Protection and Respect

She pounds the maize with her grandmother’s wooden pestle, worn smooth from the grip of decades. Fine ground meal collects in the bottom of the mortar, waiting for her practiced hands to shape it into the small corn cakes to feed a family of seven. She deserves your respect.

She smooths the folds of her black gown as she waits to argue the most important case of her career before her nation’s supreme court—the one that could win Sabbathkeeping students in her country the right to take their national exams on some other day. She deserves your prayers.

She fingers the keys of the old church organ in the empty sanctuary this Thursday night, practicing the hymns that the congregation will sing for Sabbath’s worship service. “Lord,” she whispers, “help these old fingers to work one more time.” She deserves your gratitude.

She stares at her mathematics book, a slight smile pursing her lips. “We’re ready, Jesus,” she murmurs from her study desk, anticipating tomorrow’s test—the one that will solidify her hard-earned reputation as the best math student in the school. She deserves your admiration.

Around the world of Adventism, millions of women are holding this remnant movement together with sweat and love and patience and skill.

They anchor families through difficult times, and anchor congregations when factions threaten to divide. They share the Word in sermons preached across kitchen tables and across the airwaves, using gifts the Spirit has given, winning hearts for Jesus.

They make Bible stories come to life for toddlers in Sabbath School, and smile as 25-year-old medical students in their classrooms finally grasp the marvelous chemistry of nutrient absorption in the human body.

They hand out soap and hygiene kits to families staggered by earthquakes, floods, and famines, and hand out hope in small prayer circles where wounded hearts find healing.

It should be unnecessary among the followers of Jesus to say that each of them—each woman and girl created in the image of God—deserves the respect, consideration, and protection every human deserves. But a thousand stories every day remind us that the old and sinful lure of dominating power makes women victims far more frequently than men. Women and girls disproportionately experience loss, poverty, powerlessness, and violence, including—sadly—even among those who say they keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

It should not be. And when we really understand God’s truth, it will not be.

As you read the special articles in this edition of Adventist World, pray for a heart made kind by grace, and the courage given by Jesus to protect all who are vulnerable.