MISS AMY:

I walked into the church this afternoon carrying more bags than I normally do. The first question was, “Well, Miss Amy, what are you up to today?” I have created a reputation!

I said, “Oh, we are gonna make things erupt!” And then I added, “This may be the last time i counsel at Gospel City.”

I came prepared to minimize the mess. I set rules and for the most part they were followed. I also told staff that I had to do desk work in high school chemistry when it was lab time because I may have blown things up or started fires (small ones).

Here is what we did tonight. (Each kid walked in and said, “Uh, Miss Amy. What are we doing?”)🤣

I did this three times tonight. Warm water in the glass is us. Food coloring is our emotions. They picked the color that matched what they were feeling. Then some dish soap. Then baking soda which represents the consequences. It starts to fizz a little just with the baking soda. Then each kid moved their seat back! We talked at each step and when I poured the vinegar in they all stood up and said, “Whoa!!”

Really good convos came from it. It was a good visual of what happens when we hold emotions in. I’m the first to admit that I do it!

One added several colors and I pointed out that’s a lot of different emotions. One had me pour more vinegar in to make it erupt again and he said, “Jesus is overflowing!” I was floored. I gave him a high five and he was smiling like I’ve never seen him smile.

I didn’t get very good pictures of it erupting. (I was making sure it didn’t get everywhere!)

It erupted much higher than this!

Tonight was fun and this really got the kids talking!

Maybe next week we will make things explode!

WE NEED TO GET IT TOGETHER:

I used to have children who have endured abuse or lived in a domestic violence situation tell me about the angels they saw during those times. “It was always behind the couch with me.” “I could always talk to my angel while I hid.” Something has shifted, though.

Over a year ago I started telling people that things seem to be getting worse as far as abuse and neglect goes. The stories are getting harder and harder to hear. I wasn’t the only one saying it. I’ve had conversations with board members from different organizations say the same thing. “Our meetings are very depressing.” That’s when I started feeling the heaviness at work. It’s always been heavy but this was different. It led me to taking a break and starting something new.

I have prayed several times; “God, what is going on? Why are these cases getting so much worse?” I believe I got my answer this past week. “We would pray to God to help us and nobody ever did so we started talking to the devil.” That’s when things became VERY VERY bad for these children. In the past two weeks I have had three people say that line to me. It’s chilling.

I saw a quote today from a pastor that said, “The Christian life isn’t a game. It’s war.” Yes! 100% yes! I told someone recently that I feel like I’m starting to literally pull people out of the grips of hell. You have to engage in war to do that and without going through all that I experienced over the past year or more, I’m not sure I would have known what to do. But I do now. When I felt like I needed to stop things, step back and take some time off of work, I had no idea what I was being prepared for.

I recognized my need for rest yesterday and this time I didn’t try to push through. I rearranged things and ended up sleeping the majority of the day. Sleep is healing to your mind, body and soul.

I went to hear a talk on human trafficking today and was disappointed. The one speaker brought in a lot of scripture about us being called to help. I enjoyed his talk. The next one is what I was disappointed with. I kept waiting for this faith-based organization to talk about, well, that they for one are a faith-based organization and that they use a biblical based treatment for the survivors. During the Q&A time I waited to see what others asked. One lady asked several questions and a few asked about how the kids come to their program. I finally asked what the teens treatment looks like and was incredibly disappointed. Community mental health. Skills training. Nothing biblical because they have to respect that not all youth have the same faith affiliation. Are you kidding me?

This isn’t the first time I’ve run into this. Heck, the faith-based organization I work for doesn’t bring in biblical principals in our treatment to our clients because we have to adhere to the state. I met with another faith-based agency this summer and towards the end of the conversation I asked about using biblical principles. Nope. They respect that not all believe the same. I am not saying that community mental health doesn’t help people; I’ve seen people make some good changes. However, faith-based organizations are not giving these teens what will ultimately change their lives and bring healing and they are respecting all beliefs? What is going on?

