God broke me free from Human Trafficking | You Are Loved

Well, so I'm Christina Meadows. I am the director of operations and rescue at the Nashville anti-human trafficking coalition. And I'm also a thriver on staff. And a thriver is someone who has suffered from human trafficking as a victim who walked into survivor and is now a thriver. Driver kind of means that I am able to go back into the darkness of human trafficking and bring the light and the hope of the gospel to those who are still suffering and help bring them out of trafficking without getting pulled back in myself. That's wonderful. Tell me a little bit about your experience in trafficking or what led you there, how all of that worked for you. Well so for me, sure, I didn't even realize what human trafficking was. I thought trafficking was like, you know, you snatch in little kids and putting them in vans and shipping them across country, across the seas. And not really understanding what human trafficking was or the fact that I was even in human trafficking and that I was a victim of anything. Because if you tell me I was a victim, I told you I'm not a victim of anything. Getting educated on what human trafficking was was a game changer in my life. And I wasn't educated on what human trafficking was until I had gone through 20-something treatment facilities, been in and out of different detox and residential programming for substance abuse issues. I thought I just had this horrendous drug problem. I thought I had bad choice in men. I didn't realize that the men that I was choosing were traffickers and that I had been groomed for human trafficking and that I had a vulnerability at all for being trafficked. And I believed that I had chose that life and what that kind of looked like for me was being in these relationships with men in this drug world, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, go hand in hand. So where there's drugs, there is sex and what that looks like and negotiating a price. For my body, sexually for money or drugs, you know, just anything in order to get that

next fixed or that next high or to have money to come up and to have things, material wealth. And so in and out of these programming, being treated, programs, being treated for my drug problem, of course, I've been in and out of jails and institutions, I've been to jail more times than I count, got a 15-page rap sheet, ended up in prison, ended up three and a half years in prison, eight months on maximum security, got a maxed out on administrative segregation and really not understanding what the core issue was, just thinking I couldn't follow rules and I had a drug problem and I had lousy picker for men and kind of looked like going into treatment one more time and meeting this organization, the Nashville Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition. But in meeting NIH team, which is a faith-based organization, I believe all roads of justice and healing lead to Jesus, I had already had this spiritual encounter with the Lord in a jail cell. So for me going into treatment facilities, working this AA and NA steps, I couldn't get it right. I couldn't understand this, you know, this, you got to go to a meeting every day. You got to go to AA meeting, NA meeting, you need a sponsor, you need to work the steps, you need a home group, you know, all that stuff. It was like, it was too overwhelming for me to do all those things and me, I was all about self and I wanted to do things my way and I could never get it in the recovery rooms. And so one time I was in jail and I was on my way to prison, actually, and I got a hold of a King James Version Bible, you ever tried to read a King James Version Bible? I was like, if this is what I got to read to have a relationship with God, I'm out. Right? And it was like, so, you know, I'm in all these jail cells, I'm in all these treatment facilities. I'm believing that there may be a God, but if there is a God, then, you know, I don't know him and he doesn't know me. And then these people were, I was talking about this triune God, this tree in one God and, you know, the Holy Spirit and Jesus in God and they were three in one and I was like, whatever drugs they're on, I need some of that. They got the good stuff and it was like, you know, they're crazy and I couldn't understand

