To tell you the truth, I'd been dragging through one of those seasons when there were simply not enough hours in the day. Too many expectations and obligations were beginning to take their toll. So I'm sure I wasn't particularly tuned in for anything life-altering. I didn't have time for any big revelations. But when God's got something to show you, it's amazing what He can use to get your attention.

I just wanted to zone out in front of the TV. An episode of Law & Order popped on the screen as I curled up in my favorite leather chair with a cup of tea. I knew that the cases portrayed on Law & Order were always based on real issues—"ripped from the headlines," the commercials would blare. But I couldn't believe what I was seeing: 10, 11, 12-year-old girls in cages, shipped over to America to be used as sexual slaves, forced into prostitution. As I sat there in my comfortable home, in my chair with my teacup in hand, I thought to myself, There is no way that is true. I mean, maybe somewhere else in the world, but not here in America. I had never even heard the term "human trafficking."

I grabbed my laptop, Googled the words, and was horrified by what I read, by what I saw. There, on my computer screen, were the faces of beautiful, sweet girls, living in cages, their sad eyes staring out at me. "Do you see me?" they seemed to plead.

The faces and facts were staggering: 6 million children are sold and abused worldwide, some as young as 5 and 6 years old. At least 25,000 children shipped to America, to be used as sex slaves here in the land of the free. As if homelessness and poverty are not tragic enough, some of these children are kept in cages and forced to perform heinous, unfathomable acts 50 and 60 times a day.

"Do you see me?"

How could this be happening? Why had I never heard anyone talk about it?

As I stared at the screen, numb from the stories of these sweet children who'd been robbed of their innocence and freedom, I cried. I bawled. I was broken that such evil could exist in the world—and that I could be so unaware, so blind to it.

That night on the Internet, I found two faith-based organizations devoted to rescuing children from prostitution and giving them a chance at a healthy life: Shared Hope and International Justice Mission.

It was like a light went on in my head. The next morning, I called the 800 number for Shared Hope and started rambling like a mad woman about what I'd seen the night before and how I was a singer and that maybe I could help tell people about this tragedy.

The young woman on the phone said, "Okay, slow down. Let's start with your name." When I told her my name, she said, "Natalie Grant? Natalie, I was at your concert last week!"

Now, I'm a firm believer in the truth that "God moves in mysterious ways," but at that moment, God made it all too clear. That episode of Law & Order had been a divine appointment, the beginning of something that would change my life forever.

Within a matter of months, my husband, Bernie, and I traveled to Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, with Shared Hope and its founder, former congresswoman Linda Smith. There we were able to see, firsthand, the tragedy of child slavery and what is being done to stop it.

I will never forget what I saw there. I don't want to forget.

There I was in broad daylight, walking down the street in Mumbai, when I spotted a precious little girl looking down on us from an upper-story window. She couldn't have been more than 7. Her piercing, dark eyes stared out at me. Her hand was reaching out from between the bars of a cage, not unlike something people here in the States would keep animals in. My eyes locked on hers, for just a few seconds, and I knew that was her life. There in that cage, that was her life. I knew that every day people walked by on the street below, and they didn't even notice her.