Lillie Ammann's Blog, page 124

Book Review: Mind of Her Own

Mind of Her Own by Diana Lesire Brandmeyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Note: Diana will be my guest on Friday, February 8. Come by and read her interview about this books and others she has written.

A contemporary romance, Mind of Her Own is quite different from the typical romance novel. Louisa has retrograde amnesia, but she wakes up with lots of memories. The problem is that her memories aren’t real. She is convinced she’s the famous romance writer Jazz Sweet, and she doesn’t know anything about being a wife and mother of three.

There is suspense: Is Jazz really Louisa? If so, will she ever give up her dream memories and remember her real life? Collin, her husband, is a great romantic hero. He discovers Louisa’s journals and realizes that he never really knew his wife. The amnesia gives him a chance to really know the woman he loves, and eventually it gives Louisa the opportunity to resolve a childhood trauma that she had never revealed to anyone.

Even when Louisa is convinced that she is the glamorous and exciting Jazz, she retains her Christian faith and even leads Collin and the children back to church. One little niggling question that I wondered: If Jazz had no memories of her previous life, how did she wake up Sunday morning and know the service times of a church she didn’t attend?

There were a few problems such as extra spaces in words and odd breaks that I am convinced were errors from the conversion. I received a PDF file for review and converted it to Kindle, which often results in problems of that type.

I highly recommend Mind of Her Own to readers who enjoy romance and realize that the romance doesn’t end at the wedding. Christian readers will appreciate the Christian message, but others will not feel they are force-fed Christianity—faith is an integral part of the characters and the story. If you’ve ever wished you could trade your life for another, this novel may inspire you to reveal who you really are, as Louisa discovered that she could blend Jazz and Louisa to be the complete person God created her to be.

View all my reviews

Disclaimer: I received a PDF copy of the book from the author, but that did not keep me from giving a fair and objective review.

Book Review: Mind of Her Own was first posted on February 5, 2013 at 12:48 am.
©2012 "Lillie Ammann, Writer & Editor". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at lillie@lillieammann.com

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Thanks to December 2012 Commenters

Thank you to the 69 commenters who left 86 comments in December. Your comments extended the conversation and added value and interest, and I enjoyed replying to every one of them.

Every month when I post thanks to commenters, I get questions about how I compile this list. I have explained my system in detail in Compiling Thanks to Commenters.

Top Contributor (8 comments)


Jane
Migration Expert – US Visa


Major Contributor (7 comments)


Maja
Alls Fashion


Outstanding Contributor (4 comments)


Christopher Roberts
Christopher Roberts


Important Contributors (2 comments)


Chris
Profile Sites


Edward
Your Miami


James
MLM Lead Genie


Kim Andre Langholz
Bed and Breakfast Sondborg


Koen
Student Jobs


Steve
Online Radio Review


Significant Contributors


Alice
Complete Plumbing


Anders
Gran Canaria Guide


Andru
Toronto Gold Bullion


Barbara
Kuchnia i gotowanie


Bill
Princetown The Landings


Brady Partridge
Latest HDTV Reviews


Brian
The Best Sites


Charls
One Stop


Claus
Tabs Club


Dawn Colclasure
Dawn Colclasure’s Blog


Eduardo
Nature Network/Eduardo


eliza
Eliza Carmen


Ewa
Gotowanie bez stresu


Harry
Web San Solutions


Herry Nelson
Windsor Hills Official Rentals


Jack
Mamann, Sandaluk, & Kingwell LLP


Jack
Shop Orthopedics


Jack Jermey
Dating Tricks and Guide


Jame Rogen
Sensa Weight Loss Reviews


James
McMahon RV


Karlon
Jenny’s Hair Sense


Katherine
Connecticut Directory


Keith
Rebel Trail


Keith
Vroom Vroom Vroom Car Rentals


Kevin James
Migration Expert – UK Visa


Leo
Accountant Salary Information


Lola
Lola’s Showcase


Lollie
Williams & Knerly


Lori
Words on the Page


Luice
Park’s Furniture


Mario
Peregrine Pest Control


Mariya
Merit Roofing


Matt Keegan
Word Journey


Michael
Christian Lingua


Nicol
Luxor Limousine


Peter
S&L Engineering


Poshbear
Red Prom Dresses


Richard Parker
PakSmart


Richardson Jasmine
S.M.E.D.


