Breaking News: An exciting new announcement!

You may have been wondering where on earth has Angela been hiding this past year and what has happened to Her Freedom?  Is it still going?  Are they still selling those amazing home-wares?  Well your wait for answers is finally over.

After over 12 months of silence, today we are finally ready to make an official announcement about Her Freedom Foundation.  It is an announcement that we are all very excited about, but before I do, let me share the journey with you and fill in the missing gaps over the past year or so.

Her Freedom Foundation or as some of you know it as ‘I Bought Her Freedom’ began in 2015 with the mission to set captives free by partnering with NGO’s to sell products that offer a sustainable income for women at risk of Human trafficking.

Things were going so well,  great connections were being made,  sales and support were coming in and we were moving.

As with any pioneering project, however, the road is never just as straightforward as you would hope for and as much as we prayed and believed the ship would sail smoothly to the harbour the reality was some where along the journey we hit rough seas.

In August of 2016 Co- Founder Deborah de Jong needed to return to her home town of Sydney and by the November I had become too unwell with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to manage the role of CEO alone.  So with the support of the Board of Directors we decided that the best course of action was for Her Freedom to become inactive during 2017.  This would give me space to focus on recovery and enough time to consider the future of  Her Freedom Foundation.

I can honestly say there have been many times during 2017 where I thought “what is the point of keeping this going, we should just close Her Freedom down”

But, something inside of me kept saying “No, not yet” I just knew in my heart that God was not finished with it yet.

Then there was my invested heart to consider too.  Her Freedom was born out of my life’s passion to see women set free from prostitution and sexual slavery.  My years of helping rescue and encourage women away from this lifestyle has changed me.

I have recently been encouraged by the story of Lazarus.  You can read the story in Johns Gospel chapter 11.

When Lazarus became very sick, Jesus promised Martha his sister that her brother would live and not die. The next thing we read is ‘Lazarus is dead’.

 

Talk about the reality not matching the promise.

 

You can’t get more final than dead.  Imagine how Martha must have felt looking in disbelief at her brothers corpse.  Imagine how disappointed in Jesus she must have felt?  Death was so final, they knew nothing of Jesus the resurrection power, as they had never witnessed a miracle like that before.  They didn’t even know that anyone could come back from death.

When Jesus hears of this news he doesn’t go into a spin to try and prove himself right, no he just hangs around unmoved for a few days and then finally decides to visit Lazarus’ tomb.  He wasn’t panicked at all.

When Martha finally sees Jesus 4 days after Lazarus has died, she runs up to him and says “you’re late,  where have you been?  If you’d have come earlier you could have saved Lazarus whom you love”

Imagine telling Jesus He is late?  Yet doesn’t it sometimes feel like that when we don’t see Him deliver on His promises in our time frame?

Jesus responds with “have I not told you to believe that Lazarus will surely live and not die and his life will reveal Gods glorious power”

This story gives me such hope for the journey we have been on with Her Freedom.

It appears like the vision is dead with no life left in her.  God has given us so many promises yet the reality doesn’t match what God has said.  Is God panicked about that?  No.

We may have been asking God why haven’t you shown up yet?  You’re late,  look what you promised would bring life is dead but His response to us today is:

“Have I not told you that Her Freedom will live and not die and it will reveal Gods glorious power”

So today we are standing in faith at an open tomb and calling Lazarus to come on forth.

So without further ado I am so happy to announce…….. drum roll please………  that new life has come to Her Freedom as I step down from my role as CEO and one of my good and trusted friends, Dawn Osborne steps up into the role as CEO and visionary leader of Her Freedom Foundation.

I am so excited about this and  know that God’s timing may feel delayed for us but He has come in his perfect the moment.

Dawn is not only a great friend of mine but she was also involved with Her Freedom Foundation right from the start of our journey.  At the time back in 2015 Dawns involvement couldn’t go any further as she had other commitments, but she was present during the birthing stage of this ministry.   It, therefore, seems such a natural choice that Dawn is the one to breathe new life in Her Freedom Foundation and to drive it forward into all it is purposed to be.

It is even funny how  Deborah de Jong, myself and Dawn had a photo shoot together in the very early stages of formation.  It is obvious that God knew something then that we did not.  We were just having fun, while God has planning out the future.

There is so much that I could share about how amazing Dawn is and how qualified and called she is for this role, but I won’t steal her thunder.  I will allow her the opportunity to introduce herself.  Watch out for Dawns introductory blog coming up in a few days time.

So before I sign off you’ll be pleased to know that my health is improving and God still has some great, new and amazing plans for me and my family that are unfolding as we speak.  We are excited about what the future holds for us as we release Dawn with our full blessings and walk through the doors that are opening up for us.  Please continue to pray for my health and for my family .

Finally, I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you who have loved me, encouraged and supported me on this journey.  Those that have been with me through the raging seas and empowered me to never give up.  I especially want to thank my incredible husband  Noel and my son Dara, my best friends and my greatest encouragers for your love and support and never never allowing me to give up ever.

So won’t you join with me now in cheering on Dawn as she takes the reigns and encourage her, support her and most of all pray for her that God would pour out his favour upon her, her family and this ministry and that God will open the doors of purpose and promise as together they build Her Freedom Foundation.

The best is yet to come.