Most summers, I prefer lying lazily by the pool, rewatching old cartoons, or climbing under my covers and just sleeping. However, this summer, a book flew into my hands and I'm loving it. The 400 page novel tells the chilling tale of two women caught in the communist regime in Afghanistan, from 1972-1992, and their continued stories afterwards, when a series of cultural civil wars break out in spite of a the government's desperate efforts.
The book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, has really opened my eyes to the horrors that happen behind the closed doors of other countries. I think as Americans, living life in the world's greatest country, protected from the worldly dangers other countries are exposed to, we turn a blind eye to the closed doors of those other countries. At this point, we assume that what happens behind those closed doors MUST be good, because many of us, including myself, HAVE NEVER BEEN EXPOSED to the worldly horrors that are realities to many people around the world.
In Afghanistan, teenage girls are taken as early as 13ish to become wives to men they've never met. Girls are raised to become mothers, and many don't have the option to become educated. 73% of the Afghan people lack clean water. 95% lack sanitation.
Today, I pray that my eyes would continue to be opened to the worldly horrors that hide behind the closed doors of foreign countries, and I pray that willing Americans would seek to open these doors, and that we would rejoice in thanksgiving for all of the countless ways we've been blessed as Americans.
Matthew 7:7-8 says, 7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." This week, pray with me. Let's ask God to be with the all of the missionaries who are helping foreigners come to know Christ, and who are working to expose and stop the problems ravaging foreign countries.