Ricky
Overfly Pacific


Rob
Mere Inkling


Sam
American College of Technology


Sandra
InfoTech


Sarah
Eye Cream HQ


Smith
Landmark Venues


Smith
Safe Harbor


Stenn
Belaza MedSpa


Steve
Excel Toner


Steve
Reverse Phone Lookup


stuart podolsky


Thomas
The Oxford


Thomas
VS Travel


Vitalik
ThunderBolt Hard Drive


Zvi
NY City Blinds



Thanks to December 2012 Commenters was first posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:04 pm.
©2012 "Lillie Ammann, Writer & Editor". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at lillie@lillieammann.com

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Review and Free Book: Killer Work from Home Jobs

Killer Work from Home Jobs: 200 Fortune 500 & Legitimate Work at Home Jobs by Lee Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have worked from home as a freelancer for more than 16 years, but I’m always leery of talk of jobs that allow employees to telecommute. So when I saw the subtitle claiming to list 200 jobs Fortune 500 and other companies, I was a little skeptical. However, when I started reading, my skepticism disappeared, and I became enthusiastic.

The book is broken down into categories by type of work, then within the categories, individual companies are listed with information of their telecommuting jobs and policies. One company can be listed in several categories, in which case the primary category lists detailed information, and the listings in the other categories refer back to the main entry.

The author is careful to emphasize that the listings are for companies that hire employees to work from home in the categories. However, the listing does not indicate a current job opening.

She does give detailed information on how to find job listings. She describes if jobs are listed on the company website or an external job site, and if so, which one. The descriptions include such details as what link to click on a page to get to the right category. In some cases, she explains that the companies don’t advertise work from home positions, but that they do offer employees the opportunity to work from home under certain circumstances. And she gives suggestions on how you can approach a manager to negotiate the opportunity to work from home. If employees are required to work in the office on certain days or to attend meetings, that information is included in the listing. In many cases, the listings include the qualifications required and the pay range.

The author invites readers to contact her if the information in the book is inaccurate. Obviously, things are constantly changing. She strives to keep the information current, but if she hasn’t made an update and a reader finds erroneous or outdated information, she asks them to contact her so she can correct the listing.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a full-time or part-time job working from home.

Lee is generously making her book available for free  tomorrow, one day only, on Saturday, January 26th. Watch the time–it’s free for a very short time, so don’t miss it. Check the price to be sure it shows 0 as the price.

Even if you aren’t actively looking for a job, you might want to download the book, anyway. Circumstances can change in an instant.

If you know someone who needs this book, tell them that they book will be available free tomorrow only. The book is a Kindle edition, so each reader must download it to his or her own reader. Don’t worry if you don’t have a Kindle. You can download a free app at Amazon.com and read Kindle books on your PC or Mac, on other devices, or even in Amazon’s cloud.

Review and Free Book: Killer Work from Home Jobs was first posted on January 25, 2013 at 12:04 am.
©2012 "Lillie Ammann, Writer & Editor". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at lillie@lillieammann.com

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Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Welcome to the NEXT BIG THING blog hop! This is a fantastic new way for readers to discover authors they may not find in their local bookstore. Welcome to my blog, especially those of you who have discovered it for the first time by following the blog hop.

I am the author of the romantic mystery novel Dream or Destiny and the contemporary romances, Fern’s Fancies and Stroke of Luck. I also have written several how-to ebooks. Click on the Books tab above to learn more.

I spend more time editing and formatting other authors’ books than I do writing my own. Authors who choose to publish independently can find lots of help here. If you’re an author who would like to know what is available, click on the Services tab above to learn some of what I do. Feel free to email me with questions, as my list of services isn’t complete. My assistant, Jan McClintock, is working on a new website for me. Come back soon to see it.

In this BIG BLOG HOP, I’ll answer ten questions about my current work in progress. You can learn a little more about my writing. Then check out the links below this post to my fellow authors at their blogs to find out more about their works in progress.

Thanks to Vickie Britton and Loretta Jackson for inviting me to participate in the Blog Hop. Vickie and Loretta are sisters and writing partners. They have co-authored 40 novels and twice that many short stories, in the mystery and Western genres. I recently read The Curse of Senmut; you can read my review on Goodreads. One of the things I appreciate about their books is that in addition to enjoying a good story you won’t be embarrassed to give them to your grandmother or your teenaged daughter. Visit their website at Vickie Britton and  Loretta Jackson Website.

Here is my Next Big Thing!

1: What is the working title of your book?

