Infinitely More

who is your cause?

We seem to be a generation of folks who are in love with causes, and at this point in history we have many to choose from. This world is full of brokenness, full of people in need and full of people who have an abundance of money or just “things” to throw at the needs. When we attach ourselves to a cause we feel alive and like what we are doing matters. But what happens when we feel tired of giving? Or we lose interest or motivation? We are only human and can physically, mentally, monetarily, spiritually only give so much. Is there a cause that actually fills us up after we have poured out all we have? What if this cause is a person?

The thing is, I have come to the conclusion in my heart that Jesus is the only real solution for any brokenness, for any need, for any one and any thing. He is the one who brings restoration and healing and apart from Him, we cannot really experience freedom or be made whole. 

But, I still hear the world screaming, “What cause will you live for?” Since I first heard about sex trafficking 2 years ago and learned about the heartbreaking realities of people stuck in the sex trade, I have desired to see freedom, justice and restoration. And recently, God revealed to me that my heart was attached to the cause of sex trafficking. I found myself losing hope, being tired, and not being able to give anymore of myself. It was in this moment that I heard God asking me “Who are you living for?” Pretty much He was saying, “Have you forgotten who I am? Have you forgotten that you are nothing and can do nothing apart from me?”

If we give our all to a cause, we can give and give and give but we will run out. The awesome thing is, God never runs out. He is eternally gracious, loving, and just. He is the one who fills us up with all of our souls desires and needs and then allows us to pour out His love on the hurting world around us.

Christ is the answer. Christ is my cause. Partnering with God in this spiritual battle is the best tactic we have. Because in reality it is not about a “bad guy” that is making sex trafficking occur. It is much deeper than what we know or even what we see. There is bondage in the hearts of all people involved in sex trafficking and God desires to see His children set free. Christ died and then was raised to life for us all.

Are we willing to live for Him, and not the newest, most popular cause?

-K. Scott

learning to love

    Summer. Gosh, I never thought it would get here and now that it finally has, I feel nowhere near ready for it. It took Kelly and I hours to even think about packing, since last summer we both packed for countries on the other side of the globe. We didn’t know how to pack for a summer in America, much less the trendy city of Asheville, NC. Somehow we managed to cram all of our things into her car and make the drive down the mountain with little expectation for what our summer would hold.
    The first morning, we woke up to the curiosity of what our new routine would look like. We made breakfast with the little food we could afford the night before and headed out to spend some sweet time with Jesus. The morning was peaceful and full of eager hope for what is to come in the next three months. As I flipped through my bible searching for a verse, another one stood out to me, funny how Jesus does that. Psalm twenty-seven verses eleven through fourteen says, “Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. Do not let me fall into their hands, for they accuse me of things I’ve never don’t; with every breath they threaten me with violence. Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.” The Lord has been laying it on my heart lately to CHILL OUT and wait PATIENTLY for His plan and His timing on revealing to me what He has for me. Patiently waiting for things has never been my strong suit, but as I enter into a summer of discovering more about myself, I anticipate that I will be enduring quite a bit of it. The rest of our day was spent learning about each other. Sure, Kel and I have been spending quality time together for almost a year now, but that’s really all we have done. Yesterday was good for learning about each others strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, desires and ways in which we feel loved. We ate cake, called each other by our nicknames, sang Justin Bieber’s, “One Less Lonely Girl” and learned how to love each other well. I also learned that Kelly is going to cut her hair this summer and learn how to truly depend on Christ for her identity, so stay tuned for trendy, new-haircut pictures. Later that night we made our way to the Gopal’s (so cute.) for dinner and an overview of our first week of work. We left will full bellies, generously given bags of food, a new computer case(why Amanda didn’t love my teeshirt substitute for a computer case, I don’t know), and a head full of goals for the summer. We prayed over our house and entered into a night of hard sleeping and sweet dreams of drinking root beer.
    Today, we have been experiencing God’s sweet love for us through meeting new friends, learning to receive gifts and forgiving ourselves. These past two days have been filled with so much learning, I can’t even begin to imagine the growth that will come of it as a whole. Thanks for reading all of this, I can’t promise the next one will be less word vomit and more insightful wisdom, but I’d like to think it will be! We love y’all and we’re grateful for you.

peace, love and food stamps,
Barb and Margeaux
(Kelly and Kate)

P.S. We would love your prayer this summer. This week you can be praying for:
- Financial support, we need about $11,780 more dollars to live this summer.
- A way for us to give back to this community. We want to be able to invest in people well and share Christ’s love with those we meet in an intentional way.

