I'm becoming increasingly concerned at the term "strong woman" and how it is being largely used by women who have been hurt and are now obstinate, belligerent, combative, and vindictive as a result.
A real man NEVER has to say "I'm a man". Boys unsure of their manhood are the ones who feel they have to convince others that they are a man. There is no mistaking a real man. Everyone recognizes him when they see him.
Strong women NEVER have to say "I'm a strong woman". Everyone recognizes strength in a woman when they see her. Feminine strength is usually accompanied by grace, elegance and beauty.
A woman is like a rose. She has petals that are beautiful, delicate, soft and sweet. But a rose also has a thick stem with thorns. The stem represents the toughness she must have in order to stand against the challenges the world forces her to face. The thorns serve to protect her from men that try to pick her up quickly who don't know how to handle her properly.
Women who have been seriously hurt are the ones who proclaim to be strong. Their petals have fallen off and all they appear to have left are the thick stem and thorns. Tyler Perry said in the movie: Why Did I Get Married II, "It is hard to love a good woman who has had a bad man." It becomes difficult for good men, real men, to love the "strong woman" because she has been hurt. She puts up a "strong" thorny shield to prevent that hurt from happening again. She tries to move on from time to time and find love with other men. However, she is hurting and hurting people tend to hurt other people. Therefore, many hurting women become a "player", opt to do to others what have been done to them, and either consciously or subconsciously attempt to push their pain on to the next man.
GOD loves to protect his daughters so HE will make sure that she crosses paths with a good man, a real man, but the pain she is carrying will cause her to reject or mistreat him.
The only people that can be truly loved are those who are truly loveable. Carrying hurt and pain can make a woman who was once strong in spirit as well as elegant and lovely very ugly. It takes real strength for a woman to retain her internal beauty after she has been hurt emotionally.
A woman who has been hurt must forget the hurt and forgive those men who caused the pain. Otherwise, her lack of forgiveness and holding on to the pain will allow those guys to keep her in captivity. She must therefore forget the hurt, begin to live and and allow herself to be truly loved.
Now, here is the frustrating part that nobody has told her.
All of the men she picked who turned out to be 0's were part of life's tests to see if she was ready for the 1. Each time she selected a 0 it meant that she was not ready the 1. Each time a woman selects a 0 she, in reality, failed one of life's little tests. And each time one fails a life test they have to take a retest.
This is the "real" reason the average woman in this situation has been dealing with one 0 after another. So there is nothing wrong with her or her life as she may have come to believe. She simply lacked knowledge. No one ever told her that each time a woman feels that she is ready to receive the 1, she must first get past another 0. And she will have to continue getting past the test of 0's until she passes or proves that she is ready for the 1.
Once she has learned to recognize and reject the 0's, GOD will see that she receives the 1.
She will then no longer have to pretend to be strong as a means of protecting herself from the hurt. The love living inside of her that she freely shares with another will cleans her from the affects of hurt and strengthen her in mind, body and spirit.