When they called to let me know that they were sending me former Washington State Senator Linda Smith’s new book, I said, “Okay, thank you!” I should have known what I was thanking her for, considering Linda’s organization, Shared Hope International, is my heart charity. I love everything that they do and the work the Lord is doing through her. About 7 years ago, Linda spent a weekend speaking at my church’s women’s retreat, and I had the opportunity to spend one on one time with her, hearing her heart. She’s an amazing lady.

Renting Lacy: A Story of America’s Prostituted Children arrived here on Monday afternoon.  After dinner, I began reading it. I read straight through and by 9pm, I had finished it. I could not put it down. It was disturbing. It tore at my heart. It also gave me hope, as by the end I read about how Shared Hope is working to put an end to the flow of trafficked girls in the U.S.  Told through stories of trafficked girls, alternated with current informational facts and statistics, it is a very powerful little book.

My reaction goes much deeper than being horrified by the reality of child prostitution in the U.S.  You see, I was groomed by a facilitator when I was 14, living in California.

Reading this book made so many things fit for me.  The 21 year old boyfriend, who encouraged me to run away. The plans he made “for us”—but it was actually for ME.  He was handing me off (or selling me, I do not know) to his brother, to become a 14-year old prostitute. So many pieces just fell into place for me, and it sends a gut-wrenching chill up my spine, because it could have been me. It WOULD have been me.

This didn’t fully hit me until I read Renting Lacy.  I had learned, two months after my return home, that my “boyfriend” had been taking me to his brother (which I knew) to enter his line of girls (which I did not know.)  The guy had told me that his brother owned a restaurant, and would have me work as a waitress in Bakersfield.  It wasn’t until I ran into his sister, two months later, and she told me she was so glad that I had gotten out of there, that a little bit of relief hit me.  I had been initially devastated at the loss of the boyfriend.   My parents were “strict… and mean”.  After that, I was just relieved. But my parents had no idea. I never told them what his sister had told me.

That was in 1986.  This is 2010.  From Renting Lacy:

1. Kidnapped children, forced into compliance by physical force (beatings, change of locations, threats of violence against themselves or family members)
2. Lured by a trafficker or pimp under pretense of love, affection, and protection
3. Sold to a trafficker (cases include parents selling their children or trading them for rent, drugs, etc.)
4. Runaways forced to survive by trading sex for food, shelter, safety or transportation.

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Disclosure: This review was unsolicited. I received a copy of this book title because I am a supporter of the ministry that published it. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.