Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled...

On Monday, we dropped off our oldest at a missions camp for the WEEK! I can hardly believe it...but it's true. She knew from attending a mini-camp last year that a week would be even better! She loved it...and we loved it!

You gotta love when you walk into the cabin (OK...these cabins are NOT like when I went to camp! They are beautiful, air-conditioned, and have a huge attatched bathroom with lots of showers, bathrooms, and sinks. They are awesome!) and they had the countries of North Africa and the Middle East on them to learn about and pray over. The entire focus of this camp is missions...training and encouraging and living out missions with young girls...to us...it just doesn't get any better than that!!! Not to mention...I know the director of the camp:)

Even with all of those wonderful things, I have to say there have been nights leading up to driving her up there that I was struck with fear. What if she doesn't apply her sunscreen right and she gets burned? What if she doesn't put on bug spray and she gets eaten alive? What if she doesn't find a special sweet friend? What if she gets homesick? What if...

If you are a mom...you get the idea:) So, one night a few days before she left I was dealing with my insomnia and my mind was reeling with what ifs. I grabbed my sweet sleeping husband's hand and informed him that we were praying OUT LOUD for our girl. I just had to speak my prayers for her out loud and hear myself giving it all over to the Lord.

Peace that passes all understanding overcame me. It was with me as I drove her 2 hours to camp. As I stood in line with TONS of other girls and moms to check her in. As we unpacked and got her settled in. As we hugged goodbye...and all the way home! What a great God we serve!

But, she is NEVER out of my thoughts. I have had to constantly reject the what ifs. I have to contstantly give her over to her Father and know that whatever happens He loves her more than I could ever imagine. Then, this morning I read in John 14:26-27:

"But, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. PEACE I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Let the SPIRIT remind you and I day and night of His many promises and His love for us. And the peace that He gives to us in our circumstances and in our situations...is not like the world gives. Praise God! It lasts and lasts and lasts!

After I read this passage and again gave my sweet girl over the Lord and let the Spirit remind me of a few things...I read this from a blog friend:


Yemeni child bride, 12, dies in labour

A 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labour to give birth, a local human rights organization said. Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died of severe bleeding on Friday, 11.Sept.2009 while giving birth to a stillborn in the al-Zahra district hospital of Hodeida province, 140 miles west of the capital San’a.
Child marriages are widespread in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, where tribal customs dominate society. More than a quarter of the country’s females marry before age 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry.
Youssef was only 11 when her father married her to a 24-year-old man who works as a farmer in Saudi Arabia.


Al-Quraishi, whose group promotes child rights in Yemen, said that he stumbled upon Youssef in the hospital while investigating cases of children who had fled from the fighting in the north.
“This is one of many cases that exist in Yemen,” said al-Quraishi. “The reason behind it is the lack of education and awareness, forcing many girls into marriage in this very early age.”
Impoverished parents in Yemen sometimes give away their young daughters in return for hefty dowries. There is also a long-standing tribal custom in which infant daughters and sons are promised to cousins in hopes it will protect them from illicit relationships, he said.
Al-Quraishi said there are no statistics to show how many marriages involving children are performed every year.

The issue of child brides vaulted into the headlines here two years ago when an 8-year-old Yemeni girl, Nujood Ali went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. She eventually won a divorce, and legislators began looking at ways to curb the practice.

In February, parliament passed a law setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But some lawmakers are trying to kill the measure, calling it un-Islamic. Before it could be ratified by Yemen’s president, they forced it to be sent back to parliament’s constitutional committee for review.

Such marriages also occur in neighbouring oil-rich Saudi Arabia, where several cases of child brides have been reported in the past year, though the phenomenon is not believed to be nearly as widespread as in Yemen.
Throughout the developing world, millions of girls are married off to virtual strangers while they are still just children.

Some are as young as six or seven years old when they are married. The girls themselves rarely have any say in the matter. Many do not even know or fully understand what is planned for them until they arrive at their husband’s home.

In families with limited resources, child marriage is often considered a way to provide for a daughter’s future. Poor families have few resources to support more healthy alternatives for girls, while economic gains through marrying off a daughter may also motivate poor parents to choose this path.

Worldwide, 100 million girls will be married before the age of 18 in the next decade alone. In countries like Niger and Bangladesh, grinding poverty and adherence to tradition results in more than three out of every four girls being married off before they turn 18 (ICRW).

By Associated Press Writer Ahmed Al-Haj

My daughter is enjoying a week at a wonderful missions camp surrounded by those that love God and love discipling young girls. She is taking activities like swimming and water sports. She is singing praises to the Lord and meeting new friends. She is being missed by her family at home and being bathed in constant prayer.

This article gave me some perspective on my worries about my daughter at missions camp. It drove away fear and gave way to utter thankfulness to God. The Spirit pricked my heart to pray for these beautiful and precious little girls who are going through such travesty. It made me so very grateful that my little girl is at missions camp this week.

The Spirit reminded me of His AMAZING protection and AMAZING provision in our lives and in the lives of my sweet girls. May my life be more and more soaked in the peace and the lessons of my Wonderful Counselor who loves me enough to teach me, change me, speak truth to me, and to protect my heart from being troubled and being afraid.

Thank you Father for the peace you give those who are your own. Father, please send Your Comforter to these precious girls in Yemen and other parts of the world who are going through such difficulties. Draw them to Yourself and be their true Beloved. Woo their young hearts to love you and receive true love that never fades. Love that offers peace...not like the world...but of a Father who cares for His children. Oh, Lord comfort these precious babies who are having babies. My heart is breaking in two right now as I look at their faces. May their little hearts not be troubled...