Guest Post: A Simple Gray Dress

I first met Amy Seiffert at church during my graduate school days. She is quite a stylish lady and I have been known to check out her blog to see what outfits she's been sporting lately.

Amy, a mommy, painter, and blogger from Ohio, has been wearing the same gray dress for the past 4 months. No, it's not trendy, nor is it a fashion statement...not really. 

She's doing it for the daughters.

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According to their website, "The Daughter Project is a non-profit organization in Northwest Ohio that exists to help girls recover from the trauma of sex trafficking and to help prevent others from being trafficked."

Every day, Amy puts on her simple gray dress for those girls. 

Anywhere from 700,000 and 4 million women and children are trafficked for the purpose of sex and sexual exploitation every year. 

Every thirty seconds, another person becomes a victim.

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Thank you, Amy, for sharing your story!

4 Down. 2 To Go.

Who knew I would be saying that about wearing the same gray dress. In months. 4 months have passed. 2 to come. What a ride.

I think the biggest thing I've come to label myself is: Learner.

-I've learned things about human sex trafficking that I had never known before I pulled this dress over my head.

-I've learned about clothing, my identity and fashion. How others view me and themselves. How the outer layer is just a layer and beauty must bubble over your clothing if you are to be truly stunning. 

-I've learned that I am free. And freedom is so basic. So human. So necessary. And in the smallest way, removing a freedom of choice for my daily wear, gives me the smallest speck of a peak into the freedom removed of those who are slaves. I cannot stretch that any farther, because it hardly compares. (I hope my meager and weak comparison is not offensive.)

-I've learned that I have been safe. I have been protected. I have been cherished. I have been loved, provided for and valued. I walk with the dignity of a queen because of who my parents were and those mentors and friends around me. Thankfulness should be my first daily thought.

-I've learned to make every effort to befriend those who come in my path, if even in an elevator for a minute. Some of these women had no where to run, to escape, to go because no one took the time to know their name and to say that they are safe. I am safe, and I want to be available. 

-I've learned that if you decided to do something, over 30 people might follow you across the nation, and do the same thing. They might sacrifice with you. They might send a tip to a local newspaper who might give you a little press. Then they might air it on your local news station. Then CNN might call you and ask to interview for The Freedom Project. You might have a little bit of an effect.

Newton's law of action-reaction is real.

-I've learned that God is in the horror. He hates injustice. He loves mercy. I don't know what else to say but that I know, as one of His followers, I am called to action. Faith without works is dead.

Thank you for learning with me. For knowing that this project is not about me, my fashion, my creativity. It is about the daughters who have real names. And hopes and dreams and gifts to give to our world that are so beautiful, no one can rob those from them. 

Let's cover their shame and uncover their beauty.

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You can read more from Amy on her blog.

 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:3-6