Please Don’t Use Me… Christine McDonald
We have to acknowledge the intersection between poverty and homelessness as a platform for individuals to be vulnerable to be trafficked. Males are often labor trafficked, and females fall victim to commercial exploitation. We can’t continue to turn a blind eye to this population and its targeting by traffickers seeking victims to exploit for their financial gain.
—Christine Clarity McDonald
There are times when we all want to slip into the crowds unnoticed, but there is still a part of us that deeply longs to be known and seen and cared for. Jesus offers this to believers, and being known by the Creator of the Universe is the most profound “knowing” we could possibly experience. However, the world around us is full of broken individuals who feel invisible because they don’t yet know Christ, and the rest of humanity either ignores them or only sees them when they can be used.
In John Chapter 4, we read the story of Jesus and his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. The most profound aspect of the story isn’t that Jesus calls her out for being married multiple times. Nor is it that He knows that the man she is currently living with isn’t her husband. What is profound is that He truly knew her. He saw her. Because Jesus was able to see her, when He offered her living water, she believed.
When we claim to feel moved by the hurts and sufferings of others, yet we fail to truly see those who are hurting as individuals, our efforts to relieve suffering or bring healing fail. Sometimes such efforts even do more harm.
God doesn’t ask us to take on the world, but to offer the world hope. We are His ambassadors to a hurting world. Being intentional and thoughtful in our interactions can go a long way in offering hope to those in our sphere of influence. What if we open our hearts to Him, and let Him help us see those around us as He does?
Each and every soul on this planet was fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)
Each one is a treasure to the One we love most. He is calling us to see them as precious treasures, too.
https://www.gofundme.com/crypurplemovie
“Love your neighbor, all of ’em.” -Christine Clarity McDonald
February 25, 2019 at 12:25 PM
This is SO IMPORTANT. I am a sex trafficking survivor. I am also involved in my church. I am an animal lover with two cats and a dog. I love to sing and write and my whole house is covered in sticky notes cause I’m terrible at remembering things. I color code my planner. I tutor first graders twice a week. I am a PERSON. I am HUMAN. I am a CHILD OF GOD. Yes, I am a sex trafficking survivor, but I am so, so much more.
Hope