July 2010
Dear friend and intercessor,
My four beautiful granddaughters fill my heart with a special kind of love I never knew existed! Last night, one of them whispered little secrets of her heart to me. Her complete trust and innocence pulled my heartstrings making me praise God for such a gift. Indeed, children are a gift from God.
My girls were taught early on that God loves and treasures them as they are – little girls! Thankfully they have already received King Jesus into their hearts and they know they are His princesses! Every girl in this world should feel that way. Each girl is born with the inherent right to a childhood of innocence and dignity, precisely because they ARE A GIFT FROM GOD (Psalm 127). They are a gift to be cherished and protected.
Unfortunately, not very many parents think that way. For millions of families, girls are not gifts but burdens; mere commodities to be bought and sold, and the sooner the better. They are given into early marriages that are a socially accepted custom and traditions of tyranny. These early marriages are also socially condoned pedophilia! Consequently, their bodies and souls remain scarred for life.
Many parents see any investment in their girls as a waste of limited resources! Illiterate and unskilled, their chance of death during pregnancy and labor is five times greater than a woman in her early twenties. Babies are born too early and too small, which are both leading causes of infant deaths. It is unthinkable that such a barbaric practice is alive and well in the 21st century!
God is displeased to see His precious little princesses being broken and discarded as dirty ragged dolls on the margins of our society. His heart weeps, and ours should too.
Oh, may we weep with Him! Let’s proclaim our unwavering faith that God will bring biblical justice to millions of child brides suffering unspeakable emotional and physical pain today. I would give my life to protect my granddaughters from such pain, and I pray other mothers and grandmothers would have the courage to stand against this harmful cultural practice and save their little princesses, too. God will honor their faith and love.
Sometimes I am tempted to doubt the effectiveness of my prayer against such a great evil, but I remember this: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something; and what I should do and can do, I will do. I will PRAY!”
Believing the impossible,
Marli Spieker
**Read Project Hannah's July prayer calendar available in several languages
Marli Spieker
Global Ministry Director/Founder
Project Hannah
TWR