that concept and, you know, I was on my way to prison and I was like, I really need help here. I'm scared to death. I'm about to walk into prison, you know, and ultimately my whole life was nothing but fear. Yes, I was in this quote unquote gangster lifestyle. I was in drug trafficking. I was in human trafficking, though I didn't know it. I was just in a, you know, this hip hop culture and, you know, I was quote unquote living my best life, getting money and I was scared of everything. I was scared of myself, I was scared of the next, I was scared of him, I was scared of them, I was scared of everything and fear and in that fear I was overcompensating with this aggression and this violent nature that I had learned from trafficking in the streets and I had this immense anger towards everything and ultimately it all went back to fear and so this violence that I had, this wrath that I had embraced, this person who I was, you know, it was, you know, if I'm going to be, this is a life I'm going to lead, I'm going to lead it to the fullest, I'm going to be the best junkie, I'm going to be the best prostitute, I'm going to be the meanest, I'm going to be the top hustler, I'm going to make the most money, I'm going to do all the things and I really embraced that identity and so it was chaos, you know, I took everybody out along the way and, you know, as I walked that path, you know, the Lord met me, you know, I got out of prison, you know, there was no real programming, nobody told me I'd get into these, you know, AA and A things, I'd go to treatment centers, I'd get out but nobody really showed me what it looked like to take the tools out of my toolbox, you know, I came out of prison after expirating my sentence, you know, there was no parole for me, you know, I kept getting in trouble so they were not letting me out early and I was like, I always got in trouble in jail inside of jail and so when I got out of prison, I ended up going right back, you know, for citizen, it's a real thing because I had no real tools to set me up for success and so I got back, I got back with one of my traffickers, loved him, you know, believed he loved me and, and been eight years, we had been separated, the whole reason I ended up in prison was,

you know, because of my trafficker, every charge I got and I got a 15 page rap sheet, I got wild being trafficked during trafficking and drug situations and it was like, I got out, I got right back, right back into that lifestyle, met up with him after eight years and believed things were going to be different this time and was really hopeful that it was going to be different and ended up right back into that cycle of drugs, prostitution and committing crimes and felonies, ended up back in jail, this time I got a hold, I was got locked up, I did another 10 days stint in the whole in segregation and got a hold of a new living translation Bible, game changer. I did this little foxhole prayer and I was like, Lord, because I'm thinking, I don't understand that there are different versions of the Bible, I had no clue. I was very illiterate and ignorant when it came to, you know, religion and spirituality, I had no clue of anything about it, I did not really open the church, I didn't have any understanding or a paradigm for it, but I knew I had 10 days in the whole and I needed a book to read. So I got a hold of this new living translation Bible and I really just chose, I could have a Bible and I could have one book and I grabbed that Bible and had a thousand pages in it and I was like, alright, Lord, let me please be able to read this Bible. And so I opened up that Bible and I could see from cover to cover Jesus, I understood what the, you know, the scales fell off, I had this radical Paul conversion and it was like, I saw Jesus on every page, I understood instantly that they were the original gangsters, they went harder than I ever went. They went harder than, you know, the gangsters that I was out there, you know, mixed around with blood, with crypts, with vice lords, you know, with area, you name it, I was in the midst of everything that you could possibly think of going and doing crimes that you couldn't imagine or you could imagine, you seen them on TV and it was my everyday life and here I am looking at this Bible and they're doing the same things that we were doing even more. And I was like, wow, if Abraham, who, you know, God had chose, had called him out of this nation and, you know, called him out of her, told him he was a pagan, he was worshipping the sun and the moon and rocks and, you know, said that he was going to use him to create a nation and Abraham stepped out on faith, listened to God, you know, and still, I mean,

he flipped a bird at God, right? So here he is with his wife, God had told him he was going to have a son and who's going to be, you know, who's going to be, many nations were going to come from his son, but he couldn't wait, which I had that problem, I had a patience problem, I didn't want to wait for anything. He couldn't wait and he grabbed the, you know, his wife said, here is my slave, use her, you know, she didn't have a choice in that, they just used her to have a kid and they're like, you know, God, you're not moving fast enough and I've been there. And so if God could still honor the promises to Abraham that he made in spite of his sin, well, he can honor promises to me too, what more does he have for me? David, a man after God's own heart, here he is, King David, he's, you know, fighting Goliath and lions and all the things and he sees a woman taking a bath and he's like, I want that chick and I'm going to have her, he sends four, she's married, he doesn't care, he sends her husband to the front line to be murdered to cover up the fact that he slept with her and got her pregnant, you know, wow. And this is a man after God's own heart, what more could God do for me? it, you know, and it goes on and on like, Here she is, you know, she's trapping. She is in the walls of Jericho. She's got a trap house. Her kids are in the trap house. I know a little bit about that 'cause I would have my kids in the trap house too. And if God could redeem her and her whole family, what more could He do for me? So, you know, Rahab, here she is, this prostitute in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, she is Rahab, the mother of Boaz. He gave her a new name so he could give me a new name. And what did that mean for me?

