ap·a·thy: noun. lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.

I face a very interesting struggle. For as long as I can remember it has been easier for me to love the impoverished, the sick and the dying in and out of America. Through my life's course, that turned into apathy for the people right next to me. It became hard for me to love the average, comfortable American. However, once I truly started to follow Jesus and not look back, I realized His intense demand for me to equally love those who have more than enough and those who have nothing. 

I feel that it is my call and yet my biggest trial to love those close to home as well as globally. To fight against apathy in my inner circles. Apathy not only against the many injustices in this world but also against this big and holy God who calls me to write these words. 

The Dalits are the injustice I am called to fight globally. Apathy is the injustice I will and need to continue to fight right here and right now. 

Reflect. Which injustices does God want to use you to finish? Think globally. Think locally. 

Mary

What injustice are you called to end?

 There is an immense amount of injustice in the world. Many of us go through our everyday life caught up in our own injustices; completely blinded to the injustice around us. I am one of those people.

My whole life I've had this strong love for people who face injustice. As my faith has grown stronger, this love has only continued to grow deeper. I've become more aware of the hurt in this world. The broken, the poor, the untouched, and the weak. It's easy to become blinded by what's happening globally, disregarding that injustice is surrounding us locally. I am guilty of this. Although my heart breaks everyday for people so far from grasp, I've begun to realize there is pain right in front of me. God has called us to love everyone. 

So, what injustice am I called to end? Locally, my mission field is my school, my church, and my surrounding cities. Yes, my heart yearns daily for people I'm miles from, but God has placed me where I am for a reason. There are so many injustices I can end in my current situation. Specially? I don't know what injustice God wants me to end here. But I've learned to be content. Be content with where God has me.

Globally, I know I am called to end multiple injustices. However, the current injustice I'm called to fight are the Dalits in India. It's an overwhelming but fulfilling feeling knowing God is going to use me to help change this world. It will be hard, I will break down, and I will feel weak, but I serve an almighty God. He serves me and I am called to serve him. He loves me, and I am called to show and share that love in this vast world.

Danielle

be still

Our lives are full of cramming and scheduling for school and work. Full of late nights filled with friends or of hard work. Of stress and of fun. A lack of sleep and a feeling of never having enough time. We all go through periods of time that are busier than others. That's right now for the two of us. There's work and practice and homework all while trying to maintain genuine relationships. I'm guessing you've been there too.

The easiest thing to do in these times is become overwhelmed and consumed by stress. To become taken over by the worry that this world so easily provides. We so often forget that our God is so much bigger than our lives and all that we have to get done, a list that seems to never end. It almost seems too easy to forget God's character of providing peace. We forget momentarily that He is the only one who is actually in control. 

Sometimes the hardest thing and the best thing are the same. In these situations the best thing is to be still. I have to remind myself daily to remember God, my Father. To sit and take a deep breath and rest in His presence and in who He is.

As much as I am saying this to you I am saying this to me: we have to be in His word, in Him. Remember that all of the deadlines and pressure will eventually end, but Jesus is eternal. He is what we either end with or don't. This is my trial daily. 

Rest in Abba. Take in His word. Be still. 
Psalm 46:10. "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth." 

No Voice

I see a young boy walking down a dirt road lined with mud and straw homes. He is walking home from getting dirty water from a well that exists only for his type of people. He rounds the corner as he does daily only to walk into an empty home with a murdered father and brother and a raped and killed mother and sister. He begins to weep. He runs to the closest home in his village to cry for help. There is nothing they can do. In the young boy's village this is a common encounter. An encounter that goes unnoticed by anyone who has a say. This boy is a Dalit in India. This boy has no voice.

There are 170 million Dalit peoples living today in India. The Dalit people are lower than the lowest caste in the Indian social system. They are outcasted. For all of India's history it has been this way. A people group who are given the lowest of jobs. Jobs that give them the title 'dirty' by their society. A people group who are made to smash the clay jar they drink out of because it is dirty now that they have touched it. Untouchable. Treated less than animals. Dirt poor. Without a voice to rise up and make a change. They are a broken society without enough strength to make a change. No voice.

As Americans it is hard to wrap our minds around something like this. It is way too easy to write it off as being something that only used to happen. We live in a world where comfort is expected and demanded. Where both men and women are free to go to school and can afford it. We all have rights that are respected by our government. Men and women alike have the right to a voice in our world. Whereas people not too far away, in the present day, don't even have the right to life. They have no voice in a world of people that do, but don't use it.

Our daily struggle is to find a way to help this cause. To make a change. Sometimes all we can do is pray as our hearts break for these precious human beings. We believe in a God who breaks chains and heals everything He touches. Right now that is all we can do to make a change for the Dalits in India. However, Dalit Freedom Network has already established an organization to help these people. They raise money to send Dalit boys and girls to school. Because the opportunity of school creates the opportunity for a better job, which creates the opportunity to not be deemed dirty, which creates the opportunity for a major and necessary societal shift.

So for those of us who get to have a voice, let's find it, and let's use it.

Danielle and Mary

About Us

Our names are Dani and Mary. Two high school kids who have been given by God passionate hearts for the injustices in this world. God has given us big hearts for a people group in India called the Dalits.These big hearts have turned into a big passion to raise awareness for, and eventually be with, these people. This blog is our attempt to do just that.

The Dalits are human beings who make up over 16% of India's population. They have been completely rejected from the Indian caste system. Human beings who are dirt poor and considered untouchable, dirty, and less than animals. In 2015, yes.

We ask for your prayer and support in this fight against social injustice. Our prayer is that our hearts and yours would continue to break for these people, for what breaks God's. Jesus is our main purpose and the reason this passion ever sparked. As we sit here writing an 'About Us' post, all we can ultimately say is that our identity lies in Christ. It's that simple.