“Strong: (of a person’s character) showing determination, self-control, and good judgment.”
Synonyms- self-assertive, tough, strong-minded, determined
“Confidence: a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.”
A strong, confident woman…
There are different descriptions of “strong, confident” women.
- The sassy, strong personality who knows exactly what she wants and is considered the “dominant” one in her group. Can be labeled as the b-word but it is because she has a strong personality.
- Women who don’t care about what other people think and are confident in their own abilities and qualities.
- Women of great influence like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and certain celebrities. These women leaders are labeled as strong and confident
- Lioness, warrior, queen.
And seriously, the list goes on and on.
I’ll be completely honest, I would never use “strong” or “confident” to define me. Kind, compassionate, loyal, sacrificial… now these I’ve heard from others in how they would describe me.
However, as long as I could remember, I’ve always wanted to be strong and confident. But it always felt like there was this invisible wall between me and the “strong, confident woman” zone.
And all I could do was hope and dream that maybe one day,
I could be like those women.
I thought I just needed more years of experience. Live a little bit more and I will get there. Some people suggested I should just try be confident, try to be strong. Just do it. But it wan’t like learning a new sport or skill…
But in this season of becoming, the first thing that God brought to the table was this idea of what it means to be a strong, confident woman. And I remember the first thing I said to God in prayer was,
“I have no idea how to get there.”
A strong, confident woman. A strong, confident woman of God….
What does it mean?
What does it look like?
How is this obtained?
And no joke, I wrestled with God for a solid month on it.
Slowly but surely, God began to reveal his truth to me.
I AM Strong not because of who I am or what I can do.
In fact, I am a lot weaker and more broken than I am willing to admit.
But it is because of who is in me. For He is Strong when I am weak.
I AM Confident because I know who goes before me and leads me.
Who surrounds me and stands with me.
But the biggest revelation was:
These two traits were not something I would one day receive but they were always part of the original design and description of who God created me to be. He was just waiting for me to embrace it and own it.
And with that… finally…
I felt the invisible wall break.
Julia Anne Kim 