In years past, many cultures treated women the same as the children. They had the right to be seen and not heard. This sentiment still prevails in many places around the world.

Appalachian culture put the husband as the head of the house, the head of the clan, the head of business, and his family answered to him. Personally, I think there needs to be a strong, dependable, loving male presence at the head of the house. However, that in no way means the wife should be silent. I do not think families where the wife dominates, dictates, and tries to control the whole family works very well. The best marriages I’ve seen are the ones where husband and wife have mutual respect and work together for the sake of the marriage and the family and each is allowed their own voice.

Women have been silent for too long. There is a movement in this country for women to find their voice and use it. In Christian circles, women are using their voice to share their story and to give God praise for the love and strength He gives them in times of hardship and challenges.

About a year ago, the inspiration came to me to begin to gather women’s stories of faith, the difficulties they had been through and the ways in which God had intervened in their circumstances to bring them through. This was before I’d ever heard of the Deborah’s Voice movement. I am very proud of the women who have come forth to share in these books about their lives and victories. I’m proud of them for letting their voices, even written form, be heard. Four books have been published within a one-year time frame and anyone familiar with the publishing process will understand what an amazing thing this is. The fourth book in the Warrior Women Series is complete and available. Warrior Women, Victory on the Battlefront of the Mind is now available at JewelCraft in the Village Center Mall, on Amazon and Kindle.

This story gathering project came to life at the same time the Deborah’s Voice Movement came into being. This is a national call to Christian women to find their voice. “Awake, Arise, Advance.” The movement has spread from one woman, Diane Mullins, who felt called to the task of stirring the women of the United States to prayer and intercession for our nation. The path and process have been nothing short of miraculous.

Over a year’s worth of planning and preparation will bring women from across the nation together in Washington, D.C. at the end of September for a day of united prayer in the nation’s capital. Nationally known speakers and singers will fill the program during the day, but the emphasis will be on prayer. Penny Lee of Harvest Worship Center in Harlan, Kentucky, serves on the board for this movement and event and has been intimately involved in the process and progress of this movement. A portion of the movement is known as the Southeastern Kentucky Chapter of Deborah’s Voice.

The number of women who have committed to gather on the Mall in Washington, D.C. and turn their prayers heavenward on behalf of this nation number in the thousands and tens of thousands. At this time, an estimated total for the event is still changing as the day approaches.

Many women from Southeastern Kentucky will be present in the nation’s capital on that day, committed to prayer for women, children, families, the body of Christ, our president and elected officials and a cry for revival and the direction of the United States. I am excited and hope to be one among the thousands gathered there to make history and to take a stand.

I am one voice. Each of us is one voice. When we join those voices together, the power of our prayers is immeasurable. We may see immediate results, but I suspect the power of that one day of combined women’s voices will stretch far into the future and into the world.

Reach longtime Enterprise columnist Judith Victoria Hensley at judith99@bellsouth.net or on Facebook. Check out her blog: One Step Beyond the Door.