Change in today\u2019s world is inevitable.\u00a0 Yet, what is it that creates ongoing change?\u00a0 \u00a0Albert Einstein explained that: \u201cThe world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.\u00a0 It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.\u201d\u00a0 I love that!\u00a0 Change comes about through new thoughts and new perspectives.\u00a0 But it also takes \u201cdoing it\u201d and not just thinking about it.\u00a0 As Nike\u2019s favorite quote states:\u00a0 JUST DO IT!<\/p>\n
Each change that took place in Britain was due to someone striking out to create change.\u00a0 Nonconformists brought new ideas and perspectives, which in turn, helped bring about a new movement.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Fundamentalism has come under scrutiny while New Wave has swung open the doors and basically thrown theology out the window!\u00a0 So, the world is changing \u2013 and we are all flowing in the currents of confusion.\u00a0 Or, as the author noted, \u201cThe process of change can best be seen as a pattern of diffusion.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019ve found myself in a roller coaster of change over the past few years.\u00a0 (Actually, that roller coaster has been rolling up and down hills throughout most of my life!)\u00a0 Change can be both positive and negative.\u00a0 But Benjamin Franklin said it best when he said, \u201cWhen you are finished changing, you are finished\u2026period!\u201d<\/p>\n In the world of human trafficking, I often tell my clients that certainly their experiences have brought them to a place of extreme change.\u00a0 Yet, is change such a bad thing?\u00a0 Yes, the experiences of human trafficking are horrible, but change itself can be life-altering if we focus on the present.\u00a0 Depression means living in the past while anxiety means living in the future.\u00a0 So why not just settle into the present ~ and let God guide the way!\u00a0 I tell my patients that we are the sum total of our externals\u2026good and bad.\u00a0 But it\u2019s what we do with our experiences\u2026good or bad\u2026that defines who we are.\u00a0 And to find peace, we must \u2018release the demons\u2019 that bind us.\u00a0 I explain to trafficking victims that when secrets are kept in the dark, they gain power.\u00a0 But when secrets are brought into the light, they lose their strength.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 So, learning to open up the secret doors within us can bring necessary healing to create change in our lives, so that healing can finally take place.<\/p>\n Bebbington wrote about changes in the church throughout Britain\u2019s history.\u00a0 Some of that change created the opportunity for people to live according to the beliefs and values of society around them.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 But what happens when society becomes skewed – and beliefs and values become distorted?\u00a0 Life is messy and learning to navigate through the messiness is a difficult task.\u00a0 I believe the author\u2019s mission was certainly to provide a historical vision of Britain\u2019s journey through the eyes of the church.\u00a0 But I believe there is also a message about patterns of change, which provided some positive insight with regards to the societal influences in our lives.<\/p>\n The eye cannot see what the mind doesn\u2019t know.\u00a0 So, there is a need to open people\u2019s minds to the knowledge that good trumps evil, because we have a Savior working on our behalf.\u00a0 My human trafficking survivors are hurting individuals.\u00a0 But the key is helping them to find their voice.\u00a0 We need to become sanctuaries for broken people in our society and provide the light of Christ as a beacon for others to follow.\u00a0 I often try to help hurting individuals find change.\u00a0 But the truth is:\u00a0 they change me<\/strong>!<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> David W. Bebbington,\u00a0Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s<\/em>, (London: Routledge, 2005), 88.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid, 273.<\/p>\n