Women. Powerful women.
My whole life I have known powerful and amazing women.
In my growing up years I encountered many different types of women. Broken women, ashamed women, bruised women, forgotten women, fearful women, joyful women, grateful women...in these women I saw power, strength, and kick butt beauty.
As an adult I have experienced even different types of women. Some hard, some cold, some warm, some fuzzy, some dry, some calloused, some tender, some rich, some poor...in these women I saw power, strength, and some for real kick butt beauty.
Let me tell you the story of one woman I met on my trip this July.
This young woman was ninety years old. She lived in a 12 x 12 mud floor shack in a extremely impoverished slum in Nairobi. Believe it or not she provides for ten other young family members in this small home...with a smile on her face. She considers it a divine privilege to wake up every morning, walk to a nearby dump, clean out dirty bags, walk miles to the market to sell them, and return home only to repeat the process day after day after day.
What would my response be to having these circumstances? Would I smile and thank God for the blessings? Would I work diligently to provide even though I am older and less able?
I would like to think I would, but in this pretty little American world I have been immersed in I just don't know that I have the resiliency.
This woman, like all of the others I have met there, demonstrates a strength, resiliency, and courage that is unlike anything I have seen. So what is missing for us?
I think I may know one possible answer. Dependency on God.
When was the last time you were utterly dependent on Him? That if He didn't get you through this next minute everything was going to crack and fall apart into a million little pieces?
I don't know about for you, but for me that is not an easy question to answer. We live in a society that pushes us to be strong, independent women who take the world by storm without ever needing help to create the storm. Bear with me here in the idea that maybe we would create a typhoon for this world if we let go of our independence and relied on dependence to God.
So I challenge us. All of us. The broken, the joyful, the warm, the calloused, the rich, the poor. I challenge us to shake loose our posture of "I've got this" and become prostrate before the one who's really "got this".
In my growing up years I encountered many different types of women. Broken women, ashamed women, bruised women, forgotten women, fearful women, joyful women, grateful women...in these women I saw power, strength, and kick butt beauty.
As an adult I have experienced even different types of women. Some hard, some cold, some warm, some fuzzy, some dry, some calloused, some tender, some rich, some poor...in these women I saw power, strength, and some for real kick butt beauty.
Two years ago I met Kenyan women.
Kenyan women have power, strength, and kick some booty beauty.
Every trip I go on I meet countless women and hear their stories. I hear them tell of the brokenness, the bruises, the fear. I see in them the cold, the warm, the calloused, the tender.
Let me tell you the story of one woman I met on my trip this July.
This young woman was ninety years old. She lived in a 12 x 12 mud floor shack in a extremely impoverished slum in Nairobi. Believe it or not she provides for ten other young family members in this small home...with a smile on her face. She considers it a divine privilege to wake up every morning, walk to a nearby dump, clean out dirty bags, walk miles to the market to sell them, and return home only to repeat the process day after day after day.
I would like to think I would, but in this pretty little American world I have been immersed in I just don't know that I have the resiliency.
This woman, like all of the others I have met there, demonstrates a strength, resiliency, and courage that is unlike anything I have seen. So what is missing for us?
I think I may know one possible answer. Dependency on God.
When was the last time you were utterly dependent on Him? That if He didn't get you through this next minute everything was going to crack and fall apart into a million little pieces?
I don't know about for you, but for me that is not an easy question to answer. We live in a society that pushes us to be strong, independent women who take the world by storm without ever needing help to create the storm. Bear with me here in the idea that maybe we would create a typhoon for this world if we let go of our independence and relied on dependence to God.
So I challenge us. All of us. The broken, the joyful, the warm, the calloused, the rich, the poor. I challenge us to shake loose our posture of "I've got this" and become prostrate before the one who's really "got this".
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