Like someone who is “between jobs,” I’m between books right now. I just finished Jack Stories: Favorite Memories of Jack Jordan Ammann Jr, a different kind of biography. After my husband died in September, so many people told me stories about Jack, who was a colorful, unforgettable character, that I wanted to preserve the memories. I compiled the book in four sections. The first section includes Jack’s favorite stories that he told—often!—about his own life. The second section is a collection of more than 50 stories from friends and family members. My memories—some of which originally appeared on my blog and some of which I wrote for the book—came next. The book ends with his obituary (which Jack’s brother said had obviously been written by someone used to writing long books) and the story of his final goodbye to me. The book just came out and we had a booksigning and a celebration of his life on the occasion of his 80th birthday. This certainly isn’t a book that will be a best-seller, but it is available on Amazon.com. The stories are fun, entertaining, humorous, and heartwarming.

Now I intend to get back to the book I quit working on when I became a full-time caregiver for Jack after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, along a number of physical ailments. The working title is Act of Faith.

2: Where did the idea come from for the WIP?

I actually combined ideas from several sources. I’ve had a story I’ve wanted to write for 36 years. At that time, my sister was pregnant with her fourth child. Her third child was severely handicapped as a result of spina bifada. She was paralyzed from the waist down and was severely mentally retarded. The doctors didn’t know why Becky had those serious birth defects, and they were concerned that this next pregnancy (which occurred in spite of my sister being on birth control pills) would end up with the same problems. Several doctors encouraged my sister to have an abortion. She was under intense pressure—the doctors strongly pushed her to abort, and she knew caring for two severely handicapped children would be extremely difficult. However, because of her faith, she believed abortion was murder and would not agree. Thank God, the fourth baby was perfectly normal.

But after seeing how much the doctors pressed my sister to have an abortion, I wanted to write a story about a woman who defied medical advice and popular opinion to refuse an abortion because of her religious beliefs.

I decided to have my heroine become pregnant as a result of a violent rape. Rather than worrying about the possibility of a mentally and physically handicapped child as my sister did, the woman in my story would worry about seeing the face of her rapist in the face of her baby.

Then after Dream or Destiny was published, readers encouraged me to write a sequel that would feature one of the secondary characters from Dream or Destiny. I chose Bonita Hernandez as my heroine; she was trying to rebuild her life after her affair with a married man ended.

So my goal is to pull all these ideas into a great story in Act of Faith.

3: What genre does your book come under?

It will certainly be a contemporary romance. I’m still considering whether there is a mystery as well, as there was in Dream or Destiny. Once I get back into the manuscript and start writing seriously again, I won’t be surprised if the characters lead me in directions I can’t anticipate. That’s what happened with Dream or Destiny. There will be a Christian/inspirational aspect to the story as Bonita turns her life around.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 

I know I’m a freak of nature, but I don’t watch movies and have no clue about Hollywood actors.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Bonita Hernandez was changing her life after an affair with a married man, but his revenge led to a whole new host of problems.

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

I’m not sure how I will publish Act of Faith. Dream or Destiny is published by a small independent publisher, GASLight Publishing. I have also self-published a novel and several how-to ebooks, as well as Jack Stories. I will probably submit to GASLight first since I think it would be a good idea to keep both titles in the series with the same publisher.

As anyone who reads by blog regularly knows by now, I’m a big fan of self-publishing and independent publishing. In fact as a freelance editor, I work with authors who are self-publishing to help them create a book they can be proud of.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The first draft is far from finished, so I can’t begin to say.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I’m not far enough along to feel confident about comparing the story with any other books. I expect my characters will lead me off the path I’m envisioning.

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Seeing the stress my sister went through made me want to deal with the issue of a woman pressured to have an abortion who chooses life. That was the initial inspiration for the story.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I think most of us like to read redemption stories. Bonita thinks she is a terrible person because she had been the mistress of a married man. She has to repent, accept God’s love and forgiveness, and forgive herself before she can be born again as a new woman.

Here is a list of the authors who will post their Q&A on their own blogs January 30. Be sure to bookmark them or check back next Wednesday and click through to their blogs and find out about their NEXT BIG THING!

Margaret Blincoe is a Christian devotional writer with a unique twist. All her devotions are based on one word written in an acrostic. She even wrote an acrostic for the title of her first book, Message in a Word: Message in a Word means exploring specific subject and getting enlightenment  in nutshell  as  written oracle revealed deity. The book has 52 devotions—one per week to give you time to study each one. As her editor, I’m delighted that she is almost ready to send me her next book, Message in a Word 2.

