Send to Kindle

By Amazon bestselling author Kimberly Rae

The first time someone called me an abolitionist, I squirmed a little. That was a big word. A term for people like William Wilberforce or others who spent their lives delivering people from bondage. Not people like me. I just care, and am doing a tiny bit in the big fight.

Hmm. I care, and am doing a tiny bit.

If I were talking with you about fighting human trafficking, I would say that if you care, and you are doing something, then you are part of the fight. It doesn’t have to do everything–nobody can do everything. If you’re praying, raising awareness, having a jewelry party (see Fighting HT with Jewelry, Parties and a New Book), giving money, buying fair trade, putting S.O.A.Ps in hotels (see 7000 bars of soap to fight Human Trafficking ) or keeping the hotline number on hand in case you see something (1-888-373-7888), you are part of the global fight against slavery. You are an abolitionist.

I guess that makes me one, too.

My part? I pray, I speak on trafficking–not just the problem but how people can be part of the solution. I have three Amazon bestselling books out that take those big overwhelming numbers (20 million slaves in the world today) and bring them down to one girl’s story, reminding us all that making a difference isn’t just about changing the big numbers; it’s about rescuing people. One at a time.

For me, the most important aspect of delivering the captives is giving them the ultimate freedom and lasting hope of Jesus Christ–who loves them unconditionally and wants them to live with worth and joy.

And captivity isn’t just those who are obviously trafficked. It is estimated that 1 in 4 girls is sexually abused as a child (1 in 6 boys) and that is a prime training ground for future exploitation. I met a woman who had been raped at age 15 by a 30-year-old man and when she got pregnant, her father forced her to marry him, not believing her story. She spent years going to church on Sunday morning and then going home to a husband who abused her.

Another woman now working in a strip club used to teach Sunday School, before things got “really bad.”

I want to stop human trafficking before it starts. To teach young girls and boys their worth, so that they do not seek it in dangerous places. To teach women and men that what has happened to them does not define them, so they can be free of their past and have hope for the future.

Jesus came to set the captives free. Those of us who are abolitionists are part of that.

Why am I an abolitionist? Because no one should wake up afraid. Because no one should live without hope or love. Because I have so many freedoms and others have none. Because Jesus said to love my neighbor as myself, and that it is more blessed to give than receive.

Most of all, because every hurting child, every broken woman, every enslaved man is loved with an everlasting love by God Himself. And if I love God, I must love them too. They are part of who He is.

Will you join the fight? Find out more about how you can help at www.kimberlyrae.com under “Causes.” Jesus may be calling you to help set the captives free!

Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:9

The links in the article go to the following URLs:

Fighting HT with Jewelry, Parties and a New Book

http://kimberlyraeauthor.blogspot.com/2011/05/fighting-human-trafficking-with-jewelry.html

7000 bars of soap to fight Human Trafficking

http://kimberlyraeauthor.blogspot.com/2012/08/7000-bars-of-soap-to-fight-human.html

Kimberly Rae has lived in Bangladesh, Uganda, Kosovo and Indonesia. Her suspense/romance novels on international human trafficking and missions (Stolen Woman, Stolen Child and Stolen Future) are all Amazon bestsellers. Addison’s disease brought her back to the US, where she now writes from her home at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. Rae is married and has two young children. Find out about Kimberly’s new series on living joyfully with chronic health problems or her other books at www.kimberlyrae.com.