th (4)Do you know the Golden Rule? I would venture to guess most people are familiar with it, even those who aren’t believers in Christ. It can be found in Luke 6:31,

Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Matthew 7:12 also records it and goes so far as to say the Golden Rule sums up the Law and the Prophets.

This morning as I was reading an article about North Carolina holding a symposium on human trafficking for law enforcement, I couldn’t help but think of the Golden Rule.

What is one thing we all desire to have in our lives? I’m sure you could list a lot of things, but the thing that hit me today was the desire to have someone we can count on, someone in our corner. No one wants to be completely totally alone to face life by themselves.

Victims of sex trafficking have a very difficult time trusting people, because they’ve used and abused by them. Their rationale doesn’t always make sense to the onlooker.

One young lady I’ve come to know and love is white, yet she will only date black men. I couldn’t understand it because her pimp, the man who sold her countless times a night, was black, so I asked her.  I told her I wasn’t judging her, I was simply trying to understand her rationale. She wasn’t offended by my genuine desire to understand her and her response made perfect sense to me once she explained it.

Only white men bought me. A black man never paid to rape me.”

Please understand I am not saying only white men purchase women for sex. This crime impacts every race; however, this particular young lady was never purchased by black men.

As these women and children transition from victim to survivor, they need someone who will love them and walk life out with them, someone who won’t judge them, but will try to understand them. It is a hard road to healing they must walk, but if left to walk it alone, they won’t make it. They need someone to walk it with them.

Ecclesiastes 5:9-10 says,

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

We all experience problems and hardships in life but we manage to survive them because of the love and help of those around us. They carry us through when we can’t take another step [Mark 2:1-5]. These young ladies need the same.

When asked about the successful treatment of sex trafficking victims, Dr. Lois Lee, Founder and President, Children of the Night said,

It did not seem to matter whether the residential program offered three beds or 24 beds, was faith based, government funded, privately funded, well-funded or financially struggling – what stood out was the single critical figure who these children learned to trust, on whom they could depend, and in whom they could confide.”

The determining factor in success or failure was a trusted individual who cared, Jesus with skin on. Isn’t that the same for you and me? We all need somebody to lean on during our difficulties in life and someone to celebrate the victories with us.

There are literally thousands of victims of sex trafficking in our nation. Would you be willing to be a friend to one? Would you be willing to visit a treatment program once a month to spend time with a young lady? Would you be willing to write a note of encouragement to someone? Would you take sixty seconds a day to pray for her?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, please click here and find an organization you’re willing to partner with to help survivors or you can do your own Google search to find an organization near you.

We all need somebody to lean on. Would you be willing to be that somebody for another person today?

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