Note: This Part 1 of this newsletter discusses sexual assault. If this subject is difficult for you, please scroll down until Part 2. There is also a Part 3 that is a fun little addendum, so definitely check that out.
Part 1: Rachael Denhollander is a Boss Lady
The first book I started and finished in 2020 was What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander.
Rachael Denhollander is the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, a doctor for USA Gymnastics and the Michigan State University system, of sexual assault. You might have heard about this case in the news.
Dozens of women eventually came forward saying that Nassar had abused them, including Olympic gold medalists Jordyn Weiber, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, and Kyla Ross. That means all of the girls in this photo were abused.
How? How is this possible?
How is it possible for a person to abuse at least 250 girls and get away with it for so long? Decades, in fact? In her book, Denhollander points to the institutions that enabled this predator to hide for so long.
Nassar was, by all accounts, an excellent doctor. He was friendly and disarming. His treatments helped gymnasts to get back on their feet and continue to train. But he used his power, privilege, and knowledge to feed his own evil desires, and the girls were unable to say or do anything.
Think about it. You’re a young teen seeing a world-famous doctor who has helped hundreds of gymnasts — perhaps even gymnasts that you idolized. Remember Kerri Strug?
When she landed that vault on TWO TORN LIGAMENTS IN HER ANKLE for USA to win it’s first-ever team gold medal, who was the doctor who said, “I got her. I got her”?
It was Larry Nasser, the man with the dark hair in the above photo.
Put yourself in the place of a 14-year-old aspiring gymnast. You get an appointment to see this gymnastics celebrity, and you’re excited. When you meet him, he’s exactly what you’re hoping for. He promises to take care of you. He compliments you on your cute boots. He gives you a high five. He helps give you exercises to strengthen your wrists, to straighten your shoulders, to realign your spine.
So when he tells you that you need a hip realignment and then inserts his fingers under your shorts, past your underwear, and into you, you freeze.
Did that just happen? Is this normal? Why wouldn’t he do this if this isn’t normal? Maybe this is just what he does with athletes? If this were bad, someone else would’ve said something, right? My mom is in the room. If she saw anything weird, she would say something, right? Right?
We have been taught our whole lives to trust people in authority, especially doctors. So we are quick to rationalize and blame ourselves — I must have misunderstood what he did.
But predators like Nasser are able to take advantage of that trust. They carefully groom their victims and even the victim’s parents so that everyone stays quiet. Even when people speak up, they use their “expertise” to defend them against accusations, especially when they know they are valuable to the organizations they employ — as Nassar was valuable to USA Gymnastics and Michigan State. But that put more victims into his hands, and so many women suffered.
Thank God that Rachael Denhollander didn’t keep quiet. She eventually realized what happened to her was abuse. She told her mother, but she knew there was no way that her one voice would be able to defeat decades of institutionalized power. So she waited. But when she spoke, she spoke loudly and clearly for those many women who were silenced for so long. In doing so, she clearly said that the lives of these women are worth more than the money of USA Gymnastics and all the gold medals in the world.
I know many of us would like to think that we would be the ones to speak out against such great injustice. But it’s clear in the book that so many people didn’t believe her or any of these girls and young women. It’s so easy for us to become defensive and to explain away things. Learning about this issue and really grappling with it will help all of us to fight for the oppressed and be a voice to the voiceless.
So I hope you will pick up the book. It is so Christ-centered and justice focused, and I highly recommend it. If you are not a book person, Rachael Denhollander did a great interview on Without Fail. This one doesn’t go into the faith aspect at all, but it will give you a bigger insight on how it’s almost impossible for people to speak up in cases of sexual abuse, and yet that is what we must do.
Spotify Link || Apple Podcasts Link
Part 2: 7 Political Prayer Requests
I’ve been dreading 2020 because of the American political election that’s coming up. I am not looking forward to the partisan yelling and the impeachment hearings, which I’ve already ignored in a great part by not checking Twitter as much anymore.
