It was just after New Year’s, January 2012. I was home in South Carolina after visiting my parents for Christmas. It was evening, and I was listening to a live steam of the Passion 2012 Conference being held in Atlanta, Georgia. As Christine Caine took the stage, I had no idea my life was about to change.

Things were already beginning to shift in my life. Six months before the Lord began moving my heart toward women’s ministry. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I knew He wanted me to alter my work from supporting others as an administrative assistant on a church staff to a larger capacity of ministry with a focus on helping women deepen their relationships with Christ. But that night, as Christine shared how she had come to learn of human trafficking, my vision for ministry expanded. Christine shared how more than 27 million people were enslaved, a number that has since grown as the topic has gained more attention in recent years. At this point in my life I had no idea what human trafficking was. Sure, I had seen the movie Taken, but things like that didn’t really happen. Did they? 

I learned through another speaker at the same conference that not only were millions of people trapped in appalling conditions without hope for their future, but that Atlanta was a major hub for human trafficking in the United States, especially for the sexual trafficking of children. I was blown away, heartbroken, and forever changed. Atlanta, a city I had spent 5 wonderful years in, was home to this vile, unspeakable business of destroying human beings. It was happening all around me, and I had no idea. 

I immediately began researching more on the topic, reading survivor stories, searching websites of NGO’s working on the frontlines, scouring everything the government had published in their reports. I knew God was not only calling me to minister to women, but to these women caught in the trap of sex trafficking specifically. 

In January of 2013, I moved to Charlotte and began volunteering with organizations fighting human trafficking in the city, trying to learn as much as I could. I spoke to women in the church, attempting to engage them in the fight. I held Bible studies and invited women who had escaped the life to attend. I went back to school to study psychology and sexual trauma so I could better understand what survivors lived every day. I did what I could, but it was never enough. 

Then in February of 2016 my world changed yet again. I learned my mother had stage IV cancer. In April, the weekend after her passing, I moved from North Carolina back to Michigan to care for my father. I thought my dreams of serving women were gone forever. 

Yet, in the providence of God, He directed my path to cross with an organization called Trihope. An organization whose purpose is to guide survivors of sexual trauma into the hope, healing, and freedom of Jesus. I began volunteering with them in January of 2017. In 2018, Trihope became part of LifeClinic Community Resources and my title changed to Trauma Program Director. I am consistently amazed that I am able to live out the plan God whispered into my spirit so many years before as Christine Caine opened my eyes to the darkness I previously couldn’t see. I am humbled and honored every day to be a part of this great kingdom work.