I have a row of bookmarks across the top of my internet browser window of sites that I check frequently throughout the day including my gmail, Flickr, CNN.com, and (you guessed it) Facebook. I feel quite connected with the rest of the world when I'm able to catch up on things this way. Especially since we live on the West coast of the Great White North, I feel disconnected to my friends and family back home, so I count heavily on Facebook and CNN.com to keep me up-to-date with the latest headlines.

Last night I was checking out CNN.com and saw this headline:

A 10-Year-Old Divorcée Takes Paris

How could I not click the link and try to understand what this very odd title is referring to?

It's about a little girl named Nujood Ali from Yemen who was, until recently, the youngest known divorced person on this planet. My heart broke as I continued to read her story written up in this TIME magazine article. It goes on to explain her escape from a marriage to a man three times her age who beat and raped her every night. Her bravery has opened doors to matrimonial prisons similar to hers and our eyes to a world that has previously been kept under shrouds and sand.

I feel like God has been opening my eyes to this culture. In the last little bit I read The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Blink by Ted Dekker, and watched Kingdom of Heaven, all taking place in the middle east at various times in history. That area of the world has such rich, deep history steeped in traditions and rituals. I'm overwhelmed at the thought that everything I believe as Truth comes from a Man who belongs in that culture.

Salaam `alaykum, Nujood.