Today is International Women’s Day and it’s interesting to read so many different thoughts, opinions, suggestions, so I figure I’d join the crowd and chime in, being that I am a woman. (:
I thought of the many women who have changed history, so many I’ve read about who’ve been trend setters, matriarchs and today we are able to stand on their shoulders. As I went through my personal library of books about women, I chose to share a quote from a woman who lived 93 years, 30 of those in slavery, and spent her time as a free slave helping more than 300 slaves northward to freedom by risking her life. She helped during the war serving as a nurse, laundress, and spy. As if she hadn’t done enough, she then helped set up schools for freed slaves. An amazing woman who didn’t get to see the freedom we today enjoy, but definitely a matriarch, a trendsetter, a catalyst, a woman whose shoulders we today stand on.
The woman I am speaking of once said, “I always told God: I’m going to hold steady on to You, and You got to see me through… Just so long as He wants to use me, He’ll take care of me, and when He don’t want me any longer, I’m ready to go.” Harriet Tubman is the woman that today I celebrate. Her footprints are so difficult to fill, yet she leaves us with the inspiration and true meaning of what an amazing woman is.
There are many of us who celebrate today, but I choose to cherish what Harriet Tubman did for humanity. If she were here and had an opportunity to say, “I am WOMAN”, I’m sure she’d follow it not with a “hear me roar”, but instead a, “watch me serve, watch me sacrifice, watch me hold steady on to God and allow Him to lead me”.
So today, “I am WOMAN” and I want to be the woman who God uses in all I do. I want to hold steady and be confident that He will take care of me. I am His creation, and I will live a life worthy of Him, and celebrate my womanhood by living out my design with humility and passion. Happy International Day of Women, let’s embrace who God made us to be.
“Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades. The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God. Give her everything she deserves! Festoon her life with praises!”
Proverbs 31:30-31 (MSG)
