Tag: women

Let my people go!

Posted on by Ruth

 

Yesterday was International Woman’s day (in Australia), I had spent the day in thoughtful contemplation and seeking God over the roar of what I was seeing and hearing. At the end of my prayer time this morning I hear the words of Moses, “Let my people go…”

Yesterday, I was horrified that in a day when we could have spoken much and used the day to bring freedom of those still suffering, the selfish cry rises from the lips of a few and that was all that was all we heard.

Women and girls are suffering horribly over this earth and we want to protest 1st world issues. My heart cries that in Australia, a land of freedom and justice, there are women and girls that are still being forced into early marriages, receive “necessary” beating from their husbands, they are being sold into slavery and not treated like human beings. We have women who are being murdered, beaten, raped and considered less than human simply because they are female.

There are women in this world who will die because they are no longer needed as a sex slave or because they refuse a request from a father or owner. There are burned with acid because they are being punished for not wanting to marry someone or because of jealousy. There are women who are stoned because they are raped or because someone claims that they have committed adultery.

There is in some countries where being a woman and being a Christian means death, slavery, degradation and hopelessness.

While some would scream that it is the fault of man –  I would say that it is a human fault.

I found a quote by a British Poet and Philosopher, Matthew Arnold, and I think it would do well to add this to our thinking –

“If there ever comes a time when the women of the world come together purely and simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a force such as the world has never known.”

From information that I have gathered today, in 2014 the population of women in this world was 3.52 billion. At that time women made up 49.6 percent of the world’s population.

This is our numbers in spite of female infanticide still practiced in countries like India and China, as well as sex-selective abortion where a female baby in the womb is killed due to the fact that it is female and not wanted. It is also inspite apporximately 33 women (per day) across the world dying during childbirth.

If we make up 49.6 percent of the population, isn’t it time we came together for the benefit of mankind and become the force for change?

Better still, if you had 51 percent of this world (men and women) that would care about the needs of each other we would be a society that would not need to talk about change, we would be changed.

We are the answer to each other, to the world and to new changes. I think that Lisa Bevere says this better than anyone I have read –

http://messengerinternational.org/blog/news/now-is-if-ever/

We were created uniquely, with love from a God who knows us well. Our bodies were beautifully made to bring new life to this earth. This is not something to worship, but something to celebrate. As female humans our design is unique, and everything points to a creator, not an accident of nature. Our uniqueness can be celebrated. Each one of us in this world has a wonderful mixture of things that make us different and a part of this world. We are as unique as our fingerprints, handmade by God. The awesomeness of God creativity in making us is to be celebrated.

For those of us that do have freedom to celebrate, there are those that lack freedom and have to live in that life daily. They have very little voice, no freedom, no future and no hope. Our freedoms should allow us to speak strongly against the suffering of those that have no freedom.

If you were to get every free woman to speak, we would all be so different in what problems we would like to solve. Some would want laws changed worldwide, others would say it was the fault of man driven society and want to deal with men, some would think that we need to change street signs or wages or burn bras. I am not mocking, I am saying that there is more, much more. This will not change the hearts of men and women.

Moses, when facing Pharaoh said these words. “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go..” Ex 5:1 (NLT)

The Israelite people were slaves with no freedoms, human rights, or hope. God brought them physically out of Egypt then took them to where he could spiritually set them free.

To the world I will say this – “let these (enslaved and broken) women go.”

Now, expect resistance.

We have many organisations that work in the areas that work in releasing women out of enslavement and giving them a new life of hope and change. (Below will be a list of ones that I know. Feel free to write in the comments and add more.) Get behind these organisations. Find Christian Politicians or upright leaders in our community – speak to them, pray for them. Expect resistance.

Look in your own community, find ways to help others.

Stand up and stop making excuses. If women don’t stand up, then there is 49.6 billion reasons to move very quickly. Satan hates you because you are created for a purpose, he doesn’t hate you because of your past, he hates you because of your future.

Ask God for forgiveness for our apathy, our selfishness, and our ignorance. Ask God to give us one heart for each other and for Him. Now pray for those in the front line. Pray for women everywhere to hear about Christ and the love, dignity and hope that He gives to “womankind”. Thank God for the men in our community who fight for our freedoms as women and who protect us. Thank God for the husbands who allow us to be ourselves, as God made us.

Remember that we have sons who are growing up with beliefs being place upon them through every possible means. Pray for our sons.

Pray for our daughters, that they will have strength and wisdom.

A few years ago, the Lord asked me to write these words down, it became part of the first chapter of my book, I want to share it with you –

“All the days are numbered because these days are so evil (so short). My Spirit is challenging many in their faith and walk. I will call many unto Me and they will hear. I will call mothers, sisters, aunts, the poor, the weak and the alone. I will give them My voice and it will be like a rabble in this land.

My voice will be heard. Many will hear, but they will be heard by few. Woman will speak to woman, mother to child, sister to sister. Encouragement will be on their lips, strength in their hearts. They will be a quiet and strong army.

I am calling women of all ages unto Me. I am calling them away from their labours and from their work.  This requires sacrifice. Their hearts will be changed.”

It starts with you, it starts with us…with women. Seeking God and becoming the force that changes the world.

 

Let our women go!!

