For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift…. — Ephesians 2:8

October has one of my favorite holidays. It’s one that many have not heard of. Lots of people hear about Halloween - but, typically the Lutherans, celebrate this other holiday. Halloween also happens to be Reformation Day!

For those who don’t know, Reformation Day is the day that Martin Luther nailed the “95 Theses” to a Catholic Church door. During this time, much of the church was following Catholicism and practices that said you could earn forgiveness and salvation. Martin Luther’s theses explained that the Bible was the ultimate authority and only Jesus could forgive sins.  This started the Protestant Reformation and helped spark a new day for the church in history.

In addition to this, Martin Luther sparked another large controversy - marriage. The Catholic Church did not allow their priests or nuns - those who understood Jesus the most to get married. Luther felt many had been forced into a lifelong vocation of singleness unnecessarily. He ended up orchestrating monks & nuns getting married to one another - including Martin himself marrying a nun named Katharine von Bora. All of these things came from one man’s act of courage and then a lifelong partnership with a woman who stood in defiance of wrong religious traditions as well.

Speaking of women who stood in courage and against wrong religious traditions. Let us be in prayer for the women of Iran. They face a similar battle. One brave woman reportedly died at the hands of the Iranian government for not wearing a hijab (headcovering). This sparked outrage across the nation with the internet being turned off for the country and women everywhere cutting their hair and burning their hijabs. All of these rules had been created because of the Islamic traditions and is called Sharia Law (see link to learn about some of the laws). These women continue to stand for religious freedom and lose their rights.

I, Alycia, live here in the United States and am grateful to live in a place where I can look to God alone for how I dress & what I do as a woman. I’m grateful to live in a country where I can express my beliefs without being censored. Grateful that we can work together here at Tirzah to share our faith and fight for other women. Are you willing to give your life up for Jesus? Take a stand together with your spouse to bring traditional marriage back into the forefront? Burn idols that say we can do anything to earn salvation? That may not be your story, but are you willing to be faithful to the call that God has for you?