Partnering and Loving

are you looking for something to invest in monthly?

I am currently in a season of needing to receive more monthly donors since the government of the Netherlands has put stronger visa requirements on all non-Europeans. My ministry with women in sex trafficking and prostitution has been put on hold for the next 3 months because of this.

However, I am using my time out of the Schengen as an opportunity to see how our ministry in Western Europe can link with where the girls come from in eastern Europe. I am currently in eastern Europe (because of my visa i have to be out of the Schengen) and am working with orphan teenagers in Ukraine (where vulnerable girls can easily be trafficked from) and am also teaching English in Kiev (where the riots were a little under 2 months ago and over 100 people died) bringing Jesus in English class as we teach non-believers English through the Bible and bringing hope!

Proof in writing that I have sufficient resources is necessary for me to receive a work and resident permit. If you would like to be a donor, would you be willing to document your support by completing a pledge? I know that economic changes can change in the future, but your help now can make a significant difference in me being able to return to the Netherlands and continue doing ministry in the Red Light District.

if you are considering giving and wondering how..
-we can do automatic withdrawals
-we can do paypal
-we can do mailing checks
-we can do tax-deductible
send me an email at 1lizhuckaby@gmail.com and i will give you more info. to move this forward.

Thanks for reading and your prayers as i have some fabulous prayer warriors out there and am always seeing God's hand in the midst of it all!

life is lovely in the midst of mess.

every single day is full of opportunities. sometimes you just have to be present to see that opportunity pass in front of you. my opportunities the past 2 months working and ministering in the red light district have been endlessly easy. too easy. is it so hard to tell someone that is in a broken state that Jesus loves them? Perhaps the hardest part of telling them this, is that i find my own brokenness in the process. Every single day i am in need of my Savior. I am in need of revelation of who He is to me. I am needy! there. i said it. I am so needy and yet satisfied and content in His love. I am beginning to realize that He loves the fact that we need and want to spend time in His presence just because.. well.. it truly is the best place to be.

with saying that, I would like to follow it with saying that I LOVE MY TEAM!! when you work with teams and people from different cultures and upbringings.. you know.. stuff comes out. However, the maturity that comes from my team in walking in an unoffendable heart moves us to a deeper level of wanting to see the one found worthy and pointing all the work we are able to do back on Him. It's all from Him.. it's all for Him.. and we are all in love with Him. Basically the best team ever.

ok now saying all that, let me share a couple stories just from this week. Last Friday, we went out to the windows and myself and one of the girls that is no longer working in the windows (we shall call her Sarah and she got radically saved from prostitution last year) visited some of the prostitutes (we don't like to "label" them as prostitutes but just for clarity's sake).. after talking and visiting with 3 of the girls we came to one lady that knew Sarah well (because they had worked together in the windows years prior).  We told her you are beautiful, but your heart is also very beautiful. One thing to understand about our ministry, is sometimes it takes time to build relationship with them and sometimes it is right away. But we don't want to ruin relationship by telling them some fire and brimstone gospel every time we talk to them, so sometimes it looks messy.. in fact, most of the time it looks messy.. we just ask for the Holy Spirit to guide us in the words we say and that it will speak to their heart so we can continue to visit them every Friday night. After we told her her worth and beauty, we prayed with her.. held hands and prayed. There is nothing like bringing the presence of the Lord in a room, that is masked with darkness.. we bring in the light softly and it shines in us brightly! because we are in love with our Saviour and we hope they would see just a glimpse of that love.

That same night, one of the other teams came back from visiting some other windows and they shared with us that one of the prostitutes had made the decision to leave prostitution this week. We had only talked to her a few times! Such great news, it must be true.

We have come into a new wave of prostitutes in the windows, mostly because most of the girls we previously knew in the windows have moved on! Whether they have gone home or have started a new life away from prostitution, it is good news.

this was all just from Friday!

Yesterday we had our weekly Bible study with some of the girls that are still working and some that have left prostitution. They come to us because we provide jobs for them to make jewelry instead of selling their bodies. These girls need to know their value and that they have God given gifts and talents.. something that is a focus for us to remind them of who they are. My favorite part of this day, though, is when we all open the Bible together and read a chapter of the gospels. One of the girls that is still working in prostitutioneyes beam when we talk about Jesus.. and she is clearly wanting to know more about who this God is that we talk about. Please keep her in your prayers as i know God wants to bring her full revelation of what Jesus did for her on the cross and to receive Him as her Saviour. Her name is Paula (not her real name).

so that's just a few stories from this week. Tonight we will be visiting Virginia (not real name). We visit her every Wednesday night. She knows Jesus.. but needs prayer.. maybe strategy for my team and I as we all pile in to the room and listen as she shares stories of her week, not always positive ones and we sit there and listen because she doesn't have anyone else to share her heart with that she trusts. I know God wants to take her from this dark place, it's just a matter of her understanding that she can do something else with her life. Please pray for my team tonight. Blessings!

