Vacation Thoughts and Ramblings

I'm having a wonderful time in Springfield with my hubby and kiddos. Even though Alan is going to meetings eight hours a day so he doesn't see it as much of a vacation, it is a real break for me. It is so relaxing to run away from cooking and cleaning and stay in a motel for a few days! We've had lots of fun swimming. . .

and playing at parks.

While the little ones nap in the afternoons, the big kids and I have been enjoying some quiet reading time, visiting, and watching the History channel. We splurged by going to Lambert's, "Home of the Throwed Rolls" before we headed home.

Today we went to Barnes and Noble. I could LIVE in that store! What's fun is I have the kids trained to love it too. (sinister chuckle) We were there for TWO HOURS!!! Easton and Kiana had great fun playing with the train table and looking at books, Destry read several books about World War II, and Briana read a book about snakes and a biography of past presidents.

Oh, I'm sorry, are we not supposed to treat BN as a library??

Anyway, I read a heart-breaking story. I Am Nujood: Age 10 and Divorced.

This book was about a Muslim girl from Yemen. Because they were poverty-stricken (and her father chose to use drugs--some plant I can't remember the name of--instead of working harder to support his family) he sold his ten year old little girl off to be the wife of a 30-year-old man. Apparently this is relatively common in this culture. The law says girls must be 15 before their fathers arrange their marriage, but the law is not enforced. So, this pre-pubescent girl was forced to get married, forcefully deprived of her innocence, and beaten for the first 30 days of her marriage. Then she worked up the nerve to go to court and demand a divorce. This is unheard of, I guess, as in their culture women can be punished by both their own family and the husband's family for insulting the men's 'honor' in not upholding a marriage arrangement.

But since she has done this, a 9 year old girl and 12 year old girl in her country have followed suit, as has an 8 year old girl in Saudi Arabia.

What a mess! Sometimes I feel so sheltered in my little life, and when I 'step outside' my box to see what is going on around the world, I get so overwhelmed by the ugliness. I feel like I should 'do something'. . .but what can I do? I guess awareness and prayer are the first steps. . .

This story also made me think about the power of example. If we will just be brave enough, just be courageous enough, to take a step--even when we are the only one doing it--our courage can inspire courage in others.

I think of David, in I Samuel 17. Have you ever stopped to think that he *could have* just sat there and bemoaned the fact that the lion and the bear had taken his sheep? But no, he went after those beasts, he courageously stepped forward and fought--and through the strength of the Lord, he won the battle.

These victories prepared him for an even greater battle. But notice, once again, it's not as if Goliath came knocking specifically on David's door. He wasn't challenging David specifically. No one was expecting David to be the one to fight this champion--he was just a shepherd boy, the youngest of eight brothers--indeed, three of his older brothers were trained for battle while David was not.

But David stepped up.

I've heard people use this story to remind us that one day, we will all face our own Goliath. And that is true, we may. Goliath may come knocking on our door in the form of disease or loss or whatever. But I wonder how many opportunities we've had to step up, in the power of the Lord, to defeat the bear, the lion, the giant. . .yet we didn't. Because we're just waiting for something to stand on our doorstep rather than aggressively looking to battle for the Lord. I'm not saying to *create* a Goliath, or even to look for a giant. . .but to RECOGNIZE when he is there, defying the army of the Lord, and stand up to say "The battle belongs to the Lord!"