School has started!
This morning I sat on my couch, snuggled next to Dutch & Heidi, and did another lesson from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. What a great resource! Dutch mostly has the hang of reading, but now Heidi is picking up on the letters, sounds, and sight-words as she follows along with Dutch. I love seeing how much more quickly she’ll will be able to read since she has the privilege of sitting through all of Dutch’s lessons!
This past weekend I joined women from the south Portland area for a women’s retreat, where I had the joy of teaching God’s Word. I’ve spent the past few weeks poring over scripture. Writing it out, copying it, praying over it, studying it. It still amazes me the power of God’s pure word.
Today I kept thinking, How different would my life be if I couldn’t read? What if I couldn’t teach my children? Couldn’t go out in the world and read signs, warnings, sale ads? What if I couldn’t read God’s Word? What if I had no written intake whatsoever to encourage me, instruct me, empower me?
Of course here in the U.S. that’s unthinkable. We have a 99% literacy rate. But in developing countries many women (more than 33% in Asia) can’t read and have no resources to learn. This lack of education not only prevents them from reading and understanding God’s Word, it keeps them bound in poverty, making them especially susceptible to sex-trafficking. In Half the Sky, (PLEASE read!) the authors discovered that one of the most powerful ways to prevent girls from being sold into slavery was to provide them education. Going into brothels and “freeing” girls was only a temporary fix. Without education and opportunity, they would often willingly go back to the life of slavery, since they had no other options. Educating girls proved both to prevent girls from ending up in slavery and helped keep them out, once freed.
Is education an absolute essential? No. Of course providing clean water, shelter, food, and medicine will always be a great route when deciding where you give overseas. But by teaching girls to read we’re giving them not just a hand out but a hand up, the ability to escape the bondage of poverty and victimization and help other women do the same.
I guess the best thing to ask is: To what lengths am I willing to go to ensure my own kids get the very best education and step-up in this world? I know I would go to crazy lengths, and am committed to their education even though it costs us significant time and money.
Could we do the same for them, just a bit? They are God’s beautiful daughters, just as ours are. Just as I get so excited to see Heidi grow and learn and be a strong, smart, capable, bright little girl, I pray God helps us care and genuinely love these precious girls who–with our help–can escape sex-slavery and grow to know, love, and follow Him.
So as you help your little ones learn this year, would you consider giving a gift so other little girls can read as well? GFA has some awesome literacy programs, you can read, watch and donate HERE. Perhaps you might just take the cost of one book that you might buy ($10) and donate that toward teaching little girls to read.
Would you pray about this today? Thanks so much for taking the time to extend your gaze beyond your walls and consider how you can bless these little girls God loves! Have a blessed Monday… Thanks for reading!