A Thanksgiving Challenge

*****I’m posting y’all, because this is our official All Things Southern Thanksgiving Challenge. After reading this post, consider asking those loved ones you gather with this Thursday to join you in rescuing a child trapped in sex-trafficking. $128 will free a child. Can y’all join together and do it as a way of expressing your gratitude this year? I’d love to hear from you!

*******2nd update- I’ll be doing a joint radio interview about this with Andy Andrews and Irene Robinson on KWCL 96.7 out of Oak Grove, LA, this Wednesday the 25th, to be podcast afterwards if all goes well in techy world.******

***** Update: This post received well over 700 views within a very few hours of being online, sparked some action & elicited greatly appreciated prayers, but I feel the need to remind any of my tender-hearted but financially challenged readers that if you can’t fully rescue one child, the smallest amount will go with someone else’s mite and do great things. THX! Hugs, Shellie****

“Good intentions are like the seeds of trees whose fruit we’ll never know…” ~anonymous

I like that quote, in an ouch-that-hurts sort of way.

If you’ve been in the All Things Southern community for very long, (and if you have, please know you’re appreciated!) you know that we usually  have a fall fund-raiser. We’ve drilled wells together, funded orphanages together, and passed out pigs and cows on the other side of the globe– but anything and everything we gave always paled in comparison to what giving did for us. (God’s cool like that.) With that said, you may have wondered why we didn’t this year. Well, I meant to, I really meant to…

I’d love to strike that phrase from my vocabulary permanently, but dog gone if it isn’t a persistent little weed! Left untended, you’ll find it right back where it was the first time it was eradicated. The question is whether or not we’ll let it grow unchecked. Today’s post is my answer. I’m looking forward to yours.

See, I’ve started my Christmas shopping with a flap of my wings and I don’t mean the ones trying to grow under my arms. I’m not the least bit impressed with this new aspect of aging, but that’s a post for another day. I’m talking about wings of another variety, a world-changing sort of wings. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to let Best Selling author, speaker, and world renown influencer Andy Andrews explain these wings. He is so much better at it than I could ever be! Please come back and finish our chat when the clip is over but for now give Andy three minutes and hold your breath, you’re in for a ride:

See what I mean? I do love the way that boy tells a story! He has a great book, The Butterfly Effect, that explains the principle in detail, but for now, we’ll get back to my shopping…

My heart’s been turned to the evils of human trafficking for some time. If you aren’t aware of the scope of this tragedy, please educate yourself.  There are many reputable ministries working hard to make a difference in this area. I chose to partner with Life Today to rescue four children, one for each of my grands. My plans are to wrap the thank you cards Life Today will be mailing me, personalized with my grands names, and give them to my little ones for Christmas.

Life Today has estimated that it costs $128 to rescue one precious victim and get him or her to an outreach center where they are fed, schooled, and taught about our Father’s love.  Can you give your children or grandchildren the gift of rescuing a child in their names? Could there be a better way to begin your Christmas shopping than rescuing a child who is right now being used in the most vile way imaginable?

Some of you can. Some of you wish you could. Only God knows which group you find yourself in, but I pray we would all learn not to let the size of a problem we can’t fix alone prevent us from being a small part of the solution we can find together.

Thanks for listening, y’all, and remember — there is always one thing that every single person reading these words can do right now, at this very moment. Flap your wings. You can flap your big strong wings or your little bitty wings by tweeting this note or sharing it on your Facebook wall. Who knows? Maybe someone with deep, deep pockets will read it and help break a multitude of chains. Or maybe it will reach someone who can help one, and another who can help one, and another…What could God have destined in the lives of those we are rescuing? We can be a part of their story.

You have my blessing to reprint this post in its entirety on your own blog if you’d like– and add your own thoughts. But, whatever you choose to do, do something. Flap your wings.

Hugs, Shellie

If you decide to call Life Today and help financially or if you plan to flap your wings and spread this message through your social media contacts, please leave me a note. I’m not asking for details of your involvement. Feel free to skip ’em and leave a simple “amen” if you’d like, but do comment. I’ve noticed that when our voices swell together, more and more people join our ranks. I believe we can fly.