And really understanding, you know, how the Old Testament is talking about this coming Messiah of this Savior who is gonna save me from my sin. And then here He comes in the New Testament. And, you know, how Peter, you know, here He is, you know, this He's angry all the time and He's cussing people out, you know, and He is an apostle. You know, Matthew, the tax collector, is stealing from his own people. And, you know, I can understand every bit of it. They were nothing but misfits. They were nothing but sinners. And Jesus met them and He ate with them, Judas. You know, here Jesus is, He knows that He is the Messiah. And Judas is a snitch. He knew it from the Old Testament declared what was gonna happen to Him. Jesus knew exactly what was gonna happen and that He had to die the horrific death in order to save us from our sin and to make us righteous so we could have eternity with them in heaven. Jesus knew that He had to die for us so that we could be His righteousness, that we could have a place with Him forever in heaven. And that would include eating at a table with a snitch, breaking bread, washing His feet.

There's no way I could do that. There's no way I'm sitting at a table with a snitch. And then I'm gonna tell Him to hurry up and go do it. I'm gonna take Him out. I'm not gonna let you do this. And I know I've got to go to a cross and I'm gonna be beaten. I'm gonna be whipped. My flesh is gonna be torn from my body and that there are gonna be people at the foot of the cross shooting dice for my clothes. No way. And He knew that that's what He had to do. And He did it anyways. He sat with Judas, He sat with the snitch, told him to hurry up and go do it. And He walked that walk to the cross so that I would have a place with Him forever is a game changer for me. And that I didn't have to carry that guilt and shame anymore. And so understanding that radical conversion I had in that jail cell took me six years to surrender though. So I've been converted in a jail cell. I'm preaching and I'm talking about this hope of the gospel. You know, I'm like screaming from out from underneath the door so everybody inside this ball. Do you know who Jesus is and what He's done for you? And how it's like, it's just blew me away. It was amazing how I could understand ultimately that God before the foundation of the world

knew I was gonna be a sinner and He created me anyways. And Jesus said, go ahead and create her because I'm gonna redeem her. And the Holy Spirit said, and I'm gonna apply the righteousness of Christ. I'm gonna apply the perfect work that He did on earth to her so that when you look upon her you see your son Jesus and that she will have a place forever with us in eternity. And not just for me, but for all of His people. And it was like, blew my mind. And it was like, I had to tell everybody about it. But then I got out, you know. And I didn't have those tools and I didn't have a community wrapped around me. I didn't have anyone to really nurture that relationship that I had. So there's nothing worse for business than a prostitute who's been converted. So every time I'm in there, every time I'm getting high in the trap house and now I'm spouting scripture. So I believe I'm Jonah, right? And then I have a message and I'm supposed to go to Nivea and I'm supposed to tell the people to repent. And God's got me in the belly of the fish. And you know, and that if, and then I'm like, I'm stubborn and I'm hard headed. And so every time I get around the people, I'm getting high and I'm talking to my tricks and these johns who are exchanging money for sex

or we're getting high together. I'm spouting scripture and telling them that we have, you know, that God's not gonna keep letting us do this, that we need to repent. There's nothing worse for business than a born again, prostitute and junkie. Nobody wanted me in the trap house because every time I got high, I started talking about Jesus, I was blowing everybody's high. And so, you know, God was working on me. And you know, that encounter, you know, I, you can be filled with the spirit and continue doing the things that you were doing. Took me six years, but slowly the Lord was working on me during that time. I went in and out of jails, but you know, the prostitution slowed down, the drug dealing slowed down. I knew what I was doing was wrong. I had eyes to see the sin that I was spreading in the community and the people that I was taking out with me and he dealt with my anger and rage and I wasn't violent anymore. And then slowly the drugs began to trickle down and, you know, cause I was a super junkie. I did all the drugs. I was doing heroin, I was doing fentanyl, I was doing methamphetamine, crack cocaine, cocaine, by any means necessary, smoking, snorting,