Maybe if we actually had faith-based places sharing the truth with people, we wouldn’t have a family of children waiting for help and when it didn’t come, and God wasn’t coming through for them they decide to turn to Satan. Can THAT be enough for people to live out their faith? Not just be Sunday Only Christians? Actually share with them what will help? Have a place that does their job and removes children and protects them?

The hard reality to this is that when we don’t…SATAN will and does. I have now seen it and it is dark and heavy. I decided to go to a prayer meeting at church tonight. The KIDS did not stop praying! They just kept going! I sat and closed my eyes and just listened and then wept. Satan is after our children in a big way. Look at what Hamas (Satan) is doing. It’s beyond horrific.

Some of my “church hurt” came from me teaching biblical truth and parents, who attended the church for years, slammed me for doing so. “We don’t want our kids hearing that.” “You can’t say there is one truth.” These are parents that I worked side by side with in youth ministry. Who sang the worship songs. Attended bible studies.

My eyes are opened to a lot of what truly was going on during my time in youth ministry. I got slammed over and over for speaking basic biblical truths. For standing up against allowing demonic games being played IN the church. Well….Amy is back and MUCH stronger and wiser and has now seen with her eyes what Satan does to children and she isn’t backing down.

These verses came to me way back when I felt called to ministry and they have come back to me again. I think this time I am recognizing that I really am “set apart” for something much bigger than me (no short jokes) and that there is some kind of anointing on me like people have said over the years. I’m still trying to figure out how to live in your anointing.

Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.”

I might be stumbling my way through this calling on my life but I’m not stopping.

NO WORDS:

It has been a hard week with the last 24 or more hours being the HARDEST. I’m thankful for the break I took from work several months ago and I am thankful that I decided to go part time. It gave me a chance to clear my head from 15 years of social work. I think it also helped me be able to hear what I heard yesterday. The people that I have had to get involved with this situation have all said they felt sick to their stomach. Agreed! It wasn’t until today that my emotions started to surface. I don’t have the ability to wrap my mind around EVIL. I will never understand the things people do to hurt the innocent.

I went out to dinner tonight and, as always, was offered words of encouragement and given space to process. On my drive home, these two songs played, and I felt my body relax and start releasing the tension I was feeling. Say some prayers for these kiddos.

DARE YA:

This summer Mason was going through my things and found my IPod Nano and asked, “What is this?” I think it’s been a good 11 years since I listened to the music and podcasts are on it. I charged it up and looked through the playlists and came across this song. This song used to motivate me as I did youth ministry, mission trips, social work and social justice.

I have ALWAYS been drawn to social justice; I just didn’t know the term for it as a kid. I guess a better way to say it is, I have always been CALLED to help others. I started to second guess myself last summer that I was right about this CALLING but now there is no denying it.

I have been in social work for almost 16 years now. I spent the majority of my adult life working in youth ministry either as a volunteer or in a paid position. I have done mission trips. I slept outside in boxes with my youth group, on a snowy night, to help an organization raise awareness and money for homelessness. (Probably never doing that again!) I have been a part of counting the homeless in our community. I had no idea that was even a thing. I have had dinner at the homeless shelters my clients were living in. I have sat on the streets and talked with homeless. I have knelt in front of a homeless lady to help her put on the new shoes we gave her and felt the scar from the bullet she took to the back of her leg. I have heard awful stories of child abuse and wonder why those “parents” are not in prison. I have seen grief in the midst of tragedy. I have befriended drug dealers because I know they will “have my back” while I’m in my client’s home. I gained respect so nobody would mess with my car or myself. One of them would call me “Crazy Amy.” I have worked with kids who have been trafficked right here in our community. Yes…it happens here!

All of that is why I needed a break. I could tell you more things I have seen but I think it would be too much. I talked recently about the “cup” that Jesus referred to in the Garden of Gethsemane. In that cup Jesus saw all the evil (sin) from past, present and future and He took it ALL on Himself on the cross. I’ve only seen a glimpse of what He saw in that cup and it’s hard to see. I can’t imagine the enormity of what He took on.

