my brave friends

my dear friend jessica talked about jesus and bared her heart thursday morning. she poured herself out as a liquid love offering to his heart for our sake. it was beautiful (and so was her power point with all its damask and artfulnesses) and brave. it got me to thinking about other women i know (or know of) that have bravely written or spoken or loved.

as i began to make a mental list, immediately prudy and elora came to mind. they are new online acquaintances of mine, and i have enjoyed getting to know them via instagram, a facebook art journaling community, and their respective blogs (and a skype story-coaching session with elora)... they write, and it's good, and they are warrioresses who fight back darkness with the light.

prudy got on a plane to moldova yesterday, to work with girls rescued out of human trafficking. she is going to be loving on these girls, and even doing an art journal workshop with them! i can't wait to see what comes out of her time there.

i thought elora was brave when i saw her blogging and story-coaching and healing in her own life and offering that light to others, and initiating an ecourse after publishing her first book this year. but then i read her book. oh. em. gee. you have to read it. it's called come alive, and it's about the evil of human trafficking and the truth of rescue. i read most of it in one sitting, largely because i didn't want to be left with the more disturbing scenes, where she paints a realistic picture of the underbelly of humanity... (going to bed husbandless as he is out camping, my fears have their way with me more often... especially given fodder of just how dark the world can look - before the light enters! and oh, he does...) but also being captivated by the story and the internal world of the characters, resonating deeply. read. it.

do you notice a theme here? i did. and remembered last week's post by emily. and the book i read over the summer that forced me to stop long enough to remember that my choices impact this world, for good or evil (eg. buying fair trade, instead of continuing the demand for enslaved workers and trafficking), and i went to the author's blog today, and what is her last post titled, but "brave moms raise brave kids"
and erika's fist bump to the freeing of enslaved workers in india while writing about loving and justice in a world rife with hellishness... and my friend kelsey, who is one of the top experts on sex trafficking in australia (and elsewhere). she has been in the trenches, folks. working to free women in every way possible these last years. she has opened my eyes to much, and she has been a light.

i finished reading elora's book around midnight, and had to write now because i can't seem to extinguish this fire in my bones. a passion for justice. for the unloved to know their belovedness. for healing and light and truth in the innermost being. here. there. here...