shooting, I didn't care what it was. I just, my drug of choice was more. Anything to take me outside myself, anything to glorify the flesh. And, you know, I was like this big agent for Satan and I knew it. I knew what I was doing was wrong. And so for six years, I slowly the Lord began working on me, ended up copping another 16. I do big things and, you know, I went on a high speed pursuit through three counties, you know, and, you know, I had 25 pounds pot pistol, all these different things. And, you know, I was just, you know, still try, you still one foot in and one foot out, very lukewarm. And I knew God was going to spit me out. And he did. And, you know, I got caught, you know, I drove right into the police. I got away from him and got rid of all the drugs and stuff and then got back in the car and drove right into the police. But, you know, God spared me that night because I truly can tell you I was in such a place of spiritual death. Every day I woke up wishing God would kill me, would take my life. That would have been a blessing to me. I did not want to live anymore because I knew I had this call on my life, but that I couldn't do the work it was going to be to completely change. I didn't trust God. I didn't understand that. And so I was on my way to fix up a hot shot and take myself out and, you know, God interrupted that. And one more time, God out of jail went to a behavioral modification program.

I ended up on community corrections, you know, house arrest, you know, I ended up having to go to this program. And then, in this community corrections program, you know, graduated it, got out, dabbled for a little while on drugs, said, "Okay, God, I know you've got a call on my life." I got with another trafficker, I suffered a brutal assault and I knew God was calling me to do something I had never done, which would be to press charges against a man to put his hands on me. I knew that God had a call on my life, told me that I was going to work with people and how could I expect them to do what I wasn't willing to do. And so I pressed charges against him for the assault. I ended up going to treatment one more time and got out of that treatment facility, went to an AA program where I met a woman who works for the National Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition. I didn't know where she worked, I asked her to be my sponsor to work the 12 steps because this time I'm actually going to follow the 12 steps. You know, God, I need you to make it easy, I hit my knees, he brought me to a recovery community, I got sober, went to a halfway house and was willing to do whatever it took at this point because I knew I was either, I didn't want to leave behind a legacy of a junkie and a prostitute and a felon that couldn't get it right for my kids, my family and for the world. So I stepped out on faith, asked God to make it easy for me and actually was going to work the 12 steps, got a sponsor and when I began sharing my story I was educated at that point on what human trafficking was in the organization she worked for. And I went to an event, I went to an event that NH she had and it was a women's writers workshop and when I walked into that workshop I walked in with my three piece business suit on and my high heels, stiletto shoes and I was like, you know, hyped up on some energy drinks like these people aren't going to get me, you know, they know, they know, I know they know that I'm in recovery and I know that they know I'm a prostitute so I need to come in with my armor on which would be a suit that looks just like them. So we're on equal ground, when I walked in there my feet were killing me. You know, I'm sober now, I'm not hyped up on drugs running around in stiletto heels,

