Our Verse: 1 John 5:5 Who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Here are 3 stories of modern day girls who fought battles. God helped them “win the battle against the world”. Iqbal, Janette and Machmuda.

Iqbal lives in Serbia, near Greece. It's a place where ancient feuds don't die, they continue for many years. As a young girl, she was forbidden to walk on certain paths near her village. The people who traveled those paths were on the other side of a local feud involving her people. All of her people were under a terrible obligation called hak-marr-yah. This meant that when anyone in her family saw any member of the opposing family they were required to kill them! And... they were required to kill her! It sounds crazy, but that was the rule of the feud.

The time came when the young people of Iqbal's village realized it was ridiculous to continue the feud. Iqbal and others said “We can't continue doing this. This is not pleasing to God. We need to change this.” So while the older people continued hak-marr-yah, the blood feud, Iqbal and her friends made a plan. They decided to declare a day called Pie-ah-teem, roughly translated forgiveness and redemption. On a certain day in the mid 90's,they declared “Pie-ah-teem- A day of forgiveness”. Young and old agreed to bring their feud to an end. No longer would Iqbal walk some paths and avoid others fearing for her life. A new peace and security came to her village. Sometimes it takes one or more people to stand for what's right and publicly proclaim it. Iqbal stood up and won her battle, let's follow her example, both men and women!

Next time: Janette and the violin.