She was a varsity athlete and honor roll student with a bright future and dreams when she met a young man that lured her down a path that she could have never imagined.  Brainwashed, trapped, and beaten, she was traded and sold in the underground world of sex trafficking in Las Vegas for nearly six years.  In her despair, God revealed himself to her, and she found the love and hope that she needed to survive, and ultimately, overcome!  Today Rebecca is an award-winning thought leader, advocate, speaker and consultant with a Master's degree in Christian Thought and years of insight on industry best practices.  She has trained and equipped well over 100,000 professionals, individuals, agencies, and organizations to identify human trafficking in their own back yards.  She is also the founder of Elevate Academy, the largest online school for human trafficking, serving nearly 800 survivors in 400 locations across the country and around the world.  Her memoir, "In Pursuit of Love," was published by Zondervan in January 2020.  Rebecca's incredible story of hope and redemption reminds us all that our past does not determine our destiny.   In this episode Rebecca shares some powerful God moments that were critical to her healing and redemption, her experience courageously revisiting those dark places assisting the FBI, her miraculous deliverance and immediate freedom from drug addiction, an update on some of her close friends featured in her book, a little about her mission at Elevate Academy, and what favorite hat she wears in her mission to help others find freedom.  I love her ending message of hope and encouragement and closing prayer.   I am honored to share such an amazing testimony of God's relentless love and his power to redeem and restore!   Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?   More on Rebecca Bender: https://www.rebeccabender.org/   Elevate Academy https://elevate-academy.org/   Rebecca Bender Initiative on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRPu3DyXTdesdEEij2mFuhw?feature=emb_ch_name_ex   Rebecca's Podcast with tons of great info to fight human trafficking: https://www.rebeccabender.org/podcast   I LOVED this video of her sharing her full testimony and a message on dreams (start at 41:25): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbw6F0E0rrs