Our Win
As Rescue America serves on the frontlines of the anti-trafficking movement, we whole-heartedly understand the crucial need to help survivors exit the life of commercial sexual exploitation. When a survivor calls our Rescue hotline, choosing to exit the life and pursue healing and restoration, we celebrate big. However, that alone isn’t what we consider the greatest victory.
When a survivor experiences the Lord’s presence and learns to hear His voice, that is our win; that changes everything.
Throughout the entire process of serving a survivor, from the time they call our Rescue hotline to the time they arrive at their placement, our team speaks the truth of our loving God over their lives, situations and identities. As we work to combat the lies they’ve been told in the past, our hope is that they will open their hearts to receiving the Lord’s truth of who He is and the value they have in Him alone.
Statistically in the industry, over 80% of survivors who exit the life go back. However, we’ve found that when a survivor has experienced the truth of God, even if they decide to go back to the life, it isn’t the same for them. They know something is different because they now know they are made for more.
Years ago, we served a survivor named *Krystal. Krystal was from an affluent family in Houston and lived in one of the wealthiest areas of town before she ran away, fell into addiction and was trafficked. Krystal called our Rescue hotline seeking help to get out of her situation and became one of the first participants in our emergency care program. Throughout her time in our program, she encountered the Lord and experienced the truth of Christ.
Later on, Krystal relapsed and returned to the life, but she told us it didn’t feel the same; it didn’t have the allure it once had. She has since left the life for good and is now a mother, finishing up her cosmetology certification, and is engaged to be married. With God’s guidance, Krystal has pursued freedom and embraced the good plans He has for her future.
This is why we at Rescue America believe in our model - because we’ve seen the transformation that occurs in a survivor’s heart and life when they encounter the love and truth of their creator God.
Another survivor we served shared a similar experience. After exiting the life, *Jaelyn also experienced hearing God’s voice. However, she later relapsed and was exploited in Las Vegas, far away from her home in Houston. When she arrived at her hotel room in Vegas, she heard a voice inside asking, “What are we doing here?” She knew it was the Lord’s voice reminding her that He has created her for more than the ways of her past.
At Rescue America, that is the win. Not just meeting a survivor's immediate needs and finding them safe placement, but showing them the love of Christ and placing them in a program where they can be equipped and trained to be able to hear the voice of God. He is our hope, and He is the hope for every survivor of sexual exploitation. Only God’s voice can drown out the lies that tell survivors all they are good for is their body, that they will never be loved for who they are, and that there is no other option for them. God’s truth speaks a better word over them - that they are loved, valued, and worthy - and that word is transformative.
We believe every survivor who calls our 24/7 Rescue hotline is priceless to the God that created them; a relationship with Him is accessible to all, and He longs to draw them to Him, no matter what their past looks like or what they’ve done. Each one of them individually is so important to God that He would leave the 99 and go after the 1 time and time again, just as He explains in Matthew 18:12-14:
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”
God’s heart is to rescue His flock, and we believe He has a redemptive solution for every survivor of sexual exploitation who desires to exit the life.
Rescue America’s position in the anti-trafficking landscape allows us to take a survivor’s hand at the beginning of their healing journey and empower them to make the best decisions for their futures. We are incredibly grateful for divine partnerships across America who are trauma-informed and have the same goal of sharing the love of God and introducing survivors to a life filled with never-ending hope.
Once those seeds of God’s word are planted within them, survivors can continually be reminded of His truth and His power to make all things new. From there, the strength that grows within them to keep taking steps forward in healing and the transformation they experience after encountering God spreads hope far and wide. As they are made new by God’s love, the redemption they choose to walk out with Him shines a light that can never be extinguished.
*pseudonyms
