Perfect stranger
Isn’t it amazing how strong a woman really is? We go through so much, we carry so much baggage and so much pain. Yet when people see us, they see a woman covered by the grace of God. We shine so brightly through the pain, that from the outside looking in, you would believe there was no pain at all. All you see is the beauty that we possess. Sometimes, we as women, forget how powerful and strong we truly are. When God created us, he took us from an area that is strong enough to protect man's heart, his ribs. Now, do you know how much pressure it takes to break a rib and remove it? Think about it... That alone should tell you how strong you are. We were created to carry another life within us! So, what makes you think that we cannot bear the pain that life throws at us?!

Being a strong woman is not always a beautiful and glamourous thing. We are not always showing ourselves at our best; sometimes we are so broken, so full of pain that that's all we can wear, that's all we're showing. As much as we wear that pain, there are people out there that only see the beauty and the strength within us.

You may find yourself out one day, going through the motions of daily life, internalizing what you are dealing with. Not feeling your best, going through whatever, it is that you may be dealing with. When out of the blue, a stranger will strike up a conversation with you. They may engage you in a way that makes you feel positive or strengthened for that brief moment and suddenly the burden or pain you were dealing with retreats. They begin to speak life into you and as they speak, you feel encouraged. Feeling full of life, happy, and forgetting all that was previously running through your mind.

I have had many moments where I thought I was just not up to par and was feeling blah. Then, out of nowhere, someone standing next to me in the grocery line (that I've never met before) just started speaking to me. She would then compliment me on something so small, like my eyelashes, lol. Then looking at my girls she said, “They are beautiful and so well behaved” (If she could see how they behave at home :o). Reflecting on that moment, I didn't feel blah or weak. At that moment, I felt happy, I laughed and forgot all that I was thinking or feeling. At that moment she reminded me of who I truly am! A strong mother! At that moment she saw a beautiful woman that she wanted to speak to. ME! Even when I felt overworked, bared down with stress, not feeling good, or looking good at that...
At that moment there was someone who didn’t look at me as the woman I saw myself as. She saw a woman worth speaking to, a woman worth taking time out of her day to engage with. At that moment I was beautiful and strong! At that moment I was unaware of my shining beauty.

Sometimes, it takes the smallest moments in life, like that for you/I, to get us out of our heads or our feelings to see who we truly are! We must just remember, no matter how we may be feeling, no matter what we may be going through, if we continue to push forward, there will always be someone out there that see's the beauty and the strength that we possess and, in those moments, we will be reminded of how strong we really are!
Sometimes all it takes is the perfect stranger to speak life into you, at the right time. So for that moment, you will have a different view of who you truly are!
Be blessed pearl