It’s International Women’s Day, a day to honor and celebrate the cultural, social, economic and political achievements of women. It’s a day to remind ourselves why girls are so amazing.
In the course of human history, the female population has been horrifically oppressed, abused and mistreated.
Girls have been burned at the stake as witches. They have been buried alive, drowned and left to starve to death on trash heaps in China. They have been shot in the face for trying to go to school. Their feet have been crushed and bound. Their genitals have been mutilated.
They have been hidden under yards upon yards of black fabric. They have been kidnapped and trafficked. They have been denied education, voting rights, property ownership, driver’s licenses and equal pay. One out of every five women has been raped. One out of four has been beaten by her romantic partner.
And yet…
Girls are amazing because they never quit.
Girls haven’t quit trying to get to school. Women haven’t quit providing two-thirds of the world’s unpaid labor. Women haven’t quit giving birth to the world’s next generation. Women haven’t quit advocating for equality, freedom, opportunity and dignity.
Girls start fighting the second they are born and they keep fighting until they day they die. In studies of neonatal intensive care units, baby girls are more likely to survive than baby boys, and around the world, women consistently outlive men.
Girls have proven again and again that they can go far when people invest in them. Microlending studies have showed that women in the developing world are exceptional entrepreneurs. They are more likely to repay the loan than their male counterparts, they make better financial decisions than men and they are more likely to invest in their community.
Women haven’t quit changing our world for the better.
I have the opportunity to invest in the lives of several special little girls. I sponsor a little girl named Bona. She’s 5 years old, and she lives in Bangladesh. Also, I wrote a book about a Somali refugee woman and her five girls. All the proceeds from the book, The Invisible Girls, are going into a college fund for the Somali sisters.
My prayer for Bona and the Invisible Girls is that they will grow up to be women who don’t quit. Women who endure. Women who persevere through any hardships, obstacles or discrimination they might face. Women who reach their potential. Women who are equipped to experience and express the love of Jesus well.
My prayer for the rest of us is that we would treat women like the beautiful, capable, intelligent, valuable treasures they are. That we would invest in them spiritually, emotionally, academically and financially. That we would give of ourselves in order to give little girls around the world the one thing they need most to succeed in life: A chance.
Do you sponsor a girl or young woman? Take a minute today to write her a letter. A letter that says, “I believe in you. I pray for you. You have it in you to change the world.”
Give a little girl a chance today through sponsorship:
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Amazing!
It is truly that we give them way to access what we too need to have in live. why not and they are like us, men shouldn’t be boastful that they are head in all things. when we look back in the history of hero we come to learn that great women were the great influences to the men whom we said that, they are hero being social live, spiritual, economical live and scientisticaly as I know so far. so let treat women like they we treat our mothers. I saw girls cry together with their mothers if they are doing something that the mother think it will bring bad name to both mother and the girl. which is not common to we as men. women! you’re great and great heroes in this live we are in, take example to my nation South Sudan. who are suffer a lot? they are women, So my message to all women be courage are raise your children well and we will reduce this wars,poverty, hunger and many others.
A powerful message.
A powerful message. I did not even know there was such a day as the Women’s Day just until recently.
I was raised by my single grandmother while her daughter, who was also my single mother, was combatting to get a decent job with decent pay in a society that was not so friendly toward either women or single mothers.
Now I am a grown up and having observed their lives since I was a little boy, I’ve realized that neither one of them was decently educated nor trained and they simply did what they could to support the family.
Today, I sponsor 2 little girls from Nicaragua who are also raised by their single Moms who work as housekeepers to provide their children with daily bread.
With no doubt, what prompted me to decide to accept these girls is the fact that I have come from such a family background and I can identify myself with their loneliness, misery, shame, sense of inferiority, resentment, anger and hunger for love and recognition.
Through my letters, I always tell them that I am their father in Christ and I love them like my own daughters and they are my tesoros, or “treasures”.
God bless you, Joshua! Thank you so much for sharing your story! The women in your life truly sound like such strong, honorable, and beautiful individuals! I can tell that they were a great example and influence in your life and loved you dearly. God has truly used your life to bring glory to His name and impact the lives of children. I’m so humbled and encouraged that your precious children will be able to relate and connect with you so well because you are able to meet them where they’re at and give them the hope that is only found in Christ Jesus! We’re honored to partner with you and we celebrate and praise God with you for all he’s brought you through.
Hello, Emily! Thank you for your words of encouragement.
I believe with all my heart that Compassion is one of the ways through which God conveys His love to all His children, whether sponsors or the sponsored.
God reveals Himself through our obedience to His way: compassion.
We often seek the Lord to have our necessity met, but we must never forget that by satisfying the necessity of those who deserve, ours will be fulfilled.
God bless.