David Bowles is my client and the author of the Westward Sagas. Although fiction, the novels are based on real people and real historical events. The stories are true to history and everything that he writes about could have happened. However, he has added his imagination to create characters, dialogue, and scenes to make the stories exciting. The series follows the Mitchell Family as they move westward from Pennsylvania. Currently three books are available: Spring House, Adam’s Daughters, and Children of the Revolution.

Edith Eveon Brown and I worked togetherat Your Information Center, and I’m editing a novel for her that will be available soon. On her website, Edith has for sale a number of how-to ebooks on a range of subjects, including home maintenance, travel, starting and running a business, and religion. She is extremely knowledgeable about business start-ups and also offers writing and consulting services to businesses.

Dawn Colclasure is a blogger, book reviewer, and prolific writer. She has written poetry, advice for writers, children’s books, and books about haunted houses. Her latest book is On the Wings of Pink Angels, a book about breast cancer. Dawn is donating her royalties from this book to Courageous Kids.

Wanda Thomas Littles is a Christian poet and author. I worked with Wanda on her poetry book, Like a Thief in the Night. She has published three other books of poetry and the novel Preacha! Everything Wanda writes reflects her Christian faith.

 

Next Big Thing Blog Hop was first posted on January 23, 2013 at 12:15 am.
©2012 "Lillie Ammann, Writer & Editor". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at lillie@lillieammann.com

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Murder Has Been Legal for 40 Years

[image error]

Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court legalized abortion. Two court cases, Roe v Wade and the lesser-known Doe v Bolton, made it legal for a mother to end the life of her unborn baby. Since then, nearly 56 million innocent babies have been killed for reasons as serious as severe handicaps or as frivolous as the convenience of the mother.

Did you know, though, that neither Roe of Roe v Wade nor Doe of Doe v Bolton ever had an abortion? Did you know that they are both passionate pro-life advocates seeking the reversal of the laws that were made in their names? You will find fascinating history in Lifesite News.

Watch the powerful video below, with President Obama’s words about the importance of giving children a chance to grow up.

photo by:


AnyaLogic

Murder Has Been Legal for 40 Years was first posted on January 22, 2013 at 12:41 am.
©2012 "Lillie Ammann, Writer & Editor". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at lillie@lillieammann.com

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Related Posts:Now Choose Life, so That You and Your Children May LiveAbortion: Legalized MurderNational Adoption MonthReligious Freedom Day 2012Review: Uncle Tom’s CabinPowered by Contextual Related Posts

Backtracking on Backlinks

[image error]I appreciate comments, and, as you can see from my comment policy, I try to reward commenters. This is a DoFollow blog, I use plugins to provide backlinks to commenters, I reply to all comments, and once a month I compile a thank-you list of commenters.

As a result of a recent change in Google’s secret formulas, websites are being penalized for having too many links with perfect anchor text. Note that when someone leaves a comment, he or she determines the anchor text for their link. I have nothing to do with that choice, and in the thank-you list I use the title of the website or blog rather than anchor text. So I am not responsible for the perfect anchor text left with the comment. And, of course, a link or two from my little blog wouldn’t make any difference in a site’s  Google ranking.

But now websites and blogs with many backlinks from sites that aren’t relevant to their subject matter are being penalized for spammy backlinks. So I have received a number of requests (or in some cases demands) to remove the backlinks from my site. I recognize that Google’s rules change. A company may have hired someone to leave comments on blogs in the past for the backlinks, but now what they did in good faith at the time is hurting them with Google. So I am willing to remove links upon request, but I think it’s reasonable to expect two things from anyone requesting that links be removed: a courteous request that doesn’t accuse me of spam or copyright infringement and specific locations of the links to be removed.

Here are a couple of examples of emails I have received on this topic in the last few weeks:

Wow, more bad news from Google…

Apparently our website has fallen victim of a “negative SEO” campaign. Basically from what I understand is people build backlinks in large quantities so that Google thinks that you are trying to cheat them and thus penalize your website.

That’s basically all I understood about it but was told by our consultant that we’ll need to remove all of the backlinks created in the past few years so that we can file a reconsideration with Google.

Well, here’s to us trying to do that. If you can help us remove all backlinks pointed to it would help us a ton. From the tools we used to check backlinks we noticed backlinks on the following URLs of your website: .

By removing the backlinks you’ll help us remove a penalty that was instituted because someone was trying to kill our Google rankings. We know this sounds crazy and we still are trying to figure out how this happened.

