As Girls Become Daughters

I watched a program a while back that showed the devastation of a region that had perished under radioactive warfare. The schools, industrial structures, businesses, and homes had to be evacuated because radiation levels were too high to sustain life. Eventually, even nature would abandon its post; trees and greenery were stripped from their sources, dried stumps remained as vegetation simply disappeared, and animals went into exodus. All that was left were shelled-out structures and memories of what once was.?

This morning, as I spent time with the Lord, He likened the condition of this city to the condition of his daughters caught in the toxicity of the Rap industry. His eyes are on them and His heart beckoning them to choose better- mainly the way of salvation.?

The past few years the Lord has had me to watch the industry through award shows and different online media productions- I get through them enjoying some parts but cringing at most of it- praying through all of it. I can’t stomach how the industry insists on exploiting women. I’m watching women carry out contracts and positions the Lord never intended for their lives. Working out dark agreements concocted by the enemy to be paraded before millions as slaves of seduction and depravity; mere products of exploited minds themselves filled with depravity and greed. All under the guise of liberation.?

One interesting fact about the city destroyed by radioactivity was that there were a few families that couldn’t leave. A couple of families were too stubborn but the others simply had no other place to go. My heart took deep consideration of this fact concerning the women of rap. I remember an interview with a young girl who celebrated her come-up from having to strip to entering into the rap game. I couldn’t despise her journey, but I also couldn’t help from visioning her climbing out of a smoking fry pan into a boiling pot of grease… or, going from one exploitive to another exploitive. I’ve fumbled in the dark like this a few times myself.?

How favored can a whole region be as God seeks out and considers the ones who are trapped? The ones like me, fumbling in the dark that can’t tell one trap from another? I believe these cities could be very favored.

God’s daughters are being ravaged and raped by the culture. He sees every commitment being made but He also knows why she’s submitting to what’s beneath her. There’s grace for her. Back in the toxic city, everyone considered the land worthless and deemed the situation irreparable. God said differently. Favor showed up. Out of nowhere sprouts of greenery began to appear again and animals began to return to the city destroyed by radiation. Life returned and things started over.

As girls emerge into daughters- life returns. Hearts change and we abandon the roles of seduction that we’ve submitted to. Our eyes become uncovered and the traps laid before us begin to look like traps. We embrace our true sensuality and nature to protect and nurture ourselves. We remember that we aren’t hardened takers- looking to capitalize off of any door that’s opened to us. We discover that we are builders and contributors. We find our Avodah, our worship and service unto the Lord across work and life.?

Ezekiel 34:11

For thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.

Daughters are sought out. Daughters are restored. Daughters are rerouted to purpose, new songs emerge out of them; a new beautiful and valiant spirit bubbles up. Many daughters will lose their false passion to perform a rap as she discovers hidden gifts she’s never known they possessed. Others will sing and rap new songs that are fit for daughters of the Most-High God. Daughters occupy new space.?

I heard a woman of faith once say concerning her professional journey, “I finally became what God wanted me to be.” I believe that statement is so brave and powerful because true daughters don’t take that right away from their Father. They become what He wants them to be. This is a very hard thing to do in our culture. I don’t believe that most women in rap have ever been fathered, one fact that makes it almost impossible to believe this new daughter will actually be. Unfathered girls can be stubbornly set in their ways to achieve their own plans. “This is impossible with man, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26.

As the program about the toxic city shifted toward this new beginning it was given, I see it also happening for women in rap. Many are accused of romanticizing bondage, but truly it’s what the gospel message is all about. Being sought out, rescued, and set free to exist in your true self vs. the fabricated trendy characters or objects of commerce. New slavery, once our eyes are open, looks like old slavery. When girls become daughters, emancipation happens all over again.?

The first year I enrolled in college, I knew that I wanted to study religion but I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. At that point, I’d thrived in the hospitality industry and was immersed in the glitz and glamour of life. My desire didn’t seem to match my reality- logically. One day I attended a family gathering and one of the guests asked me what I planned to do with the degree I was pursuing, out of nowhere and so immediately I said, “I’m going to be an apologist.” I had never heard the word! The person asked, what does an apologist do? With confidence, I replied, “I’m going to defend the faith.” This was so bizarre I literally forgot about it- I never actively pursued it. Even now, every fact about my life wouldn’t place me in a traditional apologetics box. But my Father in Heaven keeps revealing and confirming that it’s an ability He put in me. The more I embrace being His daughter, the more I am my true self, and the more I walk as an apologist in all that I do.?

The ratchet mess I come from doesn’t limit God. He uses it all! He knows how to get glory out of the lives of His daughters. We just have to believe Him.?