I can actually feel my feet now right and so I go in there and they circle up and pray and I look around and people don't have their shoes on and I was like, so my first point of vulnerability was I took my shoes off, I'm in the church office, I don't know that I've been a church office, I don't realize that I'm in this church and they're having this event I take my shoes off, they're circled up and praying and I don't realize it's a faith based organization, I just think I'm at a writers workshop and so I get in there and they talk about Egypt in the wilderness and I was like, I know all about that. I've been in Egypt and I've been in the wilderness and I've been in the bondage of slavery for so long and so I start talking about scripture and you know, scripture's on my heart and I keep and I'm talking about Jesus and I'm, you know, we're writing this poem about the wilderness and I'm doing this workshop and I meet the executive director, the founder and executive director, Mary Trapnel and, you know, we connect, we bond instantly and for her, you know, she would say, you know, how parents would go into an orphanage and they would say, that's my child when they're going to adopt someone and they knew instantly who there was. She knew, there was an instant connection for her and I and began building that mentor relationship and so now here I am being educated on the fact that I was a victim of human trafficking and that I did not choose that life for me, that there was a vulnerability which was a divorce in my family, my mother and father divorced at 15 and so I got to go back. So, and that was key, you know, to go back and say, okay, at 15 years old there was a rupture in my home, I had lost that male covering over me. I began, I was sexually promiscuous, I was looking for my identity and, and boy. and me because I wanted to get the acceptance from the boys. So what they were watching, they wanted me to do so I was doing it. So I was desensitized to sex at a very early age, you know, I was willing to do whatever anybody wanted me to do. And even earlier than that, you know, it was desensitized, you know, there was some stuff in my childhood that had happened. But ultimately the desensitization and during the promiscuity with the young men that I was

engaging with, the traffickers, so it was, I was 15, hanging around 15 year old boys in my school and so they were hanging out with an older crowd. And so what 15 year old girl doesn't want to hang out with the 17 and 19 year old boy, not really understanding that I was vulnerable for trafficking, not understanding that they were looking at me in that vulnerability as prey. They were looking for someone they could exploit and because they had seen what I was doing and they had heard what was going on with the young men because they had young men talk. I was easy and so I was going from person to person and ultimately ended up with a 17 year old and a 19 year old and then a 20, you know, a 20 year old couple, a male and a female, they began building trust with me and relationship. My mother wasn't around, I believed I had a new family now and these friends and, you know, so from 15 to 17 years old, they began grooming me with drugs and alcohol and hard substances. And before I knew it, I was introduced into the sex trafficking industry and that it wasn't my choice. Understanding that it really wasn't my, who just wakes up one day and says, hey, I'm going to be a felon, I'm going to be a prostitute, I'm going to be a junkie, right? You know, this is my hopes and dreams in middle school and high school. It was like, you know, you can't study to be a prostitute, like there's no courses you can take, you know, to be a prostitute or a junkie, there's nothing, you know, it's not a list of, you know, doctors, lawyers, escorts, pole dancers, you know, and it's like shippers and, and all, and prostitutes, like it's, it's not the list, you know, junkie. And so really understanding that I didn't choose that, it was the choice of the choice list was a game changer for me and I needed that education from organizations like an H.T. but I needed to hear it from someone who'd been through what I'd been through. That was the game changer. And so having a driver on staff at NHT who was able to pour into me and say, hey, you're a victim is what helped me walk into victory to accept that I didn't choose that life to lift that guilt and shame.

Okay, I did not choose to be a prostitute game changer for me. And so now what do I do with that? And so I really wanted to get, after receiving services from NHT for a couple of months, it was like, no, I want to give back now. And I began volunteering with NHT and within four months I was on staff at NHT as a driver and Mary Trapnel, the founder and executive director just pouring into me, you know, and, and giving me tools. So NHT gives us tools, gives us drivers on staff who are applying the tools that we have learned in programming and out there to everyday life. So that was the game changer for me as someone who was walking alongside me as I was struggling you know, helping me go through, you know, my trauma, helping me with my substance abuse problem, really helping me in my spiritual journey. What does it look like to really surrender and to walk out scripture? Because I had no, I had no paradigm for what, how does one, okay, so now I've got this book and I know what God's calling me to do and I have this, how do you implement this into everyday life? And so that's why she did for me save my life. So I was 41 when I got out of the life. And so I'm 46 now, five years free from, you know, that lifestyle and what it looks like today for me is like, you know, God came in, flipped my story right side up and the Lord is really showed that, you know, I had skills honed in the furnace of affliction, you know, I was building empires in the drug world. I was working for the enemy and that those same skills were transferable to this world and what does it look like? And I'm going to tell you, you know, my horrific story, you know, from sexual assaults to kidnapping to all the crimes to everything that's ever happened to me and everything that I've ever done in the world, you know, that was applicable and could be used. And if God could rescue me, what more could He do for someone else? And so it's like, I needed to get out there and share, you know, the hope of the gospel and be the light of Jesus and what does it look like that?