                                                        my team (me, Marleen and Clara)

#ministry #redlightdistrict #Jesus

this is my joy

i love what i get to do.

as i was sitting there.. crammed in a small room in the basement of our building (the lighthouse) in the middle of the red light district.. i smiled 

i smiled because i had 4 Hungarian girls to the left of me ... and 4 Spanish girls on the right...

i smiled because they were eager to hear what i had to say and were willing to listen.. not because I was speaking.. but because of the message we came to bring.. "Jesus was the only perfect human.. He is the hero.. He is the one that takes our burdens" hmm it's as simple as that. i guess sin makes that message complicated.

Some of these girls are still in prostitution and some of them have left the job... my job isn't to make sure they leave prostitution.. my job is to love them where they are at.. pray they leave the work.. provide jobs for the ones that want to leave the job.. speak truth into their lives.. tell them about Jesus.. make disciples.

God knows exactly what these girls need..."Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her...go from now on and sin no more" -John 8:7,10

although we might not understand each other fully with words, our hearts understand each other. I am constantly reminded that it is His kindness that leads us to repentance.

i will be leading a Spanish Bible study tomorrow with some of the girls still working in the windows.. they are so ready to receive that they come even though i am not fluent! Please keep my team and I in your prayers (:

Back in the Red Light District.

It has been a few months since I have been back here and I am seeing things with fresh new eyes as well as being excited with what is going to happen in the coming weeks.

Honestly, I have been so pumped to come back with renewed energy and encouragement from people in Kansas City who are on fire for the Lord. They are burning to see His name proclaimed in the nations, to the broken, and even to the lost in their own community. I lived with the most hospitable women I have ever come in contact with (Barb Schmitz you are an angel from heaven above) and on my flight on my way here I sat next to the most inspiring guy I have ever sat next to on a plane!

All of these individuals have charged me with fresh vision and tenacity to move forward with what God has spoken over me and gifted me in in this upcoming season! 

The word that comes to mind is stewardship. As I was flying over the Atlantic Ocean, I was chatting away with the guy sitting next to me about what I do. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He said to me, "Really? That is really what you do? I bet if you asked every single person on this plane what they did, it wouldn't come close to as rad as the work you are doing.. it just wouldn't happen." I laughed at the thought and then it struck me.. oh yeah.. my job isn't that normal. And I guess when you tell someone "I work with potential victims of sex trafficking," the conversation doesn't really end there.

I didn't set New Years resolution's on a piece of paper this year--I set them on my heart. It is the awakening of my spirit to begin to recognize the gifts and talents I was born with but just failed to notice. It is loving and respecting myself because every one of us should know the best way to care for ourselves and steward what we have been given. Whether that is creative ideas to do something out of the norm, to cultivate and build relationships with your community, to love and see the best in people, to choose to not walk in an offendable heart, or all of the above--I want to steward it and steward it well!

Amsterdam Series.

launch of my drawings now available for purchase! go to this link to buy
https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/8cnHa/ab/61IJi1

inbox me at 1lizhuckaby@gmail.com to specify where to send and which one you would like. all proceeds go to my monthly support.

here are my top selling:

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nations on the mind.

the nations are constantly on my mind. when i am not out in them, my brain is constantly getting distracted by thinking about them. Two nations have been at the forefront as of late, Brazil and Holland. Today Brazil has been the primary occupation and found myself looking at different organizations and websites that are caring for orphans, prostitutes and those living on the streets.

I not only found a few amazing organizations but i did stumble upon a bit of history and a quite remarkable building in Recife, Brazil.. The Santa Isabel Theatre. It was in this theatre that Joaquim Nabuco made his case for the abolition of slavery in Brazil which was a suiting place since the Theatre was built without the use of slaves (a rare thing in the mid 1800's).

we can learn from past world changers to bring forth change in the future.

here are a few organisations doing something in Brazil-

http://www.happychild.org/ -they rescue street and at risk children from situations of personal and social risk in the large southern city of Belo Horizonte and Northeastern city of Recife. Happy Child is regarded as one of the leading and most experienced Christian charities in Brazil working with these children. It has helped to reintegrate thousands of children back into society.

http://shoresofgrace.com/en/ -Their focus is setting those in prostitution and abuse free and walking them through restoration. Their goal is to reveal the Father God to people in everything they do as Jesus did when He walked the earth.