I was happy to remove these links quickly and cheerfully. This webmaster is bewildered by Google’s penalty because he or she obviously was not intentionally engaging in “black hat” SEO practices. He or she politely asked me to remove the links and told me exactly where they were.

Contrast that with this demand sent to my web host and copied to me. Note that I have changed the URLs for privacy:

Hello,

We own the copyright: (http://www.buy-our-junk-today.com). A website that your company hosts (according to WHOIS information) is infringing on at least one copyright.

A comment was copied onto your servers without permission. The original comment(s), to which we own the URL copyright to, can be found at: http://www.buy-our-junk-today.com

The unauthorized and infringing copy can be found at:

http://lillieammann.com/. To find the exact instance, you can search the source code of that specific page using “buy-our-junk-today” to find the comment using our URL/Website Address.

This letter is official notification under Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”), and I seek the removal of the aforementioned infringing material from your servers. I request that you immediately notify the infringer of this notice and inform them of their duty to remove the infringing material immediately, and notify them to cease any further posting of infringing material to your server in the future.

This was followed by several paragraphs of legalese explaining to my web host that they had to make sure I removed the infringing material…blah, blah, blah.

Of course, I immediately removed the link as I certainly don’t want to link to anyone who doesn’t want the link. Yet being accused of copyright infringement for approving a comment with anchor text provided by the commenter kept me from doing it cheerfully and made the whole situation unpleasant. There was no reason to get legalistic, complain to my web host, and accuse me of copyright infringement. A polite request would have achieved the same result without ill feelings. You can bet that I will never buy-[his]-junk.

Have you fallen victim to Google’s recent policy change—either being accused of negative SEO or being asked to remove links that others left on your site with comments or guest posts? If so, how have you handled the situation?

photo by:


jurvetson

Backtracking on Backlinks was first posted on January 19, 2013 at 1:22 am.
©2012 "Lillie Ammann, Writer & Editor". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at lillie@lillieammann.com

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Religious Freedom Day 2012

[image error]Religious Freedom Day is observed on January 16th, which marks the anniversary of the passage of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom in 1786.

The purpose of the day is to educate children and all citizens about the religious freedom guaranteed to us by the First Amendment. Today, we need to realize that precious religious liberty is threatened by government mandates that require businesses to violate their most basic beliefs.

Bible publishers, hospitals and charities run by religious institutions, and secular companies who operate their businesses according to their faith are faced with an unsolvable dilemma. They must choose between two important values: to follow their religious beliefs and violate the mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services to provide abortifacient contraceptives to employees through their health care insurance or to follow the law and violate their religious beliefs that consider abortion the sin of murder.

Religious freedom does not just extend to religious organizations. It applies to every one of us living our day-to-day lives. If we believe what we profess—whether we are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, pagan, agnostic, atheist, or anything else—we must live our lives according to those beliefs. If the government can take away the right of Christian business owners to exclude abortifacients from the companies’ health insurance, it can take away the right of Jews and Muslims to avoid eating pork and the right of pagans to worship nature.

Whether you are Christian or not, whether you believe that abortion is a sin or a right, you should be alarmed at the government’s intrusion into individual religious beliefs and practices. Today Christians who believe that abortion is  a sin are targeted for loss of religious liberty. Tomorrow or next year it could be any faith group, any belief system. To protect your own religious liberty, stand up for the freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—

because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—

because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—

because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me—

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

~ Martin Niemöller

ALMIGHTY God, who hast created man in thine own image; Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil, especially the evil of religious persecution, and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our religious freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice among men and nations, to the glory of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~ Adapted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer

photo by:


glasater_99362

Religious Freedom Day 2012 was first posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:44 am.
©2012 "Lillie Ammann, Writer & Editor". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at lillie@lillieammann.com

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Human Trafficking Awareness Day 2013

[image error]Do you think that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation? Most of the time when we think of human trafficking, we think of people brought from Africa to work in the Southern plantations before the Civil War. Thanks to God and brave abolitionists, that ended long ago.

