Bringing Truths into the Open

A few years ago, I was training for a triathlon with a coach in the area. Training was going well and I was enjoying the challenge and focusing on improving my skills. This coach had successfully completed several Ironman races herself and trained many different groups of men and women. After a while training with her, I read her instagram post that someone who she had been training had been shot by her boyfriend and killed. I had no personal relationship with this woman. This came as a shock to all friends and family of the individual because from the outside it appeared that everything was okay and well. Women do not have a way to stand up for themselves when they are in precarious situations, don't have the confidence to, or simply do not know how. Hopefully we can find a way to give women the willingness, ability, and strength to speak up for themselves and believe that they are worthy and deserving of all good things.

"You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light." Psalm 18:28

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When I was in high school, I remember driving in a car with a friend and her father, a neurosurgeon in the area. I asked him what the hardest surgery he had ever done was and he told me that he had to perform surgery on a woman whose husband had hit her on the head with a hammer. This devastated me and opened my eyes to a world I had not been aware of prior.

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While on vacation, I was meeting with a jewelry designer who was a former journalist in the Middle East. She was a mother to three daughters and a son and prized her job and role as a mother and creative lady. She told me that during her role as a journalist she was held captive for 21 days raped continuously by militants. She either escaped but was set free, but this incredible soul gave me so much hope. She was a survivor, a fighter, and an overcomer.

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still." Exodus 14:14

“When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life.” -Kofi Annan

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When I was sitting at lunch with some people, I overhead a conversation of a lady who was named after an well known actress' sister. The man sitting next to her was a director that made many movies focused on women and he dated, the sister of the lady this woman was named after many years ago. He had a movie beginning with each letter of the alphabet. I would surf with his wife who was the star of many of his movies.

The lady told us that she knew the founders of the church that I was attending, but since had moved to Kentucky to help with a Christian organization which served women and helped them recover their lives. She said that helping women and bringing them back to life through Jesus Christ was her purpose in life. I resonated with this.

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Living in Las Vegas, I hear stories about women who have to make ends meet and decide to become a prostitute or stripper in order to support their family. This is no way any woman wants to spend her life. Women are here to be loved and cherished and belong to God . They do not belong to men. No child is brought into this world and dreams of being a prostitute, stripper, or subject of human trafficking. Thankfully, there are organzations that serve to change these issues and bring people to the Light.

"For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth." Psalm 33:4-6

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I have also heard stories about women who are convinced and manipulated into to coming to Nevada, to a town called Pahrump to serve in brothels. These women are not allowed to leave. They are kept there for months at a time and not given a voice or ability to speak up.

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There are organizations in the world, in mainly foreign countries, who give young women access to education so they do not need to be sold into child marriage. Many of these ladies are below the age of 16 and would otherwise have no rights or the ability to become anything other than a wife and submissive to their husbands. Child marriage is a huge issue in many areas of the middle east and parts of Asia. It also continues to be an issue in the United States.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." - John 1:5