“She is me.
She is you.
She wants faith, hope, and love.
She wants help and healing.
She wants to hear and be heard, to see and be seen.
She wants things set right.
She wants to know what is true – not partly true, or sometimes true, or almost true. She wants to see Truth itself, face to face.
But here, now, these things are all cloudy. Hope is tinged with hurt. Faith is shaded by doubt. Lesser, broken things are masqueraded as love.” (by Amanda Bible Williams)
Shame culture in Asia where girls can’t even raise their voices in public. Where girls line up on the street at night outside of KTV’s to be sold off. Where pursuing your own passion and moving out before finding a husband means you must hate your family and can lead to being disowned. Where women have to submit to a culture that is against them.
Lust culture in Central America. Where it’s impossible not to be seen as an object as a woman while simply walking in town. Where men live double lives with secret families. Where women feel they have to accept alcoholism and abuse in relationships because it’s “normal”. Where women are seen carrying full sacks of food in their arms, balancing more on their head, and have a child strapped to their back. Where women work harder then imaginable for families full of brokeness.
Comparisson culture in the United States. Where self worth is low and self harm is high. Where women give it all to men in order to try to feel something. Where men forcefully take it from women and get away with it. Where who you are is what you look like.
This is my prayer for women all over the globe:
There is a light that the Lord made especially for women. It’s something men aren’t born with, but they want it. Women try to steal it from one another when they lose their own. It’s the determination and strength when your mind is set on something. It’s the intricacies in the way your heart longs for love and intimacy and emotion. It’s the spirit of freedom when you don’t belong to any human. It’s how you radiate when you know your value. The value that your Papa promises is far more than perishable things like gold or silver (1 Peter 1:18-19).
I pray you don’t let your light be stolen by pain, bitterness, anger, selfishness. The world wants it. It wants it so badly.
I pray you guard your heart.
I pray you know that it’s better be your own person than to be owned by a man, but most of all it is infinitely times better to find who you are in Christ alone.
I pray you find freedom in your soul even if you can’t find it in this world.
I pray you stay sweet with a good dose of spicy.
I pray when the world tries to put you in a box, you know you belong to a God that creates souls so beautiful and vast that you could never fit into one.
I pray you know your light is a gift from a gracious Father who just wants to love you and be loved by you.
I pray you remember you are a tree of life, and those who hold on to you will be blessed (Proverbs 4:18).
I pray you remember you are altogether beautiful, and there is no flaw in you (Song of Songs 4:7).
To my ladies around the world, you are seen and you are loved. Your recognition does not stop after the celebrated month. You have support from countless other God fearing and loving women. You are capable. You are a powerhouse. And you are more than enough.