 

 

 

 

Destiny Rescue – https://www.destinyrescue.org

COATNET – http://www.caritas.org

Messenger International – http://messengerinternational.org/

CBN – http://www.cbn.com

SWM Mission Outreaches – http://www.shanewillardministries.org

Stand Up, Speak Out and Act – Say no to violence

Posted on by Ruth

 

(Domestic Violence is an issue very close to my heart. Tomorrow (the 25th November) is White Ribbon Day. It is a day where men encourage other men to not be violent, and not be silent about abuse that happens around them. It is about encouraging men to Stand Up, Speak Out and Act.)

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Thirty years ago, I hung on to the handle of a car and prayed for my safety.

My boyfriend at the time, was a ‘petrolhead’, who loved fast cars and fast relationships. He was, at the time of my terror, driving his hotted-up car at full tilt up a windy narrow road to the top of a mountain. It was well after 9PM, and, most of the time, the car we were in went sideways around the corners and really didn’t straighten up to go around the next corner. The screams in my mind did not reach my lips and not a sound came out of my mouth. With his eyes on the road, he hooted and then switched off his lights and yelled over the noise of the car engine, “Don’t worry, I do this so that I know who is coming down the mountain. They will have their lights on and I can see if they are about to come around the corner.”

Despite the fact that that young man could have taken my life that night, and possibly the life of another person coming the other way. I never stood up for myself, or others and told him what I thought of the situation in which I had found myself.

When we got to the top, I should have stepped out of the vehicle and called a friend to pick me up. But no – I stayed in the car, the relationship and the fast lifestyle until he dumped me for another woman.

A year later, I entered another relationship, and for the next fourteen years went on the next wild ride – one that included physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse. I hung on for dear life and prayed for safety, respect, and love to be mine. The screams of heartbreak and terror reached my mind but never my lips. The bruises faded and my heart broke while silent tears slipped silently down my face. On odd occasions, I would speak, but then be terrified that my husband would know of the ‘betrayal’ I would bring to our lives.

Despite the ‘ride’, I stayed hanging on for grim death to the handles of my failing marriage and ignoring the damage I could do to myself (and later, my young child and the unborn baby in my tummy) and did not move to change the situation I was in.

I was too scared, too unsure of myself and too certain that it was because I was to blame. The same voice of uncertainty that thought that I was silly to make a fuss over a fast ride was the same voice that told me I was to blame for my husband’s anger.

The home I had grown up in was the same that I was in now. Yes, I was not a good wife. I was just like my mum – disobedient, rebellious, stupid, and unable to be of any use to anyone… or so I thought.

My strength, I believed, was in being a hard worker; strong in muscle and able to do any task set before me. Even if it meant working like a man. I was proud that I was independent and strong. The conflict of what I thought I was, was too difficult for me to see and the pretence too hard to live up to.

The inability to stand up for myself at home, started clashing with the job I had at the time. As a Security Guard, the assertiveness I was learning did nothing to change what was happening at home. The front I held onto as a good, religiously faithful wife, as a Salvation Army soldier and a no nonsense Security Officer, became a non-identity in the relationship with my husband. It slipped away to nothing as I stepped into my own home, silently falling like the dirty clothes I took off at the end of the day.

The few friends I had, could do nothing for me as they were sworn to secrecy. Slowly, I allowed the Salvation Army ministers and my doctor to know, but they could not do anything while I silently and passively allowed myself to remain in brokenness and rejected the help they offered.

Silently, I screamed for help and hoped that the bruises or the pain would be noticed and that someone would come to my rescue, while rejecting the people who came my way, regardless.

Silently, I cried myself to sleep and hoped that someone would count the tears on my pillow.

Silently, I covered up for my husband’s outbursts in public and covered the marks that hid his private outbursts.

Silently, I blocked anyone from seeing what he was like, as if it was my fault anyway.

Men who knew, said nothing as they watched, not knowing what to do without causing me more pain. No-one knew how to fix my private pain.

One day, I backed away from his swing, then caught the eyes of my toddler son whose face mirrored my terror.  His mouth was open in a scream – but silent…just like mine years ago. I ran over to him, picked him up and carried him into the room and locked the door. The baby in my tummy stopped moving and silently I prayed that he was okay.

From that day forward, I took steps to never be silent again.

I challenged the views I had of myself, I fought for my safety and I spoke to others of the hidden life beyond my public persona.

I fought the lies that were told to the world. I was not bi-polar, I was not emotionally stable. I did not have multiple personalities or post-natal depression. I was not a stupid person, who was clumsy and difficult.

I was me… and the me that I was getting to know was better than the ‘me’ he said I was.

People who are in abusive relationships need help, but they are seemingly unaware that they are not to blame, that there is a way out, and that they can get help. The world they reside in, and the conflict within the relationship, are emotionally and mentally overwhelming.

The education to know about and to avoid such relationships was not available to me as a young woman. The help for women like myself, was not talked about. Domestic violence was not openly spoken about in my circle of friends and acquaintances.

And the community support was not readily available should I need to move out of our home quickly.

There was one other thing greater than all this.

I, myself, did not think I was worthy of the respect, worthy of better treatment, so I went into the relationship and I stayed.

I remained the victim, until I chose to be a survivor.

Saying ‘No’ to violence starts within the hearts of average Australians – every person. Every man, every woman, and every child. Everyone is worth something to someone. Saying ‘No’ is the start, acting and speaking is the next start.

No voice should be silent and every voice heard.

 

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Womens helpline –  1800 811 811

Womensline