know this to be true because I know that God loved me while I danced, that he was with me and that he was watching over me. Free2BMe does what we can to bring awareness to the children who are caught up in the illegal sex trade. Sex trafficking is a part of my story, and unfortunately it is a part of our crazy world! I had opportunity last month to share my story at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio for the Southwest Ohio Nazarene Church. One thousand people learned about the horrors of child sex trafficking, but praise God when they hear my story they also hear how God calls His people to not look down on the adults (men and women) working in the legal sex industry, but to instead embrace them with unconditional love, to see them as everyday normal people. When they hear my story, they get to hear about how beautiful and precious women in the sex industry are, how to treat them with respect and love and how to love like God does. God can use our stories in powerful ways. I'm so excited that I am no longer hiding, but instead that I'm able to live a free life because of Jesus Christ--a life in which I am free to be me!  | ArchivesJanuary 2012 CategoriesAll |
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