"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." [harriet beecher stowe]
"All places where women are excluded tend downward to barbarism; but the moment she is introduced, there come in with her courtesy, cleanliness, sobriety, and order." [harriet beecher stowe]
i don't know the context in which stowe made that second statement. perhaps it was only a flippant thought or a joke. but i see it as being right on and applicable in both a large and small context.
when we examine the development and productivity of nations around the world, we see a direct correlation between the prosperity of a nation and its religious foundations. critics will point to natural resources as the reason for the success of a land, and while that plays a role, the success of a nation actually lies moreso in the people that form it and the God they trust in. take a look at different countries and you'll see. (i.e. contrast north and south korea.)
in countries where women are oppressed and mistreated beyond belief, do we see life, prosperity or abundance? when people are abused or oppressed at any level, we do not see positive outcomes. if anything, in households where women are abused we see the cycle perpetuated as the next generation is taught to mistreat women, and the next generation of females growing up in that environment underestimate their own value and worth, or fail to see it at all.
what would happen if women started to realize their value? what would happen if domestic abuse was eradicated? gone. i have heard many people talk about the dream of abortion being eradicated in this generation, and of human trafficking coming to an end as well. YES, YES, YES. but underneath both of those "issues" lies what seems like an even BIGGER root that must be dealt with, and that's the mistreatment of women.
women who talk about this are usually considered femi-nazis and very few people want that label. even a super liberal feminist professor i had admitted to feeling that and discussed the matter in depth with me, along with the incredible negativity attached to being known as a feminist. i do not consider myself a feminist. i believe the women's rights movement eventually ended up doing more to hurt the role of women in society than it did to truly empower us. but i still believe strongly that women have an incredibly important role in life and that it is too often underestimated or ignored.
anger rises up in me whenever i think about these things, along with a passion to see everything transformed. i started writing this late last night and didn't finish it because it felt too feisty; it felt like anyone reading it would just think 'oh God, chelsea is such a weirdo, i wish she'd get her sht together and quit being so dramatic.'
but when i was praying earlier today with friends it was definitely the anthem on my heart, and i believe God usually puts things on our hearts for a reason, so i wanted to finish writing some of these thoughts out.
when people talk about change and things being different i think about getting to the root of it, because that's the way to see different results. and at the root of things that hurt so many people - things like abortion and human trafficking - lies an even bigger issue. and to me that issue is the inability of people, women in particular, to see the worth and value they behold.
we could go even deeper and say that that is a result of people not realizing God loves them, etc etc etc. we could always go deeper and deeper, and yet. we settle for blaming the surface stuff. we wallow in shallow water without making progress, when all along we have been called to go SO MUCH DEEPER into fresh water ... until we overflow with that freshness, with revelation of the Lord and His great love and who we are in Him, with radiant life that spills out into the lives of absolutely everyone around us.
let's stop pointing fingers at the "fruit" (issues that show up on the surface) instead of the root. let's go back to our roots. let's rip out the bad ones, the lies that say we aren't worth anything. and let's draw strength and life from the good roots, like the rich heritage so many of us have in our families, and the greatest heritage that we all have in Jesus Christ. let's draw upon that wealth, upon the favor and authority that we are called to walk boldly in.
women and men of God, KNOW YOUR WORTH as the daughters and sons of the Living God! if you don't know it, LEARN IT. ask Him to reveal it to you and HE WILL. get into HIS WORD and study it. if there is anything worth doing, it is knowing God.
the other thing that spurred me to finish writing this post was the song i heard on the radio this morning by casting crowns - "courageous." enjoy the song and the movie trailer and don't just be encouraged, BE COURAGEOUS!!
1 comment:
so well written. very important and straightforward approach of how to first heal ourselves, THEN the other issues. great post!
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