How would you feel if your life was collateral damage?
If your parents never really wanted you;
they just wanted your brother.
But they have to put up with you and your sisters,
feed you
clothe you
send you to school
until they can sell you into slave labor or into marriage.
Your parents are teaching you that girls are not worth much.
In fact, you are a burden
and if you have daughters in the future, they will be a burden to you, too.
Girls cost so much.
But sending your brother to school means a better future for your parents.
Because he gets to stay.
He will take care of your parents when they are old.
His future matters.
What he does for a living matters.
But you? Not so much.
I bet if you heard that your life matters and your future matters, it would be pretty hard to believe. You wouldn’t trust that because everything around you is telling you the opposite. Everything you’ve ever known has told you the opposite. How can that be? How do you know what is true? It might be nice to feel special and loved for an afternoon, but when you go home, your parents are the same, and your life is the same.
Words have to be turned into action. Maybe action will change your heart and your thoughts. If these people that tell you that you are beautiful, strong, and brave and that you matter, began to show you on a daily basis that you are worth something, then maybe you will begin to see the truth. And you’ll begin to hope for the very first time.
Showing up, playing, teaching, smiling and laughing together, giving out high fives and “good jobs” may not sound like much. But to these girls, we are being Jesus to them. We are showing them that they do matter and they are worth so much more than Indian culture tells them. Being an advocate for them in their families is being Jesus to them. Rescue Pink was able to step in and save one 9 year old girl from being sold into slave labor by her family last year. This is the reality of these girls’ lives that we see every day after school. We don’t know everything going on in their home lives. But God does and has given the workers of Rescue Pink the influence necessary to intervene. Join me in praying for the workers of Rescue Pink to continue to grow in influence in their communities and be trusted by the families they work with. Pray for funds so they can continue to grow and expand their programs as well as other centers around India (their goal is one in all 29 states of India – they have two and are opening two more this year). Pray for the girls we’ve been working with, who have names and faces and hopes and dreams, that they would grow up to be brave, independent, healthy, educated women who would know Jesus as their Provider, Helper, Friend, and King.
For more information or to support Rescue Pink’s efforts, Click Here.
