Fashion, Human Rights and Prayer

Several weeks ago, I saw my friend Maura wearing a scarf over her hair. It looked like a fun and easy style for summer. When I saw this article in InStyle, I was determined to try it myself.

Several of us wore scarves wrapped around our heads to Bible study last week:



My friend Claudia directed me to this website, where I found directions on how to tie the scarf. I like the Dutch crown look best; it's easy to do and gives me different looks depending on the thickness of the scarf.

Today I got an invitation on Facebook to participate in a day of Fasting and Prayer for women in Saudi Arabia. The invitation says:

On June 17th Saudi Women are planning on protesting the religious ban on Women driving. These are our sisters fighting for their human rights. They need our prayers for their safety as Saudi men have been told that they are allowed to beat any woman that they see driving on that day For more info visit:
http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article441832.ece
I encourage you to fast at least one meal and pray for our Saudi Sisters. If you want to join me I will also be covering my head to show my support.

I've never fasted. I'm praying about that. But I am going to use my fun headwraps to remind me to pray for the women of Saudi Arabia. I would really prefer not to drive, but I can't imagine being banned from driving simply because I am a woman. This is only one detail in the many ways Saudi women are not treated fairly, but it caught my attention because it is something I do so often and without any thought of what a privilege it is. I am praying for their safety, for their political leaders, and that someone would share the good news of the gospel with them. Will you join me?

Perhaps you'd like to try the current fashion of headwraps--not just for fun, but as a reminder to pray. Or maybe when you enter your hot car this summer you will pray during those rough moments while you wait for the airconditioning to take effect.

Back to frivolous fashion for a moment: I have several "Parisian neck tissues" from a seller named Textile Monster on etsy. They are the perfect length for me. If you have a favorite seller of headwraps, please tell me in the comments.

Biscuits...

I won't be blogging very frequently for the next two months. I'm working on my next book: Only for my King: a Song of Service and Surrender. This book will include, in addition to scriptures, examples of historic and contemporary people who served (or are serving) God.

One of them is Amy Carmichael. I'm saving most of my thoughts on Amy for the book, but this quote was so funny and so thought-provoking that I had to share it with you now. In this letter, Amy is writing about the new missionaries she's been meeting and what she thinks of the institutions that are training thse missionaries:

I don't pray for milk biscuits [“biscuit” is a British term for “cookie”]...all cut to a pattern and stamped with a single decorous pretty stamp. So many places, to judge by the results, seem to be great biscuit manufacturers and they turn out tidy boxes of biscuits. I pray for soldiers, not biscuits! (p. 303 A Chance to Die, a biography of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliott)

I picture the Little Scholar chocolate biscuit cookies when I read this. Look for them at Albertsons or Cost Plus World Market. They are delicious. They are beautiful. But every single one of them is identical. Amy Carmichael thought that serving God required a bit of uniqueness, and a willingness to be a risk-taking soldier.

I'll let you come up with your own soul-searching application question to this.