By Samantha McKenzie

Women who hope are all around us.

Our world is filled with beautiful, inspiring, and powerful women who embrace each day with renewed hope. They are next to us in the church pews, in the adjacent cubicle at work, in grocery lines and even in our living rooms.

They are everywhere.

They yearn on our behalf and work tirelessly for a better tomorrow. Some hope through their silence and others scream it aloud. We see them every day transforming their hope into action.

They open small businesses. They protest on picket lines.

They teach their children. They swing the gavel in court rooms.

They protect our communities with badges. They sit on PTA boards.

They work in factories. They teach in classrooms.

They organize the missionary work. They go back to college.

They work overtime. They plan programs to help the less fortunate.

They survive cancer and walk/run 5ks to raise awareness.

They raise their grandchildren. They still give birth.

They stay up late, get up early, gain weight, lose weight, have sore feet, get wrinkled hands, talk a lot, suffer in silence, laugh shamelessly, cry often, but pray even more.

These terrific souls believe in the greatness within us all.

You can’t stop them. They are too powerful. They hold the entire twisted world together because they can. And will.

To all those hopeful women around the globe, I say thank you and leave you with the battle cry of…ONWARD!