Nobody is too far gone, you know, for Christ and that God is in the business of transformation and He does it all day, every day, and He is using, you know, those of us who have the most horrific story and are transforming us and putting us on the front lines to do a work that only we can do. And you know, nobody's going to listen to me if I hadn't been there, right? Because I wasn't going to listen to somebody that hadn't been there. because I am living a different lifestyle today, you know? And so at the time, no, I needed somebody who'd been where I've been, who had suffered some of the same things that I had suffered. And so God uniquely qualified me to do this work by giving me a 15-page rap sheet, by understanding the ins and outs of the criminal justice system. What does it look like to go to programming, to county jail, to prison, to maximum security? You know, so I can speak to that and bring hope in life. What does it look like to be sexually assaulted? Kidnapped, all those things, I'm able to speak life and hope. And if God can do it for me, he can do it for anybody, you know? And if you haven't done near what I've done, just imagine what more he can do for you. And you know, I was 41, right? And so some of the people, you know, in their 20s and in their 30s, you know, and these kids, I get to go into schools and talk to kids today about what it looks like, you know, what, you know, it's like Dare 2.0. We have an Educate to Recognize program

who goes and talks to our most vulnerable, middle school and high schoolers. And what would it look like if somebody had really come into my life at that vulnerable age of 15 and really poured into not only me, but my mother at the time, you know, and really educated us on what could happen, what dangers are out there, you know? Not just coming in and saying, hey, don't do drugs, but really doing a holistic approach to every area and checking on how we are mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually and providing a community around those that are hurting. Instead of looking at me and saying, hey, I want to keep all my kids away from that girl, she's a big problem, she's a troublemaker. No, rallying around her. And, you know, today's society, we really are. We are seeing, you know, Tennessee is a rehabilitation state. They are believing that people in felons and can be rehabilitated. You know, there's a lot of programming and stuff. And so what we're doing here is saying, hey, do you do that programming? Let us walk alongside you while you do it and show you how we were able to do it. And so today, you know, going through an age, you know, as a member, being a volunteer, then coming on staff as a driver, I've been a driver. So one thing I can tell you is every skill that I had honed in the streets, you know,

I created a trap house, you know, and I was always creating trap houses to keep the dope dealers and the Johns happy and everybody happy. So all the money and all the drugs would stay there. So today I had an opportunity to create a safe house. And what does it look like to bring a, called the Hope House? What does it look like to bring, and, you know, a victim of human trafficking into a nice, safe, secure place? While we quarterback our care and get her into a detox and residential programming, 80% of the detox and residential programming that we partner with, I went to. So I get to use that story to say, hey, this is what it looked like. This is what you're gonna go into. These are the staff you're gonna meet. This is what your program is gonna look like because I've been there. So it takes some of that fear away from somebody that we're talking to on the phone who's looking for help for a substance abuse issue. Then I get to educate her on what it looks like for human trafficking and maybe find out a little bit of her story and what trauma would look like. And interrupt her life with the hope of the gospel and then say, what could I have used at that time? So I have this big roll index 'cause I was out there for 26 years of drugs and trafficking

on this and it's like, okay, I can pull from where I was in my story and build out a comprehensive treatment plan of what would have really helped me and moved the dial that maybe would have kept me out of drugs and trafficking longer. And so we get to do that through our rescue program and our restorative program. Again, we're walking alongside them. So the rescue program, I'm the director of rescue and I got to build that out of my story. Restore program, I got to be a part of the store and really it's survivor-informed and survivor-led services at NAHD. So everything that we do here is informed by survivors. And so really saying, hey, this is what I needed at the time and build out a program based on that. And so walking alongside these women as they come out of trafficking and out of drug programs and into the real world, what does it look like and what do they need? We're making quarterbacking their care and making sure they have birth certificate, social security card, driver's license, IDs, jobs, going for interviews on jobs, making sure they're getting to their meetings, court dates, all those things, everything I wish somebody would have done for me early on. I get to be a part of that today. And then ANZ resource, providing jobs for the women. We have a Sweet Daisy social enterprise

