Free from ‘The Game’ of Human Trafficking

Sariah shares, “I learned being a prostitute that there was only three ways of getting out of what they call ‘the game.’ It was either being sold to another pimp, going to jail, or being dead. And for me, I was sold, physically sold from one pimp to another.”

For over 17 years, Sariah Hastings, lived the life of a prostitute and drug addict searching for the  love she never had.

Sariah shares, “The top two biggest things that led me into a lifestyle of prostitution was money and acceptance.”

From the time she was a toddler Sariah was exposed to sex and using drugs. At four years old, she was molested by a close relative and would be for years to come. She never said anything.

Sariah remembers, “All my family members were doing the same thing that I was being shown. So, there was no purpose of me reaching out and saying, ‘There's something wrong with this.’ Or ‘Help me,' or 'Get me out of this’ because it was so normal.”

Still, she hoped to one day find someone to love her. But the words of a family member gave her no hope that would ever happen.

Sariah shares, “Every little girl wants to be married, wants to have their knight in shining armor come. He said the only way I would ever have that is if I was in a pimp and 'ho relationship. And that was all I was good for...to lay on my back.”

That thought was cemented in her mind, when, at 12, she was gang raped at a party.

Sariah says, “I was then known in my whole city as ‘the slut, the 'ho, the girl that you could take to the bathroom and do whatever with and she'll be fine with it.'"

Having sex was the only way Sariah thought she could get attention. But inside, she hated who she had become.

Sariah recalls, “It got to the extreme point where I just started trying to commit suicide and started cutting myself. I tried to burn my body. I would put fire to my arms just so that I wouldn't feel the pain anymore.”

At 18, she was recruited by a pimp, and walked into a world where her only worth was her body.

Sariah says, “The minute after he told me that I was going to be his ‘ho, that same night is when I began to officially prostitute and start walking the streets and going into the truck driving parking lots and making deals with truck drivers.”

And when she couldn’t make the quota her pimp threatened to kill her. She escaped from him but soon met another pimp who got her hooked on cocaine and crystal meth. Sariah would spend the next eight years being trapped in drug addiction and prostitution. Living in 33 different states with pimps too numerous to count.

Sariah shares, “When I was able to take a shower I would scrub my body. I could never get the smell of whatever man–I didn't even know these men's names–off my body.”

Then when she was 28, Sariah found out she was pregnant with her second child by a pimp she was dating. The father of her first child made Sariah give the baby over to her family. This time it would be different.

Sariah says, “And when I found out that I was pregnant, I knew at that moment that something had to change, that I couldn't continue doing the same thing.”

She left her pimp and travelled thousands of miles to a pregnancy resource center in New England. While there a counselor prayed with her.

Sariah shares, “And when she started saying the salvation message to me and to accept Jesus into my heart there was a rush that was like never before that came over my body and there was a warm feeling and just the most peaceful, most serene feeling. I can’t even put into words all of the disgust–the feeling of me constantly wanting to shower and take all this nasty feeling off of my body, it had literally been lifted off of me in that very moment. I no longer had the desire to use crystal meth; I had no desire to smoke cigarettes. That was my first moment of the Holy Spirit just filling me with His love that I had been looking for my whole entire life.”

Soon, Sariah had her baby boy. Now at a faith-based residential program she realized her need to repent.

Sariah says, “I started asking God to forgive me of my sins. Jesus forgave me when He died on the cross. So, if He could forgive my sins and the things that I committed against Him then who was I not to be able to forgive the people that did things to me?”

Today, Sariah has a job in the healthcare industry and living in a new home with her son Noah. She is also a staff assistant at a women’s shelter where she helps women transform their lives through the love of Jesus Christ. She’s written a book about her journey called, No More Games.

Sariah shares, “I love my life today. There's so much freedom in knowing who Jesus is, it's amazing! If you feel that your sins that you have committed are overwhelming and that you'll never be able to be accepted by Jesus Christ, know that no sin is too great for His love.”