Reflection Ministries offers human trafficking survivors chance at life

So often in life we have the intention of serving and investing in the needs of our communities, but we allow busyness and complacency to rob us of that experience. Or maybe we minimize our gifts and talents and claim we could not possibly have anything to offer.

And then one day, you meet a Lisa Bownds.

Lisa is the founder and CEO of Reflection Ministries, a local anti-human trafficking ministry right here in the Permian Basin. Reflection Ministries mission is to identify human trafficking victims, equip cities and provide avenues of restoration for human trafficking victims.  For many of us, the phrase “human trafficking” makes us feel uncomfortable and a reality we do not want to acknowledge is happening right here in our community, in the homes in our neighborhoods, in the businesses we pass by every day, on the streets of our town.

How could these atrocities happen in a town like Midland? How could we buy and sell a human for sex in 2022? How could the Permian Basin be one of the top five regions in the United States for a hub of human trafficking? Again, this is a topic that even myself was not educated on nor would I have ever imagined was happening here and all over the United States.

Until I had the privilege of meeting Lisa and hearing her story in February 2021. Lisa is a survivor of human trafficking and has now surrendered her life's work to Jesus Christ and is on the front lines battling the horrendous world of human trafficking daily. As she spoke about the happenings of her own life, I knew I could not go back to living my life complacent, comfortable and unwilling to step into this world that many say is “too much” for us to talk about or handle.

Reflection Ministries depicts the Biblical truth behind Isaiah 61, “binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners … bestowing on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.” Reflection is the only facility in the United States that serves at Crisis, up to four years after, the closest being Canada.

A vision came to a young girl long before she even knew what her life would entail. The Lord spoke to her and told her she would work with the most vulnerable population in the world. Since that moment, and many years later, the vision of Reflection Ministries has come to life. The ministry has a beautiful property that houses survivors, an academy where the residents attend school, each resident having an assigned case manager, group and one to one counseling, art therapy, equine therapy, dental, vision and OBGYN care.

We have got to quit ignoring the realities of the tragedies happening in our world and begin to be someone and do something. My prayer is that Lisa will cross your path and you will learn more about this team of selfless, life giving, incredible humans that has devoted their days to standing beside the survivors of human trafficking, allowing them a chance at a life that the Lord always intended for them.

My challenge to each of you reading this is to truly pray and think about what your role is with this ministry. Maybe it is not serving directly, but rather connecting Reflection with the resources you know and have access to. Pouring your monetary earnings into a ministry that is providing a chance at life for the survivors of human trafficking, of being raped hundreds of times a day, beaten, starved, stripped of the luxuries many of us take for granted- education, independence, and the most impactful, their voice to stand on. And if it is not monetary, maybe it is actively volunteering and giving of your time and your gifts to the residents so that they are able to see people in the community willing and wanting to do life with them, not standing idly by for another second. Rather, walking with them, teaching them, showing them that we serve a Father that restores, redeems and renews.

Online: https://www.reflectionministriestx.org/

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Kresha Grizzard is a board member with Reflection Ministries