One Dress, One Month

The Hundred Movement at Appalachian State University will be promoting One Dress, One Month for the month of April to spread awareness about sex trafficking and to advocate support for the Hope House. 

To raise awareness for sex trafficking victims who cannot change the circumstances that they are in while being trafficked, we will not be changing our clothes for the whole month.  Women will be wearing one dress and men will wear one purple shirt for the entire month of April.  The color purple relates to justice, which we are trying to promote for survivors and current individuals enslaved by trafficking. 

Participants are encouraged to donate $10 to the Hope House, representing the money they would have spent on clothes for the month.  Finding sponsors, such as family, friends, churches, etc., is another way to raise money for the Hope House.

The Hope House is a nonprofit organization in Boone and Asheville with a mission “to provide a place of seclusion, restoration, and healing for domestic victims of sex trafficking.” 

Donations can be:

• given through the Hope House’s website (http://www.hopehousenc.com/#!__do-something) via Paypal.
• checks or cash mailed to P.O. Box 9737 Asheville, NC 28815
• or cash given to one of The Hundred Movement interns

Join our One Dress, One Month Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/196566113786639/?context=create

Please join us in recognizing the injustice of sex trafficking both in the United States and worldwide while also raising funds for our local trafficking shelter, The Hope House. April 1st-30th!!

yet I will rejoice in the LORD

Habakkuk’s Complaint to the Lord:

“How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?  Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?  Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.  Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.  The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.”  Habakkuk 1:2-4

The Lord’s answer:

“Look at the nations and watch-and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”  Habakkuk 1:5

Habakkuk’s second complaint:

“You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler.  The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.  Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?”  Habakkuk 1:14-17

The Lord’s answer:

“Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.  Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:2-3

Like Habakkuk, we must wait for the Lord.  Although we are surrounded by the sex trafficking industry’s evil and destruction, we must remember that God has appointed the right time for justice to arise. 

“yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.  For the director of music.  On my stringed instruments.” Habakkuk 3:18-19.

Sydney

praise, cry, shout, whisper, fight. pray.

You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them. PSALM 10:18

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. PROVERBS 31:8

Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure! PSALM 32:10-11

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. PSALM34:17-18

With every bone in my body I will praise him: “Lord, who can compare with you? Who else rescues the helpless from the strong? Who else protects the helpless and poor from those who rob them?” PSALM 35:10

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. ROMANS 4:5

And Jesus answered them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” MATTHEW 21:21-22

Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land. PSALM 12:7-8

There is no fear  in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 JOHN 4:18

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. ISAIAH 55:10-11

WE WHO ARE STRONG HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO BEAR WITH THE FAILINGS OF THE WEAK, AND NOT TO PLEASE OURSELVES. LET EACH OF US PLEASE HIS NEIGHBOR FOR HIS GOOD, TO BUILD HIM UP. FOR CHRIST DID NOT PLEASE HIMSELF…ROMANS 15:1-3

…You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions…Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. JAMES 4:2,3,7,8,10

“the greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph.” -the butterfly circus

kelly scott

we are the few

                      “The harvest is vast, but the workers are few.” -Jesus

I was really inspired by the message I heard today at church from Dominic Russo, author of Do Not Say I Am Too Young.  He took this simple statement by Jesus and transformed it to apply to my life.  If the harvest is vast, and the workers are few…then, who are the workers? 

In our work to take 100 girls off of the street by the church’s support and influence, we need to be one of the few. 

As Russo spoke the message, he identified six qualities that the few contain:

1- They see with different eyes. ->->John 4.35

    “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes   and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest.”  The people we are ministering to are ready for Jesus in their lives. It’s our job to give them that first step, let them know who He is and His amazing love.

2- They live for another world. ->->Philippians 3.20

   “But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Our citizenship is in heaven-never settle on earth.

3- They joyfully lose their life. ->->Matthew 10.39

     “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  We are willing to give up our life plans for His. 

4-They are fiercely loyal to Jesus. ->->Luke 14.26

    “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters- yes, even his own life- he cannot be my disciple.”  We put our relationship with the Father before all others.

5- Their love is louder than words. ->->1 John 3.16

6- They need to commit to GO. ->-> Jeremiah 1.7

“But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.”  We take our God’s instruction seriously and take action!

With these 6 points, The Hundred Movement is one of the few. 

      Women and children enslaved in sex trafficking need to be freed and shown the love from people and the Lord that they deserve.  We see the harvest, and it’s now our turn to change our lives to fit God’s plan for The Hundred and to commit to GO save these people.

-Sydney Beshore