Goal Setting.

I did it.

In August I heard this man speak and new after hearing him, I would never be the same. I knew that what he said in those words required action from me.

So.

I did it.

I knew right then and there I was going to put on a Christmas concert and raise some money for IJM. (http://www.ijm.org/)

I knew it would be hard work.

I had also been thinking a lot about my friend Katie and how she ran a marathon. I thought about our conversation about big goals and big dreams and knew it was my turn to make some of those happen.

I knew I had to push through my fear of failure.

What if I picked the wrong songs.

What if I couldn't hire a great band.

What if no one came.

What if I didn't cross every T and dot every I.

What if the rehearsals fell apart.

What if I had to ask for help? (And I did. A lot more than I realized.)

I pushed through. Pushing pushing pushing.

Setting dates, writing music charts, asking for HELP writing music charts, shopping for the perfect outfit, sending mass emails, asking for HELP with singers for the choir, asking people to commit their time to rehearse, asking some people to do it for free, sharing my vision, begging the ushers to come early to set up 150 extra chairs if needed and to be patient if people had to stand, filling out press releases, opening up bank accounts for the evening....and on and on it went. Hours and hours.

But...

It happened.

We raised $24,324.41 dollars in one evening.

That pays for one entire lawyer to be hired. On who will stand up for rights for children forced into slavery and little girls captured and forced to give men oral sex for thirty dollars. As gross as that sounds, that is what drove my passion. It sounds ridiculous but here are the statistics:

~each hear 2 million girls are exploited in the commercial sex trade.

~There are up to 27 women, men and children in forced labor, held as slaves around the world today.

~Illicit Human Trafficking is a 32 billion dollar industry.

And I can honestly say that we made a teeny tiny dent in some of those numbers. I recommend Gary's book called "Just Courage" which was what really what changed my thinking about making a difference.

Plus. I bought a great pair of shoes just for the event.

I asked my very talented friend, Steve Quinn to sing with me. We did a few really fun songs. He put so much work and time into this. I was blessed to have him be a part.

And you know what? My husband...the love of my life. He gave 200% to make this happen for me. We were a team and in one night put our efforts together to change a small piece of the world.

It's funny. the evening before, I was sitting and thinking about all that was about to go on and I was re reading my notes from when I heard Gary speak. And I realized that this concert was really just the tiniest tip of the iceberg. I really thought that I would do this event and that I could just forget those faces of those sweet little girls and maybe just put the haunted feelings I had aside for a while. But if anything, my passion is renewed. I am not done. At all. There is so much more to be done and I don't think I will ever be done fighting injustice in the world.

But for the next goal....besides the half marathon in May, it may just be time to start talking triathlons.........