Just Another Day

I'm supposed to be finishing a College Algebra lesson, but...well, I don't feel like it. haha So I figured I mine-as-well do something constructive with my time. (I just want to point out that I was already on the computer.) A couple of thoughts for today:
First, a couple of y'all have come onto this blog because I told you about it, either verbally or in a support letter. "No longer the end". It sounds...well, to be honest, it actually sounds emo. Which was completely unintended. haha But there is so much more than it being an AWESOME phrase and blog name. (Judge me if you want, but I think it is awesome.) Kuglin and I were talking the other day...Let's see, it was Sunday, after church. Kuglin was a youth leader when I was in the Shady Grove youth group. Not that it was THAT long ago, but it's been a couple of years now. She has such a pure and good heart when it comes to "her kids". So she and I were talking, asking what was going on in the other's life these days, etc. We started discussing YWAM and the opportunity I now have presented to me. I began to cry as I explained to her the passion I have for these children.
My family and I have been active volunteers at the People That Care Center in Grand Prairie for years now and I honestly love the people there. The volunteers, the clients, and the VIPs (homeless men and women). I've always loved volunteering and being able to serve another. In fact, I would rather be volunteering than working and serving there! But then again, who wouldn't. Anyway, so as much as I love these people and the work we do, this is not my heart. My passion. My desire. I love it, but it's not.
No, my passion is for the woman who thought she could make it on her own at 18 and ended up working the street corner to make ends meet. My passion is for the girl who was sold after her father was lied to about how she would be taken care of and no longer have to work such long hours and still go to bed hungry. Her father did it for her, but he didn't know, and he never will. Yeah, she is taken care of- but in a different way. My passion is for the women and girls who work the streets. Always looking for a way out. Always trying to run. Always destitute. Always in pain. ALWAYS CRYING OUT.
I want to answer them. I want to tell them "I hear you! I'm coming!" And I am. One day, I WILL open a home for those women and girls who were trapped. The ones who were living our darkest nightmares. The ones who think that when they get out they will have some place to go then find they don't. SO THEY GO BACK FREE WILLINGLY.
How could we be so callous? How could we not care?! How can we continue living our everyday lives?
I envision my home filled with women and girls learning to cook and sew and...love and forgive. (Sorry, I'm tearing up.) I can see them. I can see the pain written on their faces when they first come to me. And the frustration they have when they realize they don't know what to do in "our world". The frustration of relearning how to live. How to laugh. How to smile.... and eventually, how to remember...with the love of God. With the grace to fully forgive. (God let it be so!)
Do you see now? Do you see why I just grin as you ask me about the URL? No Longer the End.
No longer do these girls have to say this is the end. There is no more for me. As they sit and wonder when they can leave. How they will make it on the outside. How people will respond to them. No longer. NO LONGER. For them, it will no longer be called "the end". It will be their newest beginning. NO LONGER THE END.
Second, as many of you know. YWAM Children At Risk lecture phase is $3,250. I just want to say, I AM DOWN TO NEEDING LESS THEN $2,000!! I'll figure out the total of what I need in a few minutes. And I'll post the total of what I need at the end of February, probably the day after I write and mail the first check.
Third, I am super glad I am no longer at work listening to "Happy Valentine's Day". I really wish I could have responded "Happy Hallmark- blew- this- day- out- of- proportion Day". Then add a sarcastic grin to it. Ah, that would have made me happy. Anyway, HAPPY DAY!
<3*