Why

I never expected to be a mom of girls. For some reason (probably because I suspected it’d be easier) I always pictured myself as a mother to boys. Imagine my surprise when we gave birth to three girls out of three pregnancies. I’m grateful that God knows best.

Raising girls today is a tremendous responsibility and undertaking, I sense a constant uphill battle of instilling self-worth- yet humility– in our girls growing up in a world that would objectify and sexualize them. My prayer is that they would grow to know that they were painstakingly and deliberately crafted by a loving Father who adores them and has great purpose for their lives; that they would not look anywhere else but to Him for validation and direction.

Perhaps it was my own upbringing, groomed by an abusive step-parent to seek validation via attention and affection from the opposite sex that compels me to strive for more for my daughters. My own severe missteps in early adulthood left me similarly feeling empty, worthless, and defiled. I now see how the trials I’ve endured God actually entrusted to me, as assets: To equip me to be a vigilant and ferocious advocate for our own daughters.

Upon learning of the plight of the “lost girls” of China, my healed- albeit scarred- heart instantly resonated and felt called to do whatever I could in response to God’s leading, to facilitate the same redemption and healing I’ve found in my own life.

Because of communist China’s strict one-child law, and a heritage that places the utmost importance of carrying on a family’s name by way of a son, it is tragically commonplace for daughters to literally be discarded at birth for fear of “wasting” a family’s allotted single heir… SO commonplace, in fact, that revealing gender at routine obstetrics visits is illegal, as most female pregnancies would result in immediate termination via abortion.

Consequently, infant girls are routinely left abandoned at government buildings, orphanage steps, public parks- or worse. There is a constant flux of orphaned girls in China desperate for a loving family and home; desperate to hear that they are loved, were not a mistake, are adored by their Heavenly Father and a family, and can BE something in this world. Girls who “age out” of orphanages at 16 years old are turned to the streets and most often fall prey to human trafficking, namely the sex-trade industry.

If we can make a difference in the life of even one marginalized little girl, then we I believe we should.