Unchosen, But Unstoppable: A Love Letter in Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month always arrives for me with a mixture of celebration and ache; the sweetness of gratitude and the quiet sorrow of remembrance.

This year especially, I feel both.

Because when I celebrate women, I inevitably think of my mother.

Her stewardship of her day shaped the way I see strength, tenderness, courage, and faith. She carried responsibilities I did not fully understand as a child, the emotional labor, quiet sacrifices, the burden of love that gives even when it is tired. And yet, somehow, she did it with grace.

Looking back, I realize that my mother was part of that vast, sacred company of women who lived what my sermon series has been trying to articulate:

Unchosen, but unstoppable.

She was not always the one society would have selected. But she was the one God used to shape lives, cultivate dignity, and pass down a moral imagination that refuses to quit.

And because of women like her, generations stand taller.

Women Who Shape the Future

When I look at my daughters; Kiyonna, Kacy, Destiny, and Larryn, I see the continuation of that legacy.

Each of them carries something of their grandmother’s spirit: resilience, intelligence, compassion, and courage.

And I cannot celebrate them without honoring the incredible women who mother them and cultivate excellence in their lives. Their mothers have poured patience, discipline, creativity, and fierce love into shaping who they are becoming.

Motherhood is one of the most underestimated acts of leadership in the world.

Every bedtime conversation, every correction, every affirmation, every moment of prayer over a child’s future is an act of civilization building.

The women who nurture children are not merely raising families.

They are shaping the moral architecture of the next generation.

Women on the Margins

My recent preaching series, “Unchosen, But Unstoppable” has been a meditation on the sacred paradox of scripture: God consistently chooses people whom society overlooks.

In the Bible, women appear again and again in spaces where the odds were stacked against them.

Rahab lived in the margins of Jericho, her home literally built into the city wall, yet her faith placed her in the lineage of Christ.

Ruth was an immigrant widow gleaning in a foreign field, yet her loyalty positioned her within the story of redemption.

Mary carried divine promise in a body that the world could easily have dismissed.

And when we look beyond scripture into the early centuries of the church, we encounter women like Perpetua and Felicitas.

Perpetua, a young noblewoman in Carthage, refused to renounce her faith even when pressured by her own father. Her prison writings became one of the earliest martyr accounts in Christian history.

Felicitas, her companion in suffering, was pregnant at the time of her arrest. She gave birth shortly before facing martyrdom, remaining steadfast in her faith.

Their courage reminds us that the church was not only built by apostles and bishops; it was sustained by women whose convictions were stronger than fear.

These women lived on the edges of empire, yet they stood at the center of faith.

They were unchosen by power structures, but unstoppable in spirit.

A Word to Black Women

As a man who has lived long enough to witness both the beauty and the brutality of history, I feel compelled to say something directly to Black women.

I see you.

I see the married women holding families together with love and wisdom.

I see the single women building lives of purpose and independence with courage.

I see the head-of-household women carrying the weight of entire generations with resilience that often goes unacknowledged.

Black women have always been civilization builders.

From enslaved mothers who taught faith in whispers to daughters who would one day march for justice…

To church mothers who prayed communities through hardship…

To educators, entrepreneurs, caregivers, activists, and leaders who continue to shape this nation.

Black women have carried a paradox that mirrors the theme of this reflection:

Often overlooked, yet deeply indispensable.

Often underestimated, yet undeniably unstoppable.

Love, Honor, and Reverence

This month I simply want to say what should be said more often.

To every woman who has lived and thrived in the margins…

To every woman who has been told she was not enough…

To every woman who has endured heartbreak, disappointment, or invisibility…

Your strength is not unnoticed.

Your presence is not accidental.

Your life is not small.

The world has been shaped by the quiet, persistent courage of women who refused to disappear.

And so I celebrate you.

I celebrate your intellect.

I celebrate your tenderness.

I celebrate your audacity to keep loving in a world that sometimes forgets how sacred you are.

A Legacy That Rises

When I remember my mother, honor my daughters, and acknowledge the countless women whose stories often remain untold, I am reminded of something profound:

History does not move forward because of power alone.

History moves forward because of people who refuse to surrender hope.

Women have always been among those people.

And so in this Women’s History Month, I offer gratitude, reverence, and love to all women, especially those whose lives prove what my sermon series declares:

You may have been unchosen by the world…

But you are unstoppable in the purposes of God.

“Kissed by the sun…

Covered by grace…

Chosen by God…

Unstoppable by faith!”

And in the spirit of the great Maya Angelou, I close with words that echo the testimony of women across generations:

Still I rise.

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Let’s build with intention—grounded, consistent, and connected.

-Matthew L. Brown