where we make these sweet little petaphors. So remember I was talking about Betty Crocker and the kitchen cooking cakes and now instead of cooking dope in the microwave we're cooking cakes and little sweet petaphors for the world. It's a really sweet way to give jobs to survivors of human trafficking who are in our program. And it's a revenue for our program for NAHD to get money back into NAHD and a sweet way to educate the community about human trafficking and to have something made by survivors. So it's pretty amazing. And it's a discipleship program where we get to learn about Jesus in the workplace where we're going into the schools, we're educating local law enforcement. I never thought in a million years I'd be working with the police, rescuing victims from trafficking. And so I'm working with the cops. And you know, back in the day, I had them chasing behind me with blue lights, but today they're in front of me giving me escorts as I'm getting a victim out of the city and into a long-term trauma program. So it's pretty amazing how God has flipped, you know, what the enemy was using for evil. God has flipped and God is using it for the saving of many.

And I'm good to be a part of that. As well as, you know, I'm the director of operations. So I have gone from being a driver to writing grants to facilitating classrooms, to doing rescue work, to administrative work. And now I'm helping to run the organization at an executive level. I've got no education, you know, a computer. I didn't know how to work in computer at all. You know, the only thing I knew how to work was my mouth. I was running it all the time. And you know, today, the opportunity I have to run my mouth. And this aspect to really educate the community, to bring the light and the hope of the gospel, is pretty amazing. And so, with that being said, God has done, you know, an amazing work in my life. And if he can do it for me, and I can get here and he can put me here because God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the call, right? And if he can do this for me, and I have all this stuff, I imagine what more he can do for anyone that I come in contact with, or you come in contact with. And you know, it's this love of Christ. You know, I had this distorted view of love. And what love looked like to me was somebody who was giving me money,

somebody who was always, you know, somebody who was always a transactional thing. And understanding what real love looks like to me is the love of the cross, you know, the one and only true ride or die, Jesus, who went to the cross, who paid the price for me. I'm not paying him. He paid for me. He went to the cross, you know, what love looks like today and this healthy view of love is like this person who laid it all down. And he didn't commit a sin. He paid the price for my sin, didn't commit the crime with me. You know, people are in the gangster lifestyle or like, you know, ride or die. You know, we're gonna commit a crime together and you're gonna take the charges from me. And, but I was right there with you. And, you know, he took the charges from me and didn't commit a crime. And it's, you know, this love that he has, knowing that, you know, who I was and everything I did and that he took the full weight of God's wrath for me is just been a game changer. So once I realized this original, I can look at the original, the authentic love of Christ and I can compare it to the counterfeit and I can see, you know, how you get a $100 bill, right? And, you know, you got a $100 bill,

but how do you know a $100 bill is the real thing? You know the real so you can compare it to the fake. And, you know, so this guy who laid his life down on for me. And so out there in this world, I laid my life down for them. I laid my body down and my life down for men, for financial gain, for personal gain, for material gain and worth. And here this man laid his life down for me for nothing, for nothing against everything. While I was still his enemy, he died for me. And I was like, wow, and it just blew my mind. So, you know, how could I not lay my life now down for him? And so everything I ever thought about the world in everything I thought about life and the world understanding that it was all wrong. It was all based off of me, off of self. And what I want to do is glorify God and to lay my life down to glorify Jesus and that he gives me a power to do it. It's not something I do in my own strength. It is a work that he is working in me every day. And now I don't do it perfectly. But what I can tell you today is I'm not partaking in any of the things I once did. And it's been over five years. So I can tell you that, you know, this, what he has done in me is pretty, pretty freaking powerful, pretty amazing. And so, you know, that's pretty much my story.

