#bringbackourgirls

If many of you have been following the news, I'm sure you've heard of the plight of the abducted girls in Nigeria. The actions of the Boko Haram militant group are being realized around the world as the story travels rapidly by social media.

Girls not that much younger than me have been ripped from life as they know it. Some have been able to escape, but many, including eight more girls kidnapped on the 4th, have been smuggled out of the country and or sold in to marriage.

Sold. For $12. I can buy a t-shirt or a lot of tacos with $12.

This breaks my heart.

These girls are NOT property to be bought and sold. People are worth more than t-shirts and tacos. They are living, breathing humans with hopes, dreams, and souls. Yet they have been forced into a very real nightmare by the Boko Haram, insurgents who have been destroying lives rampantly for a while now, unhindered by the Nigerian government.

But what can we do? I mean, it's a little hard to fly over to Africa, dash into the jungle, rescue all of the girls in one fell swoop and kick butt.

Honestly, that's what I'd like to do. But life doesn't work like that.

Rallies and calling your congressmen are some solutions, but I have another one.

Pray.

Often the power of prayer is underestimated, but if I learned one thing from my adventure in Cambodia last summer, it's that prayer helps. Quite a lot, actually. Another thing to keep in mind is that God knows what He's doing. He has a plan in mind. I don't know what will happen in the future, but that's something I have to hold onto.

In the meantime, a friend on Facebook shared this website. On it, it has a list of 180 of the girls still missing. The site asks readers to pick one girl, and pray for her often. Until she is found.

I encourage you to do the same, even if you're not a Christian, because I firmly believe that these prayers sent up to heaven will change lives. At the moment, I don't know what connection I may have to this story, or where my feet be led.

I'll leave you with a quote from Malala Yousafzai, a young activist who survived a gunshot wound to the head by the Taliban: "The girls in Nigeria are my sisters and it is my responsibility that I speak up for my sisters." 

Not only are the girls in Nigeria Malala's sisters, but they're my sisters, and yours too. And they need every prayer and action that they can get. 

But, right now, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to think about my little sister Rifkatu Solomon often, and pray that she finds her way home.