by Mary Elizabeth Goodell For as long as I can remember, my favorite Bible story has always been Esther. It may have something to do with the way the whole story feels like a fairytale. A young, beautiful, orphan meets a king, becomes a princess, saves a nation. As far as role models go, Esther is tough to beat. As I got older, I would study her story again and again and some of the complexities became more real to me. How terrifying it would be to be taken to the kings palace alone, without family. The insecurity of being surrounded by concubines. The risk she took going in to see the king without an invitation. Esther wasn't a Disney princess, she was a Katniss. She was kind and brave and compassionate and fearless and convicted. She embraced her situation and used it to speak up for the people she loved. The verse that stands out the most from that book is Esther 4:14"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” I'm very present-oriented. I understand the value of the past and the importance of planning for the future; but the way I'm wired always has me concerned with the present. So the phrase "for such a time as this" carries a lot of weight for me. My sophomore year of college, I had a friend tell me about their sexual assault. They were confused, hurt, and didn't know how to talk about it or what to do next. I was shocked. I knew sexual abuse happened, but not like that, not to people I knew. When they told our friends, they weren't met with the same reaction. My friends asked "well were you dating?" "Had it happened before?" "well you know, boys will just be boys sometimes. They're so dumb." Cue the record scratch. Boys will be boys? Over the course of that year, I had not one, not two, but six more women (and two men) tell me about their experiences of sexual abuse, harassment, and assault. The next year, I would learn of even more stories and each time, I saw the same theme play out. Women within the church didn't know how to deal with sexual abuse, because they were so weighted by guilt, shame, and "It's my fault it happened in the first place". And the excuse for the perpetrator was often that same half-hearted refrain "Well, boys will be boys". I couldn't make sense of it. Was that what people really thought? That we just couldn't avoid sexual assault? That men are just built this way and can't be stopped? It kept me up at night. I was gripped by this pain that my friends felt. Sexual abuse continued to creep closer to me as more and more friends disclosed their experiences. Eventually, I was also on the receiving end of sexual harrassment and felt myself become so frustrated that more people didn't care. How could the the church not be doing more? Things really changed for me as I was sitting in a business class during my junior year and finally found a way to apply this call I felt to fight sexual exploitation. My professor explained how when women are trafficked into prositution, they can be arrested and stuck with a criminal charge. This makes it incredibly difficult to find a job or find stability. After a few months, many women return to the sex industry because all other economic opportunities are closed to them. "Someone has to do something." I remember thinking. I felt like the floor was slipping out from under my feet and gripped my desk tighter. "This is so easy, we just find ways to give them job coaching and economic opportunities. Why doesn't someone do it?" I looked around my classroom at my peers. Somebody should do something. I was in a room full of Christian business leaders to be. Surely, if anyone could act, it would be someone here. "For such a time as this." Then I felt that proverbial lightbulb ping. Me. Maybe it was me. Maybe I was supposed to do something. Over the next several years I threw myself into the issue. Educating myself, talking to experts, praying, volunteering, listening, anything I could do to understand the complexity of the issue and how I could participate in the solution. By God's grace, since I started learning, I have been able to meet incredible people doing amazing things to combat trafficking around the world. I have been able to meet and work with friends from A21, Walk Her Home, Samaritan's Purse, IJM, Not For Sale, Wellspring Living Academy, the Salvation Army, New Name, and many more. What I have learned is that there is power in knowing. There is power in praying for and actively seeking to serve this population. These women bring so much to the table. They are creative and brave and innovative and strong. I have learned so much from them and pray that I will continue to have opportunities to know their stories. As I've gotten bolder about sharing my passion, I've seen God do big things. Like Esther, we are called to speak on behalf of the silenced. To advocate for the oppressed. The secret is to be totally unashamed about talking about your heart. About being bold in sharing your passion. That's how people know, that's how the mission goes further. We were not meant to tackle these things alone, and so I invite people in- as many as I can. That's how a nation is saved. Currently, I am serving with New Name as their Wicker Park Route Leader where I get to serve with some of the kindest and dearest friends you can imagine. I have also been able to join a team that hosts events to raise awareness and to advocate for groups doing outreach and aftercare for women who have been trafficked. I'm not an expert or a princess, I just followed where the Lord was leading and said "yes" to opportunities to go into the throne room to speak up. If you want to better understand the issue of human trafficking, join us this Thursday night on May 25th at the Branch to learn more and get involved. Learn more here
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By Chelsea Sherlock
A lot of my energy during college was used to try to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I knew what I wanted to study, but not what I wanted to do with it. Should I pursue working for a church or non-profit? Did I want to graduate school? Could I survive graduate school? Should I stay in the U.S. or go abroad? Was I being selfish if I went the corporate path? For most of senior year, I thought I had figured it out. My calling was overseas missions. I told people that was what I was doing. Then in March, three months before graduation, God said no. Suddenly I had to once again start looking for a job. When I was hired and started my current job, I thought that feeling of uncertainty would end. I was in the world of marketing. I’d made a decision and it was going well. For a brief period, I felt like I was I was doing what the King had planned for me as I settled into my apartment, got used to my position and invested in a small group through my church. Then those internal questions about what I'm doing with my life came back. Once again, I've been wrestling with the topic of "what do I want to do with my life?" and "what is God calling me to do with my time?" As I've talked to more people my age and further along in life, this seems like something that won't go away for a while. It's expected that in this stage of our life as young adults, we're going to be seekers for a while and will be on and off for the rest of our life. One of the best parts of this stage of our life is the amount of freedom we have to move to new areas, choose how we spend our free time, volunteer for a cause we care about, find a side hustle, and give financially. The downside of the freedom is that the amount of choices can diminish our certainty that we made the right choice. People in my life have provided needed guidance for moving forward in pursuit of God when things seem unclear, and I'd love to pass it on.... “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5. 1) God will direct you on your path. Pick a direction, move towards it and trust God to course correct as needed. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:37-40 2) God's chief desire for his disciples is for them to love Him and love His people. If what you are passionate about what falls under those two commandments, it fits within God's will. We have room to choose based on our desires and preferences when the options don’t oppose God’s will. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” - 1 John 5:14 3) Pray. Speak with God, asking Him for guidance, sharing your frustration, confusion, excitement and any other thing you’re experiencing. Ask Him to provide opportunities and wise council. Yield your will to His. Ask for him to give you a sacrificial heart, wisdom and a willingness to embrace being uncomfortable. “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,” – Colossians 1:9-11 4) Know that God might not have something that seems impressive planned for this stage of your life. Jesus didn’t start his ministry until his thirties, which is around the same age David was when he became King, and Paul was when he became a Christian. Moses was 80 when he led the Israelites from Egypt. This might be a season of growth that prepares you for what God has next. There is no perfect strategy for knowing how to spend your time and money and what to pursue career-wise, but hopefully these will provide a good framework. For me they have been guidelines that have helped me go from just thinking about what I should do with my life to actually taking action - even if that action step is something small like emailing someone for more information, sending an application or choosing to go to an event or meeting. We have the freedom through trusting the Lord to try and fail and try and fail again as we pursue serving Him. |
AuthorMay 22nd's post is from Mary Elizabeth Goodell. She lives in Ukrainian Village on the west side of Chicago and works for Hope Works Community Development. She is committed to working with and for the disenfranchised, particularly women who have experienced sexual exploitation and gender based violence.
BloggersWe'll post from a variety of voices of 20-somethings in the Windy City who are navigating life, work and relationships post-college. Archives
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