Today is Fat Tuesday and it’s living up to it’s name. I am looking at my mid-life life and just sick. Sick over the ease and privilege in which I walk on a daily basis. Sick over the reality of suffering, slavery, and abuse that makes Fat Tuesday a far-off concept for millions of people.
Eight million children are in slavery today. Three million in sex-slavery alone. There has been a five thousand percent increase in child rape videos being consumed by Americans. Racial tension is mounting and the ones I love who don’t look like me still suffer from the systemic injustice that runs rampant in our culture.
And yet we party down and fatten up in preparation for a fast that might consist of doing without meat, sugar, caffeine, or facebook. All choices we make of our own volition.
Because we are free.
I named this website almost two years ago: “A Life of Simple Joys.” I have encouraged you to “keep life simple.” I have shared recipes, tips, and sweet stories. I have, hopefully, inspired you and made you smile so that you could find joy in the simple things of life.
Now? It is time to change gears. I’m tired of figuring out how to make things easier for me. It’s time to live dangerously. To speak out. To open my eyes (and yours) to the reality that too many of God’s precious ones live every single day. There is great injustice happening in the world and, though it feels like an uphill battle, I can fight with my pen and prayers.
When I wrote Paper Dolls, I didn’t expect it to go where it has gone. I sure didn’t feel like much of a warrior, but God has shown me otherwise. Writing that book has changed me in deep and profound ways. Through the fictional lives of Hannah, Kelley and Melody, employers are now training their employees to look for the signs of sex trafficking as they tend to customers. People are seeking to get involved in local ministries to help at-risk kids and teens. Money is being donated to the fight against human trafficking and the church is asking, “What can we do to fight this?”
I have realized, through the success of my book, that I can be a voice and an advocate, rallying the troops, so to speak. I can invest time and energy in serving, loving, and speaking out for those who feel overlooked and forgotten. I’m not changing the name of my blog, but I’m changing the source of the joy I preach. I want to live my life, however long I have left, in light of Eternity. Though I take pleasure in decluttering or cooking a pinterest-worthy dinner, lasting joy is not found there. I now realize, more than ever, that it is found in Kingdom work. Engaging in the fight to which God has called me is invigorating and satisfying. Joy is found in shining a spotlight onto the battle all around us so that you, dear reader, can ask what God would have you do with what you now know.
So, beginning tomorrow, I am writing for the Kingdom. Forty days of eye-opening articles to expose the darkness ever-creeping up on us and forty days of reminding you that you have everything you need to enter the fight. I am going to pore over multiple resources and bring you links, videos, and articles. They will probably be hard to read. You will want to click the red X and move on to pictures of Easter bunnies and chicks. But, if you will stick with me, you will approach Good Friday with a new understanding of why Jesus went through all He did for us. He saved us and intends to use us. We are His ambassadors, sent to a world that is lost and starving for hope. Let’s do this. Let’s seek Him and be willing to do whatever He asks.
We are not called to play it safe. We are called to live dangerously for the glory of God.
A Life of Simple Joys 