The one thing I haven’t done much in this political climate is pray. Clearly our country has a lot of problems, but I don’t really pray about them very much.
This past Sunday, I was so convicted about my lack of intercessory prayer. We are called to appeal to the Lord, remembering that we are not the solution, but God alone is able.
So with that in mind and with all this reclaimed time from deleting social media off my phone, I’m going to try to pray more, and I hope you will pray with me.
Pray for refugees.
The definition of a refugee from the United Nations:
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries.
Two-thirds of all refugees worldwide come from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.
Pray that their would be peace in their homelands. Pray that they will find safe new places to live. Pray that people would open their hands and welcome them.
Pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.
The chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Lawan Andami, was executed by members of an Islamic militant group earlier this month. And did you know that thousands of Nigerians have been killed for their faith in the last few years?
Persecution against Christians is real. But we so often forget the cost of our faith as we live in countries with religious freedoms. But we must remember. Let us never forget to pray for our brothers and sisters who are suffering for the sake of Christ. Read more about the persecuted church here.
But also pray for the governments and radical groups that are targeting our brothers and sisters. Pray that they might see the power of the Gospel and have their hearts transformed by the Holy Spirit. Pray for miracles.
Pray for those in prison.
Pray for those who are unjustly convicted — that they might receive justice and that they would have hope. Pray that those who are guilty would be convicted of the sin in their lives and that they would be rehabilitated and fully restored to society. Pray for those who are imprisoned for their faith to have supernatural peace and hope.
Pray for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the sick.
Whether or not you think it’s the government’s job to help the poor, we Christians should be helping the poor. So pray that our country’s hearts would be soft. Pray that we would find ways to help the poor and to give them dignity. Pray that we do not treat them as outcasts or sinners, but rather our brothers and sisters who are made in the image of God.
Pray for our country’s leaders.
Pray for people on both sides of the aisle. Pray not only for national leaders, but for local ones as well. In Los Angeles in particular, pray that our local leaders would be able to help those who are struggling with homelessness.
Pray for the plank in your eye.
All of us have blind spots. All of us have pride. We need to be quick to listen and slow to speak. Pray that God would continue to sanctify us. Pray for empathy and compassion. Pray for wisdom and discernment.
Pray for Jesus to come back.
As much progress can be made on this earth, everything will be made new, whole, and perfect in the new heavens and the new earth. When Jesus returns, we will have true peace and reconciliation.But all our work on earth will not be swept away at his second coming. It is not in vain. Rather doing the work of Jesus now is part of God’s kingdom growing day by day. The gates of hell will not be able to stand against the church, and we are his body with Christ as the head.
So let us pray the prayer of our Savior: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let his work be done on earth through our hands, our feet, and our prayers.
Part 3: The Depths of his Love
After these two heavy topics, let’s end with something light. Actually, the ocean’s water pressure is pretty heavy (haha), but this is a beautiful and fascinating page of the Internet that I want to share.
This page is a loooong one, and so you just scroll down. As you push the page up with your thumb (or turn that scroll whee), you go deeper and deeper into the ocean. And as you scroll, you see what animals or features exist at that depth. And man, just keep scrolling. Click here to experience this amazing web page. It will take you a few minutes to scroll through, but it’s worth it.
As you’ll see, there are some amazing facts down there. And it’s just mind-boggling to me that mankind thinks it knows everything when we don’t even know that much about our own oceans. And it’s amazing that God created things down there, fully knowing that we wouldn’t even see it until our technology was advanced enough.
XKCD also did their own version of this (desktop recommended) that gives you a more macro picture. It also gives you some references to things on dry land, which can help with scale. Click the picture below or this link.
Now when I sing about the depth of God’s love being as deep as the sea, I have a better understanding of how vast and overwhelming it is.
Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by tradeTo write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky“The Love of God” by Frederick Martin Lehman
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
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