Heroes do extraordinary things. What I did was not an extraordinary thing. It was normal.I wish I could not spend one more second of my existence thinking about what I look like or comparing what I have to others or worrying about trivial things. I never want to think about my weight or marriage or money ever again. I wish... But I live in 2015 America and whether I like it or not these pressures will continue to try and push their way into my focus. So, I've been asking God to renew my mind and transform the way that I view life altogether. And He has. Lately He's got me thinking about the qualities of women who have made their lives count. I've thought about a few women in my life whom I admire and respect. I've talked with some of my closest female besties about what it means to take our minds off of ourselves and what it would take to wholeheartedly commit to being difference makers. What I've discovered is that there are some defining qualities that my woman heroes have and that I want to develop. I already see glimpses of these qualities in the women I love in my life already, but I want these hero qualities to utterly define my life and outshine everything else. I want to focus on them and develop them and become an expert in them. The woman heroes of history that I respect the most had qualities that led them to radically change lives and change history. Their legacies continue to challenge our lives today because they not only endured through life's hardships, they conquered them.
-Irena Sendler-
My Woman Hero Dream Team is defined by certain glorious traits:
Self-sacrifice = giving up their money, time, health, marriage, things all for the sake of othersPro-innocence = fiercely guarding life in all forms: innocent slaves, children, poor and needy
God-focus = keeping their focus on the creator and protector of all, giving them a greater reason to fight and not relying on their human abilities to accomplish it all
No respecter of persons = refusing to discriminate when it came to rescuing the enslaved, bringing resources to all those in need, and not valuing one life over another
As you read about these women for the first time, (or are refreshed by their stories again) keep in mind these life defining qualities and focus on how you can develop them in your life.
Alias: Harriet Tubman "Moses"
"There was one of two things I had a right to-liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other." Born a slave, Harriet traveled 90 miles by foot to her freedom. Estimates say it took her between 5 days and 3 weeks to do it. When she finally crossed the line into Pennsylvania she said "I looked at my hand to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven."
Why Harriet is my hero - After she crossed into freedom she thought about her family "I was a stranger in a strange land...I was free and dey should be free also. I would make a home for dem in the North, and de Lord helping me, I would bring dem all here" So, Harriett went back Even after Harriet returned to rescue her husband, he rejected her-choosing to stay enslaved and married to another woman. He would later die there. Harriet went on to lead approximately19 more trips on the Underground Railroad and led 300 slaves to freedom. Despite brain injury, persecution, threats to her life, and extreme danger, she remained completely focused on freedom.
Alias: Irena Sendler "Jolanta"
Irena was a young Polish Christian during the Holocaust who helped smuggle thousands of vulnerable Jewish children out of the ghetto. Working with her close friend, Ewa and the Zegota Resistance, she created a directory of names of children that she rescued along with fake names to hide their identities from the Nazis. She kept their real identities and locations in jars that she buried under a tree. Rescuing the children was also difficult because many parents were scared that their Jewish children would be later raised as Christian converts. Irena promised to maintain their Jewish heritage.
Why Irena is my hero - She refused to give up the identities of the children or any info about the rescues while she was brutally tortured. The Gestapo broke her feet and legs and decided to execute her. At the last moment, she was released because of a bribe of one of the Nazis keeping her imprisoned. Because most of the parents were executed in the Treblina death camp, Irena made sure that the orphans were relocated to Israel where they could be raised with their true Jewish heritage. Irena honored her own Savior, Jesus, by leading 2,500 Jews to safety. The beautiful thing is that she saw herself as doing something just ordinary, normal....Irena was just doing what Jesus had done for her.
Alias: Mother Teresa "Saint of the Gutters"
At the age of 18, Agnes decided to dedicate her life as a nun to God. In 1946, she felt a second calling to work with the poorest of the poor. Once in Calcutta, she began her work to care for the dying and the destitute. She formed the Missionaries of Charity- an army dedicated to loving India's poorest. She built clinics, schools, and homes for the dying.
Why Teresa is my hero - She saw every person she cared for as the sick, abandoned, and dying Christ. She constantly put off attempts to honor her name and efforts by pointing success and glory back to God. She worked with those of different faiths, political backgrounds, and economic status all for the sake of peace. She lived in constant humility. When others complained by saying "You are spoiling the poor by giving everything to them." she responded, "Nobody has spoiled us more than God himself." Mother Teresa reminded the world that there was no obstacle powerful enough to overcome Christ's love for human life.
Jesus says "follow me because this is the way I will lead you to a life that goes way beyond anything you could have ever imagined." John 6:66-69These women took Jesus' words and promises as life or death. They lived because He lived in them. For them, human life was incredibly precious.Risking their lives, and disregarding their comforts, was a necessary sacrifice. Their legacies are powerful reminders that we have the power to radically love others because Jesus first radically loved us.
http://www.historynet.com/mother-teresa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler
http://www.irenasendler.org/facts-about-irena/
https://keirsey.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/irena-quote-ordinary2.jpg
http://swarajyamag.com/politics/recall-bhopal-tragedy-to-know-real-teresa/
http://blog.africaimports.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/harriet-tubman_s640x780.jpg
Bradford, Sarah H. Harriet, the Moses of Her People. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina, 2012. Print.
Bradford, Sarah H. Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Auburn [N.Y.: W.J. Moses, Printer, 1869. Print.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html
Chawla, Navin. Mother Teresa. Rockport, Mass.: Element, 1996. Print.