http://exoduscry.com/ - A prayer movement to end slavery. Their focus this year is Brazil as it leads up to the World Cup where Trafficking and crime rates rise, they have focused prayer for this country for this year specifically.

the power of prayer is not something to be ignored but that we can be alive and active in at anytime and anywhere. i am guilty of not engaging as much as i would like to in prayer because it is a choice that is constantly needing to be made but when i remember and engage.. it is like my Spirit is revived saying "this is what you were made to do.. to intercede for the nations of the world.. your prayers are changing things right now.. and moving angels with your prayers into position.. greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world"

Lord, i lift up Brazil where trafficking is happening in dark corners... i ask for you to shed light on those places right now.. in the midst of this wicked generation, i ask for you to bring your beauty and love to Brazil specifically the cities of Belo Horizonte, Recife and Fortaleza. You, Lord, are bringing things to pass this year and i ask for you to send out your light over these cities.. where trafficking is being exposed.. i ask for you to expose it right now...i ask for you to raise up Joaquim Nabuco's in this generation.. people in power and influence that advocate and bring change in Brazil in the government. i ask for areas that represent freedom like The Santa Isabel Theatre would be tangible reminders of what you have intended for these cities to be. i pray that these cities would have your sons and daughters crying out on behalf of the land.. whose faces are radiant and whose lives are living sacrifices and pure.. lives transformed.. who are like your son.. representations of hope and destiny to those in these cities..that your fragrance would be carried through these cities and spread throughout to the orphans, the prostitutes.. that they would understand the reality of your love for them and walk in incredible freedom. In Jesus name, Amen

The Santa Isabel Theatre. It was here that Brazil won the cause for the abolition of slavery

the simple life

i have been home now for a month exactly! the first few weeks were focused on helping my sister with her wedding as it was at my parent's house and there was crazy work that needed to get done. The positive side to having a wedding in the yard, is my parent's were able to get the house painted, the landscape done, and a cement pathway to wrap around the house to the side porch. Which are all the things they had wanted to do for so long and finally had a reason and a due date to finish it. The house looks awesome (except the room i am staying in which still has wallpaper from the 1970's.. on the bright side, it has made a full circle into being "vintage" slash "hipster")

So life at home is pretty simplistic now that the wedding has come and gone. Living in the country with no car has its challenges.. like not being able to get out of the house and socialize with people besides my family. I love my family don't get me wrong, but i find myself in situations like having to "watch" my senile dog all day who is old and decripid (is that how it is spelled?). She likes to sit right at your feet which is fine... until she farts. She also now has this problem with her back hips.. and when she poops.. she doesn't have the strength to pinch the poop out... resulting in me today stepping on some leftovers on the floor and gagging all the way down the hall as i cleaned my foot and the carpet.. so disgusting. i love her. really i do.. but she has butt problems. see this is what happens when i don't get out of the house. i start talking about my dogs issues. ugh

moving on... so this morning i woke up bright eyed at 6am.. which is very unusual for me.. (not a morning person) God was obviously waking me up..excited to spend the day with me!! so i listened to the ihop (international house of prayer) webstream and opened the WORD which washed over me like.. well..I cant even compare it to anything! i got this fiery burden for the issue of human trafficking that He laid on my heart which resulted in me updating my facebook status to this:

"Do you know why I love praying and advocating against human trafficking?

Because in every generation there is abuse of human beings.. And stories we hear of the generations before us... where good men stood by and did nothing...and those that did changed history...I want to join the voices of those that say "we see you.. And we will help you.. You are a human being.. And you should be treated as such"

I have been given the opportunity to be apart of change in my generation just by the simple fact that I have been born into it.

In my generation of those in captivity I'm not going to ignore their cries for help or be ignorant that this is happening across the globe.

I want to be apart of the group that says this is not okay.. I will not put up with it today.. And I will be one to set my life apart on behalf of those abused and enslaved. 

This isn't the Civil War.. This isnt WWII.. This isn't the Rwanda Genocide.. This is today and its happening right now.. I will join those that are doing something about it..Those that say this is not okay.. Those that are praying.
I love this generation because i have seen friends and strangers join together and say what can we do to change it.. 

Today I am choosing to fight back through love.. Through speaking out truth.. Through prayer.. Yes today is going to be a good day."

It came from the depths of my being that yearns for change in this generation. I then spent the rest of my morning and half of the afternoon in prayer and worship.. It truly is the best place to be. He also gave me the idea to begin to make drawings to fundraise during my time at home. I began working on one and 5 hours later came up with this... 

more to come.... :)