Hello my friends. It is nearly 9 pm Eastern Time in the United States as I ready these words to be cast into cyberspace with the hope that they will catch your eyes and your heart.
It is nearly 6 am in Afghanistan where many people did not sleep through the night. There, instead of peaceful slumber, you would have likely found thousands of Mothers comforting and reassuring frightened children. There, you would have found Parents on their knees praying, begging for their family’s safety, praying that they would have the strength to face the dawn.
Yes. It’s nearly 6 am in Afghanistan, where tens of thousands are waking to another day of desperation as they fight, climb and claw their way to airplanes, the giant beacons of hope, sitting, waiting on crowded, guarded tarmacs. They will try again; men, women and families; all with passports and hope clenched in their hands, begging to be accepted, begging to be one out of thousands given permission to board one of the giant Angels of Hope, begging to escape almost certain torture and death or a life of terror and tyranny.
There are so many Afghanis who believed in the dream of a better tomorrow, who had worked with the United States and the United Nations, who risked their lives to support American troops and their efforts to defeat terrorism, who had worked along side the US as translators or advisors, including thousands of young people who worked as journalists, activists or educators to improve the lives of Afghani women and children…so many stayed awake through the night, burning any records or evidence linking them to the United States or the fight for democracy.
Why? Because any Afghan citizen who supported the US, or who bravely promoted democracy and the advancement of human rights in that country (especially for WOMEN), are now targets of Taliban retaliation according to a letter sent by Democratic Reps. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey and Jason Crow of Colorado to the Whitehouse.
Yes it’s nearly bedtime here in the US. We are safe here. In a few hours a new dawn will shed light on another day for us. Mothers here will be packing lunches and sending their children off to school, while, at this moment, this hour on the other side of the world, Mothers in Afghanistan are packing everything and anything they can carry in the hope that their family will survive the day. Women, especially, face the day with the possibility that they may never see another dawn.
So, tonight as you tuck your children into bed and before you nestle down for a good nights sleep, please take a moment to pray, to kneel beside your bed with your children and thank God for the freedom we often take for granted. Take just a moment to pray for those less fortunate, for the people of Afghanistan, especially for the women and children there. Their lives depend on our prayers.
I ask that you also pray for our troops who are putting their lives on the line at this very moment and for the thousands of American citizens in Afghanistan who are caught in this nightmare and who are desperately trying to flee.
We are the United States of America. It is our government’s responsibility to defend, protect and rescue our citizens wherever they are and we are called, as a Nation under God, to be a beacon of Hope to the world. May God guide our leaders to that end. As Christians we are called to help those in need and to cover them in prayer. So, as Christians, we need to answer God’s call to PRAY.
We know that God knows and sees everything before we even form words to put into prayer, but please join me in praying that God will be a light in this horrible darkness, that He will give hope to the hopeless, strength to the weary and courage to those in the battle between good and evil. May God send an Angel army to fight, guard and protect all of His children against all forces of evil. We pray for miracles in this war torn land and around the world… so that all will know the POWER of Our God. With Him, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.
Blessings, VICTORIA
Believing Outside the Box 