This month, we highlight the contributions women have made to the world. Women have been persistent world changers in history, culture, and society. Women have fought for their rights and the rights of others, helped to hold congregations together, worked in the background so movements could continue, and have helped the world by being on the front lines to end racial segregation. Women of various ages throughout history have been the epitome of strength while facing personal life battles simultaneously. Women’s History Month could be much longer than one month due to the significant contributions that women have made and continue to make in the past and today. Here are three reasons it could be way longer than one month!
Women exhibit quiet strength.
Denise Borgoyn suggests that quiet strength can be characterized as unwavering resilience,
boundless empathy, abundant kindness, and persistent optimism. This definition paints a picture of the strength evident in many women. Quiet strength is seen in Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental activist who founded the Green Belt Movement. She campaigned for women’s rights, environmental conversation, and planting trees. She became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for contributing to sustainable development and peace. Quiet strength is also noticed in Bessie Coleman, who fought racial discrimination against institutions that desired to prevent her entry into American Flying Schools. Coleman became the first American woman to obtain an international pilot's license and excelled in stunt flying. She was so awesome at stunt flying that many desired to see her fly, but her quiet strength remained firm because she would not fly in front of segregated audiences, and through these efforts, she was able to raise funds to open a school to train black aviators. Quiet strength changed history! The quiet strength of many women helped to change many lives.
Women are Prayerful Powerhouses
A powerhouse is one with great drive, energy, or ability. Women have proven to be prayerful
powerhouses that provide love and resilience in many ways. Working many times to exhaustion, many women are not only powerhouses themselves but also powerhouses who know how to pray. Corrie Ten Boom once said that "what wings are to a bird and sails to a ship are the same as prayer to the soul." These prayerful powerhouses have prayed to protect families, for harmony in the world, for deeper relationships with God, and for resources or meals to feed their families and those in severe need. Prayer has been a helpful spiritual discipline and a coping mechanism that women have practiced throughout some of life’s biggest challenges and turbulent seasons of chaos. Many women value prayer and realize they are not a powerhouse without prayer. Women’s History Month is not long enough to speak about the resilient and persistent prayers of Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, and so many other phenomenal women who began their days with prayer and continued their days in prayer.
Women have desired unity when others did not.
Gwendolyn Simmons was a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee member and one of three women chosen to be a field director for the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project. Although Simmons desired unity among her colleagues and unity in fighting for the civil rights of all, she says, “I often had to struggle around issues related to a woman
being a project director. We had to fight for the resources, you know. We had to fight to get a good car because the guys would get first dibs on everything, and that wasn’t fair…it was a
struggle to be taken seriously by the leadership and your male colleagues.” Women
have desired unity throughout history and have exhibited courage and resilience to move the needle toward unity. During each important era of history, women were involved in various ways. Women have made an impact, from marching and making signs or stepping up during wars to caring for the home and those in it. And today, women are still just as involved in the progress being made worldwide while caring with empathy and loving without restrictions.
If we were to recount all the greatness of women past and present, believe me, it would take much longer than a month. To every woman that I know and every woman in creation, you are appreciated. Our world would not be the same without you! Please know you are appreciated for your quiet strength, prayers, and desire for unity.
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