This summer I started feeling the nudge to move forward, again, with helping survivors of human trafficking. Sound of Freedom came out and no, I have not watched it and don’t plan on it. Once you have worked in the world I have, you don’t want to go out and watch it on the big screen or at home. Then I met someone who is passionate about helping survivors. Things like this happened several times this summer until I finally said, “OK! What do you want me to do?”

That’s when I remembered I got certified about 13 years ago to help survivors of human trafficking. It appears God is restoring that passion to help them so I will be working on getting my name out there as someone who is able to counsel survivors. I will be taking a short course just to learn some new ways to help but I am ready to MOVE FORWARD with it.

Taking a step back for a year or so was the best decision I could have made. It gave me time to rest and refocus. Sometimes it was forced! Now, I am ready to take another step forward into my CALLING. Slowly.

This blog is now going to be about BIBLICAL social justice. Ways we can all help no matter where we are in life. Living like we don’t have a seashell collection to worry about. Motivation to make yourself uncomfortable. Learn about issues in our world. I’m excited to have this passion back after so many years!

Stay tuned because there is ONE more thing coming….

~Dare Ya to Move……

REMINDER:

All the way back in 2000, I went with a college age group at church to the very first Passion Conference. This message resonated with me. It’s what I always felt. Don’t get wrapped up in money, homes, status, etc. It’s not what the Christian life is all about. The American Dream is a great dream but not what we are supposed to be striving for.

This summer I had a phrase go through my mind; “Don’t fall for a dull tragedy.” I had no idea what that meant so I googled it just to see. THIS video came up and it reminded me that I was at this conference. I was shocked when I listened to this clip. Seashells? Really? That is a tragedy!

When I’m gone, I don’t want people to say, “Wow, Amy had a great collection of….” It used to be kayaks but I sold those. It’s not that those things are bad, but if it’s your main focus then let it go.

Today I paid A LOT of money for a car repair. I laughed as the guy ran my debit card. I laughed because I used to love being in a place where I had to rely on God to come through and then I took control and went for a good salary, good savings account, and started to fall for the “dull tragedy” of life being about what you have achieved and all the “things” you have to show for it. Again, nothing wrong with making money or having great things. It’s about what you do with all of that. It’s about your heart.

You can’t take your seashell collection with you. Bank accounts, cars, homes, collections, all stay behind. I’m not broke now but I sure didn’t want to give up that amount of money. I know God will continue to provide. I’ve seen it happen over and over in my life.

Yesterday was a great day and then all of a sudden last night I became incredibly fatigued to the point that I didn’t know if I could even walk to bed. After the amazing things that happened this past weekend, I expected some pushback and yeah, I got pushback. But…I laughed instead of panicking or getting anxious. I’m confident God will replenish. I pushed through a 1/2 day of work today and on my way home saw a rainbow. I laughed…again. You can rely on that promise.

CHANGE IS COMIN’:

I have decided it’s time to change up this blog. I will be making the old posts “private” instead of deleting them. If there are times when one of those posts could help someone then I will make that “public” but change is needed.

I was told over a year ago that I needed a new benchmark in my life. No more being stuck in the day of my friend’s video. I agreed and it wasn’t for a lack of trying to move past it.

I believe I have found my new benchmark. I am not one that likes change but there has been A LOT of it lately. I have several new benchmarks now and I would like all of these blog posts to be “behind me.”

God has me in so much new that it is mind boggling. All of it is so good and honestly, a TON of fun, so it’s time to start writing about all that God is doing.

I finally found my confidence again. My creative side is back as well as my passion…two things I have asked God to restore for years. I’m excited about what is coming and will share when it’s time. It’s amazing to be given a four-page vision of what God said He was going to do and be able to check those off as they come to fruition. It’s humbling and exciting all at the same time!

What a wild ride!