After a wonderful day with my daughter, shopping and preparing for her June wedding, I returned to a piece of art I have been processing for quite a while. What a contrast in my day – going from great joy over a new marriage to great sorrow for the women and children who are trapped in the sex traffic industry. This is a piece for a specific call for work – beauty in brokenness – responding to the sex traffic industry through art. I printed out photos from my travels where I cared for women and children in difficult places. Yes, even children. I wove those photos into the piece, along with hand made painted papers.
My photos became a part of the story I am trying to tell. The stories of these children and women are important, and their lives are of great value – contrary to what they have been told and how they have been treated. I want them to see themselves as beautiful in God’s eyes – and that they are worth rescuing and worth restoring their innocence and true womanhood.
I’ve gone back into the piece, and I have added the word “safe.” I’ve found in my own life, and in the lives I have cared for, one needs to feel safe before healing may begin. Are you, in your lives, a safe place for others to share their hearts and their stories?