Being a Woman is hard.  We have crazy amounts of hormones runing through our bodies, causing us to feel the strangest things, at the strangest times.  The stress of holding ourselves together while being a girlfriend, wife, friend, daughter, mom; is enough sometimes to overshadow the greatest acomplishments and dearest of moments.  We have to constantly defend our hearts and minds from the assault of societies unrelenting opinion of who we should be.  To top it off, the way we treat one another a toxic dance of unspoken motives, thought, and actions.  As I look around, it would seem each of us has one experience, at the very least, hurtful enough to burn its way into our permanent view of ourselves. 

I met a owman the other day who introduced herself and then went on to explain to me how her husband had left her and her children several years ago.  What a horribble assault on the soul, a rejection and betrayal like that is bound to leave a scar.  What really impacted me, was the nature in which it defined her.  It broke my heart.  Here was a wonderful mother, who struggled for years to provide for her family, yet this rejection had become the very essence of who she was.  As true as her name, she felt she was defined as being a victim of betrayal and the holder of pain.


When I saw her, I saw a beautiful, vibrant woman.  She was strong and courageous, and her heart as a mother was something I wish I could have.  Being a great mom came naturally and she  adored...I mean ...ADORED her children.  I just wonder, what did the Lord see? 
I know he saw her pain, I know he saw the moments of hurt, desporation and silent tears.  I know he saw the lies and breakdown, he saw the storm approaching and the aftermath.  He was there through the selfless sacrifice and moments of pure sorrow, but he also saw her strengths, the moments where she stepped up through the sorrow to do the right thing.  He created her from scratch, "knitted her together in her mother's womb" in fact.  He handpicked certain traits and infused them into her.  I bet his title for this woman was a title that held strength, honor and valor. 


We each have the propensity to label ourselves.  Whether it is "the unloved child"  "the victim" "the tough kid" "the slacker".  For years I focused on the sexual, physical and emotional abuse I had encountered in my life.  I was so used to being the victim, I walked into every situation in expectance of being hurt.  I embraced these labels and they imboddied who I was, even if that wasn't who I really wanted to be.  At the end of the day, I felt like a used up, worthless, shame filled rag.  We must not allow the pain others have caused us- to define who we are, we must rise above it. 

We must not succumb to the temptaion to focus on our status as a victim, but draw our strength from our true identities.  The person the Lord made us to be.  We must focus on the talents and stregths we naturally have in order to really find our purpose- our true "label" .  The Lord specifically gifted us with these abilites to help and encourage and lift up the lost and hurting world.  In embracing who we are in Christ , we are able to shed the shadow of despair and pain that keeps us from taking that next step into the ife we are meant to live.