the start of something new.

So, today is the day. I'm really excited about what the next 40 days (plus Sundays) hold for us. I really believe that God can do something amazing through this little project if we just allow him to intervene in our lives. I'm praying that my heart will be changed and that I'll (in my own little way) be broken for the sake of the poor. For the sake of the helpless. For the little girls in the world that need to see the hope and a future that God has promised them.

Black dress, Cardigan from AE, Tights from Loft.

Our closest estimates say that there are 27 million slaves in the world today. Twenty-seven MILLION. This is in a variety of different ways- it's not just little girls and women. Some people are enslaved in bonded labor. Some people (men and women) are trapped in the sex trade. The average cost of a slave during the pre-Civil War era (adjusted for inflation) would be about $40,000 of today's US dollars. The average cost of a slave today? $90. Why are we so outraged about what happened 200 years ago in our nation, but we aren't upset about the modern-day slaves today? Do we think that they deserve it? Or do we just want to ignore the problem?

I don't want to ignore this problem any longer. I CAN'T ignore this problem any longer. I have been blessed, ridiculously blessed...so that I could be a blessing to others. God did not place me on this earth to bring glory to myself. God placed me on this earth to show his love to other people and to bring glory to his name. I don't want to live an empty life. I want to live a life that is so full of God that when other people see me, they see the God within my inner being. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of all of the things in this world. It makes me sick to think that sometimes I avoid thinking of these things, because they're messy. Sex trafficking is messy. We don't like to talk about these things. But, even if we ignore the problem, the fact is that 200,000-300,000 children are at risk in the United States for getting trapped in the sex trafficking industry. That's too many. We CAN'T ignore the problem anymore. 

That's why I'm doing The One Dress Project. That's why I'm wearing one dress for the next 40 days. I want people to ask me why on earth I'm wearing the same thing everyday (Don't worry. I plan on washing it.). I want to think about all of the precious children, women, and men that are being trafficked. That are enslaved. That are in bondage. When I get dressed each morning, I want to think about these lives. These lives are precious and valuable to God. He sees each and every one of them as one of his children-just like the "pretty people" that go to church every Sunday. I want to find worth in human life. I want to bring awareness to this issue- and I want to DO SOMETHING about it. 

So, if you look to the sidebar on my blog, you'll see two links under the "One Dress Project" button. The first link is to my post on Monday that explains what I'm doing. The second one is a link to As Our Own so that you can join in the journey. As Our Own works with girls and women in India. I would ask you to prayerfully consider joining this journey with me. Commit to praying for these people we are going to talk about. Pray for the situations. Pray for God's will to be done. But don't stop there. Do something. Make this cause personal. You can go to As Our Own's website and learn more about them and I'm going to be posting more about them as we go. Today is the start of something new.