- That's amazing. - Okay, that was, no, that was fantastic. You went through it all and what amazing transformation. And I love how you talked about all those things that you learned in that lifestyle that you get to use today. And that's just, only God can do that. - Absolutely. And he gives us new family and new hopes. So when you think, and that's another thing, you know, about this gospel and this love, you know, and really understanding that you are loved, is that God just doesn't come in and transform you and flip you right side up. He brings a community and people around you to help you walk that out. And so, and he shows you through his church. And, you know, it doesn't have to be in a building. It is, we are the church, you know, and that there are people like you and there's people like NAHD and there's people like me and volunteers and just people in the community that really want to rally around people. And the love that they have received from Jesus has now overflowed into their lives. So you know, you're part of that. And this amazing podcast is great. You know, a wonderful tool that the Lord is using and work that he's doing in all of you guys to be able to get that message of hope out there.

So thank you for having me. - It's an honor and a blessing and really grateful for you, all that you're doing, all that amazing work you're doing in the community and just your willingness to share everything that you went through is a huge blessing. And I know it's going to touch a lot of people's lives. So if someone found themselves in a situation where they were being abused, where they believe they're a victim of human trafficking, what would you recommend that person do? - Well, so I can tell you today, human trafficking is widely recognized across the globe. And there, so there are programs out there in every state. But if you can't find a program in your state or wherever you're at, you know, you can always reach out to the Nashville Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition we have a website, click on the website and email us and almost likely get your email. And we will begin engaging with you and help you to find the resources that you need. You know, we would love for people to come alongside us, volunteers to come alongside. We got, so our vision at NHG is to see God raise up an army of humble servants who understand that all people are made in the image of God and therefore have an inherent value worth and dignity, that these servants would know that the sexual exploitation and buying and selling of human beings is on all levels of abomination

to the holy God who created them. And by their thoughts, words and deeds that would be committed to bringing the redemptive story of God as found in his words to any and all who've been impacted by the human trafficking industry. And so we want you to be part of that army. We're asking for everyone to come along, you know, come alongside, if it's not N-A-H-C then, you know, there's organizations in your community that you can come alongside. There are people who need your help. You know, this fight human trafficking is affecting every zip code, everywhere. People are coming, chances are, we can't say 100% because it's a taboo to do that. But 99.9% chance that your child has already been engaging with someone who is grooming them for trafficking on their telephone, through social media, through websites. If you go, you know, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, you know, you know, only fans, there are so many different websites. Snapchat that traffickers are looking for and have penetrated that in our children. So your child can be sitting right next to you, instant messaging someone, thinking it's another child or thinking it's someone who is really not. And it's a trafficker. And so what we know is nobody's safe now. So get yourself educated, be part of the army, go support other organizations. We all need financial support.

So if you can't get out and volunteer, you know, jump in and make monthly donations, reach out and ask how you can support an organization. Maybe you make clothing donations. Maybe you volunteer, maybe you make financial donations, or maybe you dislike and follow us on Facebook and Instagram and be a part of our growing community and share some of our content. There are several ways to get involved. And if you specifically want to get involved at NAHD, get on our website and we would love to have you. There are links for Educate to Recognize presentations. You can sign up to have us come speak. You can sign up to volunteer. You can sign up to be part of our restore program. And you can also refer people to be rescued if they need help for detox and residential programming. If you know anyone who's suffering with the substance abuse issue, feel free to reach out to us. If we can't help them, we'll find someone who can. - And you can buy some of those little cakes if you're local. - Yeah, and our sweet days, yeah, I forgot. And our sweet Daisy social enterprise, you can order cakes on our website. Yes, you can absolutely, you can get to sweet Daisy to our Google sheet and order cakes. - Thank you so much for your willingness to come on here and share and just open up about the trauma

that you went through, but how the Lord just used you to how he used your story and he's using it to reach those who are still lost and still broken and just to show them that there's hope. So I'm really grateful for you and your willingness to share in everything that you're doing. - Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here.