This is the main road that the small streets full of bars stem off of.  This is the street we walk down every other night in prayer.  This is also one of the darkest and saddest places I have ever seen.  Think of the strips in Myrtle Beach or Daytona Beach that tourist come to and look in shops, hang out, and take pictures.  That is Bangla Road plus girls dancing on bars and poles, selling themselves, and Lady Boys who are boys raised to be girls in prostitution, dressed in cabaret costumes. 

This was a new sight for me.  The bars in Chang Mai did not have many of these things.  They also did not have tourist families with their children of all ages exposed to this. It did not have groups of women my age on vacation hanging out in the bars.  It did not have them standing and videoing the “entertainment”.   

The families with children who took pictures of their 6 year old daughter dancing on a bar with a ladyboy or the father with the 10 year old son staring at the girls dancing on the poles broke my heart and incited my anger.  How is this a good idea?  Why do these parents not see how wrong this is?  Bangla Road is not just about buying women for the night but it is a tourist sight for all to come and watch. 

This is when I get overwhelmed with the depravity of mankind.  I do not understand why we are okay with women being sold and used for others entertainment.  Why aren't other foreign women appalled by what they see?  Instead I see them with their cameras and phones capturing the “entertainment.”  I see the women in the bars and on the street and my heart breaks for the life they have to live.  Their families have groomed some of the women for this job, some have been trafficked, and some have no other way to provide for their families.  They deserve so much more in their lives than being objects for another's pleasure.

I walk down Bangla Road with my team of four girls.  We do not go into the bars or down the side streets of bars.  Our main goal is to prayer walk down and up Bangla Road.  We listen for the voice of God and obey.  I've never spent so much time praying in my life, but it has been incredible how God has spoken to us and guided us in our time down there. 

My team of girls has built relationships with one of the girls in a bar, an Indian women who works in a shop on Bangla, and an American guy who has been living and working in Phuket.  It has been a privilege to go behind these amazing young women and support, encourage, and guide them as they hear God's voice in obey.  I wish I could put into words how powerful prayer can be and important it is for us to be out there praying and interceding for the groups who do go into the bars each night. 

Tonight is our last night on Bangla Road.  It will be hard to say goodbye to the people we have gotten to know.  Pray we finish strong.

On Monday we went to see the Big Buddha.  It is a huge statue of Buddha that is still being completed.  The goal is for it to become the largest Buddha in all of Thailand.  The Big Buddha sits on the highest place in Phuket so that it looks down on the entire island.  It took us 30 minutes or more to get to it even though we can see the top of it from the window of our house. 

In homes, business, schools and other places there are spirit houses where people place offerings and burn incense to spirits or Buddha.  I watched people bow to a spirit house on all four sides at one of the malls at the beginning of Bangla Road. 

All of the verses about idols and high places in the Bible really come alive for me here in Thailand.  You are able to see people daily worshipping idols.  Objects made by man that they bow down to.  It breaks my heart to see them worshipping these idols and totally missing the One and True God. 

The viewpoint from Big Buddha is one of the best views of the island of Phuket.  It is completely breathtaking and demonstrates God's amazing creation however so many do not recognize the artwork of our Powerful and Mighty God. 

While I was looking out on the beauty of the island, I was reminded how easily we in American also bow down to our idols.  They may not be physical objects that we knee before, but we do have our idols of worship.  Money, Success, Fame, Lust, Comforts, People, etc.  We so easily substitute other things in the place of God.  We try to fill the emptiness in our lives with those things instead of with Jesus. 

I know in my own life I have chosen TV over time with Jesus.  I have found my security in my job instead of the provision of my Lord.  I have sought love and affection from others instead of being content with the love of God.  These things are not necessarily bad, but if they are what we turn to instead of Jesus first then they become idols in our lives.  

I walked around the Big Buddha with some of our girls 7 times like the Israelites did around the city of Jericho.  The walls fell down.  I pray that Big Buddha will fall down.  I pray that every spirit house I pass by will fall to the ground in Jesus' name.  I also pray that our own personal idols will be knocked down and filled with the love and power of Jesus. 

We bow our hearts
We bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes
From evil things
Oh Lord we cast down our idols

So give us clean hands
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

¹² Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.  1Tim 4:12

But I am among ten beautiful young women who are not the next generation, but are part of the generation now because they are choosing to not wait to change the world.  These amazing young women are stepping out of the norm and are taking a stand. 

