There are some things I would much rather avoid.

Marathons.  Buffets.  Fried food.   Freezing cold weather.  Wet socks.

And pain.

I’d rather avoid pain than endure it. There must be another way…?  I ask Him.

Such was the case the other evening when I came across a website about modern day slavery  I did not want to know more.  My mind begged me to go to sleep… don’t stay up investigating the contents of this site.  Don’t go there.  You know what it will do to you.  Sometimes it is better not to know…

But my heart and soul, they begged to know.  Please, Mariam, please, go there…  don’t curl up and shake in fear…

I feel things deeply.  Those closest to me know this well.   Very deeply.  And it has been like this since I was a little girl.  My mind said to me, you won’t be able to sleep at night, you won’t be able to get the images out of your head…  it will tear your heart.   My heart said to me, but that is how God created you…  He made you to feel things deeply.   So He will hold you together too.

He has been faithful.

So, I entered the site.

I read.

I looked.

I absorbed.  Tried to at least.

I wept.

Oh, how I wept.  These are your children, Lord.  These are your children…

They. Are. So. Young.

I know what happens to the children in Armenia once they are too old to be in the orphanages.

I know many end up on the street coerced into prostitution with the promise of finances that they desperately need to live.  We just received an update from friends of ours who are working there who have only confirmed that this situation has gotten worse…  and these are 17 and 18 year olds.

This site exposed trafficking of children even younger.  Much younger than this.  As young as 4 years old…

My head hurts.  The pain is here.

But I cannot avoid the awful reality of what has become of us.  The words and images are in my head.  And my heart begs me now:  Do something, Mariam.

Please, begin to do something.

Some. Thing.

Tags: do something, human trafficking, modern day slavery, pain, unearthed pictures