Quilting us together

Quilting us together

His church

Solids, Prints and patterns,

How can they ever go together?

The quilter stitching one next to the other

Two maybe three that might match

Or maybe opposites attract

So many differences

  And too many preferences

Old leather butted up against delicate chiffon

Wild calico positioned near practical flannel

Sensible corduroy sliding in next to stained taffeta

Sophisticated Velvet nestled with Practical polyester

 How quixotic and unrealistic for all to find a space

And yet the stitches keep coming adding another in place

Together forming comfort for wrapping others up

A covering for shade and to protect

A hammock to carry the broken

A banner to declare they are chosen

The church in all its colors

Must embrace sister and brothers

And know they are a perfect fit

Accepting the maker of the blanket

1 Corinthians 12:12-27  (ESV) For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves[a] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts,[b] yet one body.

Matthew 18:20 (ESV) For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Ephesians 4:16  (ESV) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love

Leather, rugged, stretched, durable

Velvet soft, luxurious, impractical

Chiffon light plain sheer

Taffeta crisp, soft shiny

Organdy sheer stiff crisp

Calico plain, colorful simple 

 Corduroy Linear, textured soft

Flannel twill soft cozy

Polyester stretchy wrinkle resistant, wash-and-wear

The knowledge of good and evil

The knowledge of good and evil

 

The apple bitten

Now starts mankind’s upheaval

 The knowing of good and evil

The judging right from wrong

Separating weak from strong

Who are we to measure,

Refuse verses treasure

Valued verses worthless

Deserving of freedom or to be oppressed.

To be cast aside or thrown a life vest

Smaller or bigger transgress

This knowledge of good and evil

To see with eyes before the fall
To see with eyes that know it all

To look and not judge

To extend grace and not begrudge

Oh to love like Christ,

All worth the sacrifice.

The purpose to call out sin

Only so we can begin again

Not to set the scales against

But to allow grace to be dispensed

Lord forgive us our violations

Comparing of others and self-categorizations

Losing sight of God’s declarations

Utilizing human evaluations

 Limiting Jesus’s blood rectification

Holy Spirit teach us your interpretations

How to have true discernment without discrimination.

James 4:12 (ESV) There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

James 4:11-12 (ESV) Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[a] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 

2 Corinthians 5:10  (ESV) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Worth/ F.R.E.E. BLOG

http://www.freefromht.org/worth/


This months Blog On Freedom and restoration for everyone enslaved

Worth

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. .( Matthew 10:29-31) 

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15). 

Unwanted, a burden, another mouth to feed

Left out, fed up, searching for more,

Lies in your head, you’ll never succeed.

Hollywood glamor, MTV hype

Grasping for smoke and mirrors,

Or something telling you you’re worth the fight.

Promises whispered in sultry tone,

New shoes, new identity, his sugar girl.

Trading all that is precious for rhinestone.

Bate, hook and line,

The lure lowered down,

Offered by a sheep covered swine.

Sight can only see right now

To be desired and offered love

Unaware of plans to become his cash cow

The treachery so slow and slick

Showered with attention,

But tomorrow asked to turn trick.

The slippery slope getting slicker still

The rapes and beatings the start

Climbing out like going backwards uphill.

Free will to do only as he pleases

No money, no escape, plenty of fear

Life stolen, tattered to pieces

If only someone were to care

If only, the whisper of hearts

If only there was help from this nightmare.

We all have been designed with eternity set in our hearts, to be part of a larger picture, to be swept up in strong arms, known and loved. And yet somewhere along the way the story gets, fuzzy, cloudy or sometimes ripped away. So many young ladies (and boys too) have become prey to “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” Not all sex trafficking victims stories are as pictured in the poem above but many times it is the most vulnerable that are lured in. We as the body of Christ can be the “someone’s to care”. We are commanded as believers to love the least of these, to set the captives free. And those who are being Sex trafficked are the captives.  So what are we to do, how do we stop a multibillion dollar industry?  We become more aware and stop seeing child Prostitutes and begin to see victims, we begin to use our influence and educate our communities, we reach out to the marginalized, speaking life and hope into the least of these, building relationships that can speak true identity.  Those who foster and adopt with the love of Christ can become a new landing place for many. Working with youth and offering honest hope and relationship can become another landing pad to stopping the vulnerable from sliding into treachery. We the body can become advocates against pornography, an insidious way of life, that has taught our boys to become detached and void of empathy for our girls, we can mentor and come along side our young men and talk about true manhood. But what about the ones it’s “too late “for, the ones who have been lured in and sold a false narrative only to wake up to the realities of being told they are worth less than nothing? We can support local organizations that are currently advocating for victims, we can raise money for safe houses where those that are rescued could go and find help and safety.  We can be on our knee’s praying that sex trafficking is stopped and that our vulnerable youth will know their true worth. We cannot just sit by but must rise up as the church in action.

“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Below are some statistics and interesting reads as well as links to places to lend your support for funds for a home here in Berks County PA

https://www.gofundme.com/dashboard-restoration-home

https://www.coablog.org/home/2017/1/19/now-more-than-ever-we-must-declare-that-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-child-prostitute

  “Studies estimate that at least 60 percent of victims of child sex trafficking come from the child welfare system, and the majority of them have extensive histories of sexual and physical abuse prior to ever being trafficked. Seventy-eight percent of all prostitution arrests are girls, and 52 percent of all juvenile arrests for prostitution are African-American girls. Instead of being recognized as victims of crime and given the services and support necessary to heal from their trauma, these children are neglected, dismissed, ignored, and—in the worst cases—criminalized.”

http://www.wfmz.com/news/berks/reading-man-charged-with-human-trafficking/301514918

https://cseinstitute.org/new-study-shows-food-insecurity-leads-survival-sex-cse-american-teenagers/

http://humantraffickinghotline.org/training-resources/referral-directory

https://northstarinitiative.org/engage/