“Psalm”

April is National Poetry Month. As a poet as well as an overcomer of childhood sexual assault, I want to give God the praise today for His healing power. He saved my soul, He redeemed my life, and He strengthened my body so that I can serve Him and speak the Truth that sets others free.

To God be the glory.

PSALM

In the morning, my spirit sings to God the secret
of my innermost being, my hidden heart, our sanctuary

All my longings lie open before You

I bring to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving when desire
burns bright for a new life in my body, in my soul, our being

All my longings lie open before You

You hear what cannot be spoken, You hear what hopes
I have that no one else can see or know

All my longings lie open before You

For You came into the darkness when the night was full of fear
when the silent scream rose to Your throne, You came

When I was powerless, terrified, when the Enemy
seized my throat and I couldn’t breathe, You came down

You held my soul when I could not bear the shame,
and You breathed my memories of myself back into me

All my longings lie open before You

O God, Savior, Redeemer, Almighty One, Your Name
be glorified for reconnecting the tree to the roots

All my longings lie open before You

I praise You for showing me the mysteries of the tidepool
and healing the pain in my eyes and my face and my mouth

All my longings lie open before You

You gave me a vision of hope and a future, pure
shining in white, marveling with joy, with my baby on my back

All my longings, all my longings, O God, lie open before You

So I am singing to You, Holy Wondrous Helper, who sustains my life,
who makes me overcome the pain of the past by Christ’s power
and live by the Spirit in continual VICTORY.

Jane Beal
sanctuarypoet.net

“All my longings lie open before you,” Psalm 38:9

February/March 2009 Update

Thanks be to God! February and March have been full months of ministry for JSASSN. New Christian ministries to sexual assault survivors have been added to the JSASSN network, Orphan Helpers in Honduras and House of Hope in Nicaragua; the JSASSN website got a new format to make accessing our information easier; and the Jennifer Franet Memorial Membership Drive and Education Outreach succeeded in adding over 100 new members to the JSASSN cause on Facebook, STOP SEX TRAFFICKING. And there’s more!

In March, I once again partnered with the Wheaton College chapter of the International Justice Mission and the International Needs Network, Ghana, to bring representatives from the Vocational Training Center of Adidome, Ghana to speak to Wheaton College. Mercy, a woman formerly trapped in sexual slavery in the trokosi system, gave her testimony while Patience, the director of the VTC, shared about how ING is helping to meet the needs of women in recovery: physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and practically. About 100 people were in attendance at the meeting! (For pictures, see Jane’s photo album, “Mercy’s Story,” on Facebook.)

In addition, I was photographed by the Voices and Faces Project, an organization seeking to compile survivors’ stories in order to bring political and cultural change to attitudes toward sexual assault and rape. My story is now part of TVFP database and may be used to raise awareness in TVFP presentations, website, and forthcoming book.

On a personal note, following up on the “ALERT” I posted in January, I wanted to share that Johnnie Dale Damron was arrested in West Virginia for failure to register as a convicted sex offender after the police in Ohio were tipped off by a JSASSN supporter. He has been extradited to Ohio, where he is currently in jail awaiting a trial date in April. If convicted, he could serve up to a year or more for this felony.

More importantly, I had the opportunity to meet and encourage several survivors of sexual assault ss well as their family members in the past two months. I have become vividly aware of the fact that survivors become parents, and the abuse they suffered, if not resolved in a healthy way, negatively impacts their children even when the parents do not become abusers. Interacting with Orphan Helpers and Love, Light, and Melody has also reinforced in my mind how vulnerable to sexual exploitation children, especially orphans, really are when they live in extreme poverty.

Please continue to pray for JSASSN and for the end of sexual abuse, assault, and trafficking worldwide through the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Dr. Jane Beal
JSASSN International

Dia de Luz

Last night, Brad Corrigan and non-profit Christian ministry Love, Light, and Melody came to Wheaton College to speak, play music, and raise awareness about the needs of people living in extreme poverty in La Chureca (“the scavenging place,” i.e. the city trash dump/landfill ) in Managua, Nicaragua.

Brad’s documentary film “Dia de Luz” vividly shows the circumstances this community of 1200 people faces daily: hunger, malnourishment, inadequate clothing, almost no educational or vocational training opportunities for children or adults … all in a toxic environment that includes burning tires, medical waste, broken glass, rotting carcasses of dead animals – and more and worse.

Because of the extreme poverty, children are especially vulnerable to victimization, and child prostitution is an issue.

Brad told the story of Eliana and her two younger sisters, Mercedes and Anjuria. Eliana’s parents had no money to feed their family. When the drivers of the dump trucks would come into La Chureca, the children, including eight-year-old Eliana, would jump on the back of the trucks until the trucks stopped and dumped the garbage. The children wanted to be the first to sort through the latest trash so they could find whatever might be good for food or sale (scrap metal, for example). The drivers would give money to the girls for sex. That’s how Eliana and her sisters became child-victims of sexual assault who learned how to work as prostitutes in order to feed themselves. All three girls, now in their teens, are HIV-positive.

But there is a ministry to prostitutes and their children in Managua, Nicaragua: House of Hope. House of Hope provides a residence program, vocational training, and the encouragement that God is able to redeem any situation, no matter how devastating. Mercedes, who is recovering from an addiction to crack that her pimp fostered in order to get her to work 12-hour days as a prostitute, is now a part of this ministry house.

Please pray for Love, Light, and Melody and for House of Hope ministries, for the people they are serving in Nicaragua, and for the end of poverty, prostitution, and the sexual assault of children in La Chureca.