This is the poem I shared last weekend during my event Words with Women, inspired by all the women I know and love in order to encourage each other in the spirit of sisterhood! 💚🌱🌿

“A Word to Women”

Our brokenness seeped into this world through the question of a serpent, who
Caused Eve to doubt the Truth her
Maker spoke over her:
“Did God really say…?”
Since then, we’ve been doubting, we’ve become
Uncertain about who we are, who God called us to be.
Without hesitation, we accept the lies that
Our society convinces us of, that
Just because we don’t look a particular way or
Live our lives the same as some,
We are smaller than others, we
Start to believe that we lack the capacity for
Greatness instead of realizing
It has been placed within us this whole time.
So, just like God asked Adam and Eve how they knew they were naked in the Garden of Eden,
I now ask you, Oh Woman:

Who told you that you were insignificant?
That anything you said or did was irrelevant, or that
Any effort you put forth was inadequate, who
Made you feel like that, luvvy?
The Truth is: who you are, what you say, and what you do are perfect and unique to you,
Every inch of who you are matters.

Who told you your dreams were too big, who
Tried to shatter your vision by
Downplaying the ideas you constructed over the years, the ones you’ve longed to play out, to see through to the end?
These voices are threatened that such brilliance can come from a woman.

Who told you that once you broke after bending so much that there was no hope for you to
Ascend?
Honey, there is no hole too deep where Grace cannot find you, and there is
No place so dark that the Light cannot shine through.
Talitha cumi — Young girl, ARISE.

Please, tell me…
Who told you that the weight of your worth rests in the hands of a man’s opinions, or even
The comparisons you make between yourself and all those Instagrams? Who told you that?
Who told you that the woman you sit next to, the woman you walk past, or the women you follow on social media are your competition?
They are your sisters, but every marketing campaign relies on you taking a
Pair of scissors to this big picture, they say that
Your success depends on their failures so you
Can’t support, can’t compliment, can’t roll in the same groups because
They’ll take all the fame from you, and leave you in the dust.
But, oh women, I’m telling you — we need to stop giving power to pettiness, and start
Learning how to purposefully praise one another, and our hustles and grinds.

Who told you to keep quiet? Who said that
Your silence was more powerful than your voice when the words you speak can do more than just break the glass ceilings, but they
Create waves, they
Echo in the ears of other women who have been where you’ve been, and who
Need that encouragement —
That “me too,” that “yes, sis!”, that leads to one woman asking, “So what are we gonna DO about this?”

The serpent questioned Perfection in Eden, and now we
Doubt the perfection in us.
We look in the mirror sometimes, and can’t dispel the lies we tell ourselves, and that others have uttered and yelled to put us under.
But we cannot begin to change until we
Turn around and question the doubts,
Cease the self-sabotage,
Suffocate the hate of other women, and
Embrace one another for there is
Solidarity in true sisterhood.

We may not get it right every time, but we can continue to try to be mindful of each other, our situations, and not let the
Frustrations of being a woman hinder us from truly
Being a light and letting our fellow sisters shine along with us.

For there is room for all of us here.

#MishyWrites 🦋💚