Pro-women’s rights, Pro-life, and Pro-Refugee.

{ FEBRUARY 4, 2017 }

Breathe. 

I know that just the title of this post may make some people’s blood boil so before you read on, please take a deep breathe and know that this is written from a place of being broken hearted for America and the world in this time in history. 

I have just returned back to the states from a 12 day trip to France where I worked in a Refugee Camp in Dunkirk. I really don’t have the words to accurately describe this experience (but I urge you- if you can go overseas and serve in a Camp- GO). When we arrived we were surprised to find that most of the refugees weren’t Syrian, but Kurdish people (from Kurdistan, a people group from parts of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey) who were driven out of their countries for endless terrible reasons. 
I had the life changing experience of eating lunch, having tea, and trying to warm up by a fire with Kurdish refugees everyday. I got to hear their stories, learn about their families stuck in their homelands, hear what they are hoping is next in life, and then I saw the pain in their hearts as several told me they have no future. 

I found myself having to face my own prejudice preconceived notion’s about people from the Middle East; I was horrified when I realized what I had believed for so long. How dare I decide who these people were based on a small group of evil men? How dare I fear them becuase of something they never did? How dare I judge an entire people group without ever looking any single one of them in the eyes? 
It was late one night, after working in the Camp all day, that my friend, Hannah, tossed me her phone and told me to read the article she had pulled up. I wept as I read about President Trump’s ban. I wept as I thought about my new friends in the Camp. My new friends who I love dearly. My new friends who Christ suffered and died for. 

“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; 
I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink;
 I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
 I was naked, and you clothed Me; 
I was sick, and you visited Me with help and ministering care; 
I was in prison, and you came to Me ignoring personal danger.”‭‭

Matthew 25:35-36

My newsfeeds have been filled with nothing but anger and frustration the past several days; Christians defending Trump’s ban, Christians bashing the woman’s rights march, millennial bashing the prolife march saying it’s hypocritical, and many more. I realize I’m not much of an influence and that my voice may be drown out by all the others but I want to share my position in all of this. 
Hopefully by now you see that I am absolutely for the refugees. I think it’s absurd to say closing the boarders is like locking your front door at night- these people are running for their lives. They are running from evil and we as a “Christian” nation should do the most Christ like thing and love our neighbors with open arms. Love is always dangerous and risky but it’s worth it. 

Second, I want to address the idea that prolife people aren’t pro-Refugee or pro-women. I think that to truly be prolife you must be all of the above. (Since I already addressed the refugee crisis, this is more focused on the later.) I absolutely believe that life begins at the moment of conception and that life should be protected. I believe that life has value as much as my own. And I absolutely believe that women have incredible worth and bring things of the highest value to the world that men cannot. I also believe that the Church is called to love and support single moms as they raise their babies. I believe that the church needs to step up their game in adopting the babies they are fighting for and love their mothers well just as Christ does. Yes, I want your baby to have life but that doesn’t change the fact that I want you, woman, to get paid as much as a man, or to pursue your dreams, or do whatever you want. I believe both of your lives, and the lives of our hurting neighbors in the East, matter greatly. 

Women matter, are treaused by the Father and are an object of the divine love of Christ. 
Babies matter, are treaused by the Father and are an object of the divine love of Christ. 
Refugees matter, are treaused by the Father and are an object of the divine love of Christ.