Unfortunately, that didn’t mean the end of human trafficking. According to the Human Trafficking Awareness Day page on Facebook:

30 Million people are Trafficked for sex globally each year-3 Million of those are children and 200,000 of those children are right here in the USA. This makes the United States the world’s #1 Sex tourism destination. Sadly, There are twice as many slaves today as their were in Abraham Lincoln’s time. (Note: errors in original; emphasis mine)

OATH (Bringing Abolitionists Together to Expose and End Slavery) lists the following kinds of human trafficking on its site:

Labor Trafficking
Sex Trafficking
Domestic Trafficking
Child Sex Trafficking
Child Porn
Other Trafficking

Today’s slaves aren’t necessarily captured and carried away on a ship as the African slaves were. Often they are enticed and lured. A poor father in a developing country is enticed by the promise of a good job. When he accepts the offer and agrees to the fee, he is brought to the US and put into servitude to work off the debt that never diminishes. A runaway teenage girl is lured into prostitution by a pimp, who then controls her life. A child is sold by his family to a man who uses the child in porn or prostitution. A preteen girl is enticed by a promise of a career in movies and ends up being held captive and forced to perform in porn movies.

Illegal immigration isn’t human trafficking unless the person is brought to the US by someone who refuses to let the laborer go and forces him or her to work with little or no pay.

Prostitution isn’t human trafficking unless the prostitute is controlled by a pimp who controls her life and takes her money.

Child porn and prostitution are always human trafficking because minors cannot legally consent to have sex with an adult, yet consider how prevalent child sex trafficking is (from OASIS):

All children under the age of 18, whether foreign national or U.S. Citizen found in the commercial sex industry (stripping, prostitution or pornography) are victims of human trafficking.

…

Studies show that 100,000 to 300,000 U.S. kids are moved into the commercial sex industry every year in America. Additionally, 1.5 to 2.4 million vulnerable kids run away from home each year with reports that as many as 2/3 of the runaway girls and boys resort to “survival sex” within 48 hours of leaving home. Reports also show that 1/3 of the these runaway girls are coerced by pimps and traffickers to become underage commercialized sex workers – creating the next generation of prostitutes that will meet the growing demand of men who pay for sex.

The average age of a prostitute globally has dropped to 14 years old. The average age here in the U.S. when a girl is recruited into commercial sexual exploitation by her first pimp is 12 to 13. …

… If a person is found to be manufacturing or distributing child pornography, that can now be prosecuted under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act as human trafficking with a minimum sentence of 20 years to life in federal prison.

Experts estimate that 5 million images of children circulate the Internet each day. Up to 60,000 new images are loaded onto the Internet each day. It is estimated that 20% of the pornography on the Internet is that of children being sexually exploited. The majority of child pornography is prepubescent.

90% of these images and videos are homemade by individuals. 6% are of infants or toddlers.

The demand for this market: 99% are men… an estimated 91% are Caucasian. America has long been known as the #1 producer and #1 user of Child pornography. (Emphasis mine)

O GOD, We humbly beseech thee, of thy goodness, to comfort and succour all victims of human trafficking of all kinds and in all places. Give them a right understanding of thy promises; that, trusting wholly in thy mercy, they may not place their confidence anywhere but in thee. Relieve the distressed and protect the innocent; and forasmuch as thou alone bringest light out of darkness, and good out of evil, grant to these thy servants, that by the power of thy Holy Spirit they may be set free from the chains of servitude, and may be brought to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

photo by:


Alyssa L. Miller

Human Trafficking Awareness Day 2013 was first posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:40 pm.
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Devotion for the Twelfth Day of 2012 Christmas/2013 Epiphany

The Twelfth Day of Christmas is The Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.

Frequently we include the visit of the Wise Men with the story of Baby Jesus in the manger. But it was months, up to two years, later that the Wise Men appeared in the house where the child stayed. The occasion of the visit of the Wise Men is the Twelfth day of Christmas, also known as Epiphany.

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

The Flight to Egypt

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Dear God, Thank You for leading the Wise Men to Jesus, thereby manifesting that He came to Gentiles as well as to Your Chosen People. We are so glad that we were included in Your family. You have set us apart and made us holy because You have redeemed us by the Blood of the Lamb. As you led the Wise Men to Bethlehem, lead us to do Your will.In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, now and ever, world without end Amen.

Devotion for the Twelfth Day of 2012 Christmas/2013 Epiphany was first posted on January 6, 2013 at 12:56 am.
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Devotion for the Eleventh Day of 2012 Christmas

1 John 5:6-12 (ESV)

6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Almighty and Everlasting God, we believe–help our unbelief. Open our hearts to accept the testimony of the Spirit and the water and the blood and fill us with love and life. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Devotion for the Eleventh Day of 2012 Christmas was first posted on January 5, 2013 at 12:47 am.
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