2023 – By The Numbers

By Becky McDonald, Founder & President
-January 2024

2023 IN REVIEW

Dear WARriors:

WHAT A YEAR THIS HAS BEEN! It’s been a wild ride in many ways, yet I see God’s hand in every detail. We have a God who loves to concern himself with both big and small things.

• It took a year to recover from what we call “Noah’s Flood” at our HQ, but our building is finally put back together. Given a choice, I would never put a bathroom on the 2nd floor!

• As the fighting in Ukraine continues, we quietly continue to rescue women and children into Moldova and provide thousands of loaves of bread to the Ukrainian front lines.

• In India, orphans who are blind started learning lifelong skills and making state-of-the-art baked goods. We’d never have dreamed that possible, but our partner’s wife sure did!

• We’ve spent months in Africa setting up the Dayspring Ministry Center, and the women’s ministry potential is mind-boggling! I cherish the 10 women already working there and the leadership team who dare to dream with me.

• In Zambia, we’ve seen almost two dozen foundations poured and most of the building completed. The clinic is slowly coming together as God brings in the funds. I can’t wait to take medical teams to address the many unmet needs, many of them so easy to deal with yet so vital to wellness.

• In answer to prayer, a fire at the Dayspring Ministry Center stopped short of the main property. It reminds us that we are totally dependent on the protection of God himself.

• We led anti-trafficking trainings in medical, military, university, industry, and faith-based settings.

• We witnessed rescues resulting from anti-trafficking trainings, survivors telling their stories, 911 Rescue calls, and WAR programs. It pours steel in our backbone to witness lives set free!

• We’ve created new products, trained more women to live with dignity, seen their beautiful products delight the buyer, and had corporations ask how they can help.

• We’ve seen America slowly awaken to the reality of human trafficking as a worldwide problem. It’s our goal to teach them how to respond to the largest danger facing our children today.

• We are witnessing a moving among men to rise up and be protectors.

• We willingly serve as we are increasingly invited to share and encourage audiences to join our work.

• WAR, Int’l has felt a deep joy in the hard work of rescue and aftercare. Our staff continue to faithfully invade the darkness and diligently work behind the scenes to set captives free.

• YOU have had our backs, been our own circle of protection, and made all we do a reality! We couldn’t have done our job without YOU!

In partnership with you,
Rebecca McDonald
Founder & President

Today, I Wept…


Today I wept…again…as I signed a receipt from an inmate of prison with a history of abusing others. He sends us sacrificial gifts in his journey of recovery. These are not out of “penance” for his brokenness but out of joy that places exist for healing of those like him and for those he harmed long ago. No one was there for him as a little boy to hear his silent scream.

My mommy heart always makes me stop when I see his gifts and take a deep breath. Often little boys and girls who grow up to wound others were wounded by others themselves. I stop and pray for the tiny lives out there needing a loving, listening home. I beg God to place them in my way or another’s to show a gentle touch, a listening ear, a whisper of joy and worth in who they are. I’m so humbled by his precious gifts. Our pain and our brokenness break God’s heart as He loves unconditionally.

Jet-lagged, I woke early this morning to sit in the darkness of my living room and pray for the day. Take these words as a love letter. Mother Teresa said, “I’m a tiny pencil in the hand of a writing God sending a love letter to the world.” I’m no Mother Teresa, but my hope is this: Whether you read this from a cozy chair with your morning cup of tea; from your kitchen overflowing with dirty dishes and a herd of munchkins at your feet; from a lofty, ivory tower imparting knowledge to the world; or just from a bunk bed in a cell staring at four walls, I pray you come to understand that our hidden worries are known, and we’re loved by our Creator, worthy even in our messes and broken places, or from our comfy homes or offices.

The ancient truth which changes individuals and cultures is that we are stronger, more loving, and better able to navigate sorrow or joy when we intentionally choose to be a circle of protection and community of safety to each other. The key is knowing we are all alike whether learning from a prison cell, from our own mistakes, or others’. Humility binds us together. I welcome the gift of the penitent. Help us God to all be penitent, intentional, and in humility, consider others better than ourselves. This lesson comes from “the least of these,” from four walls of a prison cell, and a broken little boy, now a man, who shares sacrificially to heal others in ways he never experienced. God help us learn from him!