Day 13- Erin

"My name's Erin Holle. I'm a senior here at NW. I started Dressember 5 days late. During those 5 days that my roommate and countless others were dressing up and I was not, I was not planning on participating Dressember at all. "I don't own enough dresses" was my excuse. Then I saw the girls who committed to wearing the same dress for all 31 days and my reasoning became invalid. I have had countless conversations with friends and family about my passion for people (specifically children) and my passion for the truth of the Gospel, and yet I found myself skipping out on this opportunity to represent A LOT of people who are hurting and who need to know the Truth that can set their hearts free. 
I recently wrote on my blog about the problem of seeing injustice and not doing anything about it. The fact that our world sees this huge problem of human trafficking and talks about this injustice but then behind closed doors, support the industry that enslaves these people infuriates me. And so I put on a dress to support those being exploited. I haven't been participating in Dressember long and have already had powerful conversations about the 30 million women, children, and men who are trapped in this fight. I have also had conversations about how I could put on a dress when I leave my home but when I am at home or other places where I'll just be "lounging" just leave on my sweatpants. I do not put on a dress only to remind other people, I put on a dress to remind myself to pray for them. I put on a dress because people matter. I put on a dress because the average age of a girl entering trafficking is 12 years old. I look at the faces of my sister who is 6 and my cousin who is 10 and think how much effort I would put forth to free them if they were the ones being trafficked and used. I think about how much I would pray for the Lord, the Prince of Peace who loves them more than I ever could, to rescue them and to hold them. Those 30 million are cared about in the same way. So I put on a dress and pray for them the same way. I put on a dress because people matter."