This is the first installment of "hard things" posts, where I will be talking about—you guessed it—hard things.
My goals through these posts are to:

1. Shed light on the severity of a hard thing without going into histrionics about it.
2. Throw some prayer at the hard thing so that it will go away forever and ever.

Life is hard. I get it. I think most of us do. Unless you've literally been pampered and protected by your parents all your life, in which case I say unto you, Time to go outside!
Even as I type these very words, people all across our would-be beautiful world are experiencing their lives being ripped apart by:
famine • addiction • sex trafficking • war domestic violence • hate crimes • disease

As I mentioned in my last hopefully-not-too-vague-and-depressing post, I've let myself get a tad overwhelmed by the grief of it all lately, and furthermore, by the fact that I feel helpless and hopeless in the face of some of these vast injustices.

I don't like feeling hopeless.
When something seems hopeless, all you can do is pray. I can already hear some of you...

"ALL you can do is pray, Maddie? But prayer is everything!"
Yah...I get that. And I'm trying to accept it. But the independent American-bred side of me wants to do, do, do. And sometimes prayer seems more like a lesson in passivity.
I volunteer in Seattle with a grassroots modern-day abolitionist group called Not For Sale—King County. Our goal is to raise awareness of not only global, but LOCAL sex-trafficking that is taking place within our own county's borders. Through it I've learned some sickening statistics and gross realities of this very real and present problem that is infiltrating our society.

The Cold Facts of Modern Slavery

• A child is trafficked every 30 seconds. – UNICEF
• The average age of entry into commercial sex slavery in the United States is 13 years old. – United States Department of Justice
• Human Trafficking occurs in 161 out of 192 countries. – The United Nations
• Pornography is a 96 billion dollar per year industry. – The Internet Filter Review
• Up to 96% of women in prostitution want to escape but feel they can’t. – United Labor Organization
• Human Trafficking is a 32 billion dollar per year industry. – The United Nations
• In some countries it is estimated that 70% of men purchase sex. – Victor Malarek; The Johns
• Over 27 million people are enslaved around the world. This is more than double the number of Africans enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. – Kevin Bales; Free the Slaves

Facts taken straight from Nefarious' website.

We had a big screening and panelist discussion last week, where we showed this documentary, called SEX MONEY:

Because so much of the nature of Not For Sale is simply to raise awareness, I've seen more of these documentaries and interviews than I can count. Some are better and more well-rounded than others. But they all point to the same massive gap in our world.
A few months ago I went to a screening of Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, which I was more impressed with and highly recommend watching:

In Amos 5, our God gets down to business and we, his people, get called out:
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. Seek good, not evil, that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph. Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: “There will be wailing in all the streets
and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.
“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

And yes, sometimes all we can do is pray. Pray to the God who is sovereign over all of it somehow.