Noemi

Do you remember the longest night you’ve ever had? A night when you are the only one awake and it seems like everyone in your home is having the sweetest of dreams while you’re tortured by your thoughts and restlessness. You look at the clock and the time is nowhere near day break. Its dark, its lonely, and it seems like the sun will never come up.

 I have those nights often. And often, God tells me to stay up and pray. On the nights that I actually obey God’s nudging, I will roll off my bed to my knees. As I pray, God shows me the faces of children sitting underground with their faces partially lit and partially shadowed as if they are underground, and there is a grate of metal bars placed above them like a lid and the light partly shines on them as they sit in darkness.

 There are millions of children, women, and even men too living in the dark places under the oppression of an abusive trafficker. Their nights are long and torturous in the worst possible way.  Their days are filled with work, fear and dehumanizing abuse. There is no going back to sleep after a nightmare. There is no light of day for them.

 It is paralyzing to think about what I can do to help them as I am only one seemingly powerless person, but I kneel before a power-full God… and pray! I pray, and I beg God to have mercy on His children. I pray for rescuing hands to save those souls from their oppressor. And, I pray that God continue to wake me up in the middle of the night to pray.

 I alone can’t do anything, but together, with other women, WE can bring the light of day to the oppressed children of God. Let’s pray fervently and let’s give sacrificially to those organizations involved in rescuing slaves. This is why I’m participating in Dressember and asking you to do so also… because the people in charge of Dressember are working directly with organizations like the A21 and the International Justice Mission who are on the ground, doing the work, knowledgeable in how to make the changes and bring the justice that helps free these children, women, and men out of the darkness. And in the meantime… we pray that the light of day, through Jesus Christ, might be theirs too.

“People sitting out their lives in the dark saw a huge light; Sitting in that dark, dark country of death, they watched the sun come up.” (Matthew 4:16; Isaiah 9:1-2) MSG

~Noemi H-Alexander