We recently experienced the joy that is March 8th, otherwise known as Internationals Women’s Day. On this day, we saw the world take a moment to champion women, to remind them how deeply valuable they are. It was a total joy-bomb of a day. It’s truly one of my favourite days of the whole entire year; being celebrated is a powerful thing, right?!
But since then, the news has been filled with women being torn down, bullied, disbelieved and dishonored. We’ve been painfully reminded once again that many women are unsafe, unseen and unvalued. It’s been a lot to take in. As girls, it may have made you feel emotionally triggered, noticeably scared, or even unusually angry. I know my mind has been a constant swirl of all three of those emotions recently.
So, as a way of trying to calm the raging feelings within me, I wrote a little letter to my scared heart. As I’ve been reading it over and over, I realised I had also written it for yours.
Dear my scared self,
I know that you’re dealing with a lot right now, I can see that there’s been a lot to take in.
The issues that women face aren’t new to you, you know the struggles well. It doesn’t make the reminders any less painful to see though, does it? I want you to know that it’s okay if you’re overwhelmed, it’s okay if you feel shaky, it’s okay to feel the heaviness of this moment.
You don’t know what to do with those feelings yet, and that is truly okay. You’re not alone in that.
In fact, you’re never alone in anything. You know that, right?
You know that there’s a God who is sitting in this feeling with you, right now. He’s feeling the heaviness too. This was never His dream for us, this was never His plan. His dream was that we would live in a world where we’re seen, we’re heard, we’re safe. Whenever that doesn’t happen, His heart breaks.
He made you strong, He made you with a voice, He made you bright. I know that the world doesn’t tell you that enough but make no mistake – He speaks it over you constantly. You have Him in your corner, you have him on your side.
Amongst the confusion and the fear, there are a few things that will never stop being a true, a few things that you need to remember:
Your voice does not have to be a whisper.
Your strength does not have to be a secret.
Your rights do not have to be an add-on.
Your safety does not have to be a luxury.
As women who know that we’re loved, as people who take after Jesus’ empowering example, we will shout on behalf of the ones who are silenced. We will point in the direction of the ones who are unseen. We will defend the ones who are unsafe. We will carry the ones who are feeling weary. We’ll cheer on the ones who are finding their strength.
Yes, there’s work to be done. We’ll do it in his name, and we’ll do it with each other.
But for right now, for this very moment, let this sink in, let this wrap itself around you, let this calm the stormy seas of that heart of yours:
You are deeply loved. You are dearly held.
