My American Heritage Girls Journey

So I have been promising this post for some time now and I finally was able to put into words what has been going on in my heart for over a year. Here is my story:

About a year ago I began reading Dr. Dobson’s “Bringing Up Girls.” This book made a huge impact on the way I view this God-given job I have of raising our Allie. The book spoke of the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of young girls. As I read this book, two things continued to creep in my mind. 1) I am completely ill-equipped to succeed at this job alone, however praise God that I don’t have to make the journey without Him and John. 2) My heart broke as I thought of all the young girls whose mommies and daddies were truly alone in this journey without God steering the ship. I prayed constantly that I would be able to raise Allie to be a God-fearing woman of great integrity. That task seems so tall that without acknowledging God’s guidance, I could easily be overwhelmed. I thought about the little girls who were growing up without both parents to guide and teach them the importance lessons of life. My heart was saddened as I thought about the little girls who would grow up without knowing that there was a God of the universe who loved them just the way they were. I grieved for the little girls who, without intervention, would go throughout life not knowing what Jesus did for them and without ever coming to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Though I was challenged greatly regarding how Allie needed to be raised, I was more challenged regarding what I could do about the other girls. The girls who don’t attend church on a regular basis, who don’t have people telling them about God’s love, the ones who don’t have their mommy and daddy there to teach them manners and how to act like a lady.

                You see, God had been preparing me for a long time for this book and the message that it would speak to my heart. I was one of the lucky girls. I grew up with the confidence that people around me loved me just the way I was. I grew up knowing that I was a child of God and that He had a plan and a design for my life. I grew up with a Daddy who told me daily how much he loved me. I now know that Daddies are God’s way of showing you His love in a tangible way. Daddies are a huge part of God’s plan for little girls. This I believe with all of my heart! So because I was so fortunate, it would anger and confuse me when girls that I was friends with would act in ways that seemed so yucky to me. I would get so hurt and disappointed when one of my girl friends would give into peer pressure and behave in worldly ways. I was simply ill-equipped to handle that disappointment and would normally choose to sever the friendship. I have prayed to God many times and asked for forgiveness for the missed opportunities to witness and to show them the love that I was so blessed to know. The realization that these were not “bad” people, but opportunities that God was placing in my path to share Him with them, only came with maturity in my faith. With these realizations, God was preparing me for more…

                Fast forward several years to a time when I am married and raising a little girl who I love with all my heart. I still remember those girls when I look in my Allie’s face and I am desperate to raise her so that she would be strong and confident and not succumb to the pressures of this world. Then along came Dr. James Dobson and a church that God is using to radically transform my family. As I read through Dr. Dobson’s book, I would see the faces of my former friends and I suddenly recognized the hurt and the desperation in their faces. They weren’t “bad” people; they were people with God-sized holes in their heart. They were waiting for someone who knew the secret to share with them. I began to pray not only for my sweet Allie, but for the girls who she will grow up with. I must be honest that there was a time when my motives were more selfish than they are today. There was a time when I saw this ministry as a way to protect my own little girl. By making sure that she was surrounded by God-fearing friends. But through the course of a year, God has transformed my desire beyond that which would affect my family. God has spoken to me with such clarity that I cannot mistake His purpose and plan. Dr. Dobson introduced a program called American Heritage Girls towards the end of his book. I began researching this program and with every piece of information I found, I felt God’s hand a little more strongly. I am convinced more than ever before, that God has been preparing me for such a time as this to begin an American Heritage Girls Troop in Central Arkansas.

                I prayed about God’s plan for a while before ever taking any action. My mind tells me that my life is way too busy for this to be successful right now. My heart tells me that that is exactly why NOW is when God wants me to begin this journey. I have strong spiritual gifts in organizing and planning. If this happened in a time where my life was not so busy, I might be tempted to consider this Ashley’s project. But by His grand design, I can say that without Him this desire will die on the vine. This is the time that God has called me to this ministry because any success that this ministry has will be straight from the Creator’s hands!

So what is American Heritage Girls? That answer comes straight from The AHG Oath:

“I promise to Love God, Cherish my family, Honor my country, and Serve in my community.”

                The ideas of Love, Cherish, Honor, and Serve are central to AHG. Through the scouting-based program, AHG teaches young girls:

·         Life Skill Enhancement: through multi-level badge program

·         Girl Leadership: through multiple opportunities at all levels of the program

·         Developing Teamwork & Building Confidence: through varied outdoor experiences

·         Character Development: through community service and citizenship programs

·         Social Development: through organized special events

·         Spiritual Development: through Biblically-based programming and religious recognition programs

“This sounds a lot like Girl Scouts?” You might say… That is true, it is a scouting program, however, unlike Girl Scouts, American Heritage Girls:

·         Is affiliated and funded through churches, thus eliminating the ability of the government and state to dictate what is taught.

o   Did you know? The Girl Scouts are not allowed to reference God

·         Because they are funded through a church, they are not forced to accept support from agencies such as Planned Parenthood

o   Did you know? The Girl Scouts are affiliated with Planned Parenthood and the girls receive badges for volunteering for Planned Parenthood functions

·         Encourages strong leadership and involvement by men. They value the influence that men, especially Dads have on the self-esteem and morals of little girls. They also see the involvement of Godly men as a way of showing young girls, who may not otherwise have male role models, the Godly design of the male leader in marriage.

o   Did you know? The Girl Scouts have a “No Boys Allowed” motto that chooses to involve Lesbians as leaders rather than allow men to serve as role models for how God intended men to lead the family.

·         Performs background checks on every single volunteer and leader in their programs

o   Girl Scouts relies on volunteers from the community without implementing a safety net for the evil in our world.

·         Allows the leaders and the church to determine the specific content that is taught to the young girls. As long as it follows the mission statement and the values of the Program. This means that each group and make their program reflect their church’s beliefs and values (i.e Abstinence, Southern Etiquette, etc)

o   Girl Scouts provides pre-determined content to be taught without input from the leader’s of the individual groups

This Tuesday, I will be presenting this ministry to the ladies of my Sunday School class. From there I will be hold several interest meetings and God-willing will be applying for Charter Status this summer. I am asking that you would pray for this ministry, that God would use this ministry to change the lives of young girls in my community. I pray that the ministry would be successful and that God would be glorified. I am going to leave you with a quote used in the book that has become my battle cry, if you will, for what the goal of this Troop truly is:

               "From all that I have read of History of Government, of human life, and manners, I have drawn this conclusion, that the manners of women are the most infallible Barometer, to ascertain the degree of Morality  and Virtue in a Nation...... The foundation of the national Morality must be laid in private families. In vain are Schools, Academies and Universities instituted if loose principles and licentious habits are impressed upon children in their earliest years. The Mothers are the earliest and most important instructors of youth" President John Adams.

       You see this passion and vision goes way beyond my sweet little Allie Cameron. My prayer is that my community, my country, and my world would be changed by the interest that this program takes in the moral and character development of young girls.