They have given up a month of their lives to serve others.  They have given up their cell phones, computers, facebook, and tv.  They are willing to live without air conditioning in the middle of summer.  They are willing to give up their personal rights and expectations to be part of community.  They are willing to take off the mask the world says they have to wear to be truly vulnerable with their team.  They have given up their freedom to do what they want and go where they want.  They are giving it all to Jesus.

They have shared their brokenness with each other. They have admitted their failures and faults.  They have loved each other in their imperfections.  They have chosen to let Jesus over take their lives.  They have taken disappointment on the chin and rolled with it. 

These beautiful young women have done all of this to allow Jesus to take a hold of their lives and totally break and transform them.  They are seeking so much more than what the world has to offer.  They do not want to just survive through life, but live it abundantly. 

So many people put limits on what teenagers can do or handle, but God does not put limits on them.  We have ten incredible young women who have struggled through to be able to be used by Jesus now.  They are not waiting until they are adults, have a college education, and have more life experience.  They are doing something now to bring hope to a broken world.  

They have not just come to Thailand to work with women in the bars; they have come to be transformed so that they can be an agent of Jesus' love, hope, and peace everywhere they go. 

I realized very quickly at training camp that these young women were my ministry.  They have captured my heart.  I care more about pouring into them then even going into the bar area and ministering there.  They have impressed me in their desire to seek God and serve him.  They are finding who they are in Christ and identifying their callings now instead of having to do it in their 20's like I did.  I desire so much to help them discover their identity in Christ and encourage them each day we are here. 

Be looking out for these amazing young women to change the world!

The time has arrived.  I will be leaving for Gainesville, GA on June 13^th to begin my time as an Ambassador leader.  We have 10 girls on our team and three leaders.  The girls will arrive on the 15^th for training camp then we all leave on the 20^th of June for Thailand! 

Thank you to everyone who has helped me raise the support needed for this trip.  God has used your generosity to allow me to not only minister to girls and women in Thailand, but to also pour into the young women I will be leading.  I could not do this without your prayers and support. 

We will be in Phuket, Thailand.  Phuket is Thailand's largest island and is off the western coast of Thailand.  We will be working with SHE Thailand. Started in 2006, SHE (Self Help and Empowerment) is a Christian charity committed to helping women and children at risk in Thailand, many of whom are trapped in the commercial sex trade. SHE is dedicated to providing employment, vocational training and counseling for women who want to help themselves out of this industry. All proceeds go directly to helping them find employment, community, friendship, restoration, and above all restoration of their own value.  You can find out more about SHE at www.shethailand.org

I am very excited to work this ministry.  My teammate, Ashley from the World Race worked with this ministry when we were in Thailand.  I also hope to gain knowledge and experience about sex trafficking to bring back to help Flight to Light Foundation and our goals of opening a safe house here in Central Florida. 

Here are something you can be praying for us while we are on our trip: 

Team Unity

Good communication between the three leaders

Wisdom and discernment for leaders

Smooth travels to and from Thailand

Openness to the Holy Spirit's working

Spiritual growth among our team

Opportunities to impact women and girls in the prostitution industry

Safety for our team as we minister

Good health

Less than two months to go until I head out to Thailand.  I head to Gainesville, GA on June 13^th for a training camp with our team and then we head to Thailand a week later.   I have had the opportunity to begin getting to know some of the girls that we will be leading on this trip.  I am really excited to get to know them better and meet them in person.  In April I attended the Ambassador leaders training in Gainesville, Ga.  This was a great time to begin preparing us as leaders for your varies high school trips we are leading.  It also was a great time to reconnect with members of my World Race squad,  which was so overdue. 

So far I have $1,143 raised.  I need to have $2,193 by the time I head to Gainesville, GA on June 13, 2011.  So, I still need $1,000 more to go.  I just need 10 people who can give $100 or 20 people who can give $50.  I am not able to do this mission work without the generous support of others. 

Thank you so much to all of you who have gotten me to the $1,143 so far.  This trip has the chance to not only impact the Thai people but to also transform the lives of the high school girls we are leading.  These girls will bring back home what God does in Thailand and also impact those back at home too. 

Please prayerfully consider being a part of this amazing opportunity.  You can do this by clicking on the support me link on the left side of the page. Please make checks payable to Adventures In Missions. Please write  my name in the memo section of the check  All donations should be mailed to Adventures In Missions, P.O. Box 534470, Atlanta, GA 30353-4470. 

P.S. If you have given a donation and received a thank you card from an Ashley Higgins please let me know, because it may have been placed in her support account instead of mine.  If you have not received a thank you card from me, then your donation was not placed in my account.  You can contact me for info on how to fix that. 

God continues to have me on a rollercoaster of Faith, but I have seen his provision in the past week. 

Flight to Light has received $1250 in donations in a week!!!!  This is allowing us to receive some training to help in running a safe house and is an encouragement of God's hand on this ministry.  We are moving forward in writing a proposal to send out for grants and other funding sources. 

God has provided close to $200 this week for my Thailand Trip.  I have $754.04 raised and have $1646 to go to meet my goal of $2400. 

I have not received money that I had earned for working in February yet, but I am praying that God will open the door for that to come through this week.  I still do not have any income coming in, but I am trusting in God to provide for my needs. 

After writing my blog last Monday, I went to a ministry for my age believers.  I had nto been able to go due to a counseling session I had on Monday nights but since that had been discontinued due to funding issues I was able to go.  There was a married couple speaking that night about their walk in a time that they lost their income.  They shared about how God has been faithful in providing for their needs, even supernaturally by not allowing certain items to last much longer than possible. 

It was very encouraging and confirming that God does provide for our needs.  It is a hard adjustment to learn to live like a missionary and rely solely on God to provide the money to pay your bills each month.  God is really challenging me in this. 

If you feel lead to help support my work with Flight to Light you can give on my blog shanners13.wordpress.com by clicking the support me tab and clicking on the donate button. 

You can give for my Thailand Trip by clicking the support me link on the left of this blog. 

Thank you all for the money you have so generously providing for Flight to Light and my Thailand Trip.  It would not be possible without your sacrifice. 

It's been awhile since I last posted a blog.  I have been trying to live my life by walking by faith.  Well, I feel like it is more like a rollercoaster ride of faith. 

In October 2010, God begin me on a path where I was to live depending solely on him.  This sounds like how every Christian lives, but in reality it is totally different.  No longer was I allowed to have a steady job with a steady income.  No longer was I to have my own place to live.  No longer was I to be self-sufficient.  None of those things are bad  or not things God wants in a Christian's life.  God had just called me to a whole new level of living solely dependant on God.  God promised me that he provide for me needs and bring me back into ministry where I can bring healing to the hurting.  I begin living a life that I have felt called to live but had been afraid to step out and take that risk and truly live like I trust God with everything. 

As you know that has lead me back to Florida, to the Orlando area and I have been working for free part time for my ministry Flight to Light.  I had also been given the opportunity to doing counseling part time with an agency to pay my bills.  God graciously provided me with a free place to live with a wonderful Godly woman.  So on the surface it all looks good, but here begins the rollercoaster ride of faith…

My income from counseling has been anything but consistent no matter what I have tried to do to increase the consistence.  I just found out once again that I am left with no clients and no income coming in.  I have tried to offset this by doing nanny jobs, but ones I have taken have fallen through or lasted only for a week.  Every time I try to look for a more stable job, God says no.  It is a crazy ride to not know where your money to pay your bills is going to come from.  I get scared because I am a doer and want to work, but I also do not want to leave the path God has set for me.  I did that before and it was devastating to go through.  Every time I make attempts I hear God telling that he will provide for my needs.  The crazy thing is he has and has never let me down and not provided, but I still get scared when I feel insecure because there is no logical method for me to pay my bills. 

At, the same time I have seen God working in amazing ways.  Our 501c3 has been approved, so Flight to Light is officially a non-profit organization.  God has been opening doors for me to make connections.  A generous person has already given $250 to our foundation.  God has provided me with a home and a community that has been incredible.  God has opened the door for me take teenage girls on a mission trip to Thailand this summer.  I know that what I am doing is in God's plan.  I know that he is working and is going to truly develop our dreams of a safe house for teenage girls rescued out of sex trafficking.  I know that he will provide for me needs.

…But, I have no idea how he is going to do all these things.  So I continue on my rollercoaster ride of faith and daily put my trust in Jesus to provide for my needs and my dreams.  Often times it is lonely on this ride because most people do not understand relying solely on Jesus to provide for my needs.  Jesus has used some amazing people to help provide for those needs and I am so thankful for their love, support, and prayers. 

So, Jesus I put my trust completely in you to work your miracles and provide for my needs.  Daily I come before your throne and bring my needs and thank you for what you will do to provide.  Daily I hand over my fears to you to turn into hope and confidence in your provision.