Women of Faith: What Makes Us Strong?
- Gina Stockdall
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." - 2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV
What makes a woman strong? I have been thinking about that question a lot lately. Maybe it is because our August 2026 issue of Holy Calling Magazine is centered around Strong Women. Maybe it is because of the conversations we have been having on the Christian Authors with Marilyn Jeanne Designs podcast. Or maybe it is because I am slowly realizing that some of the things I once thought made me strong...actually just made me tired.
Because somewhere along the way, I think many of us learned that a strong woman is the woman who can handle everything. She takes care of her family, builds the business, serves the church, shows up for her friends, keeps the house running, answers the emails, chases the calling, and remembers approximately 4,372 things everyone else in the house has forgotten...and somehow manages to smile while doing it.
Is that actually strength? Or have we confused strength with self-sufficiency?
Strong Women Need God, Too
I love the words Paul shares in 2 Corinthians 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." That's such a different picture of strength than the one we are often given. We live in a culture that celebrates the woman who says, "I've got this."
But Scripture continually points us toward, "God's got me." Those aren't the same thing.
Biblical strength does not require pretending we are never tired. It does not mean we never ask for help. It doesn't mean our businesses always succeed, our ministries always grow, our families always cooperate, or our plans always work.
I am learning that one of the strongest things a woman of faith can sometimes say is, "Lord, I cannot do this without You." That's NOT weakness. That is dependence. And dependence on God is NOT something we should be trying to outgrow.
Strength Can Look Like Faithful Work
For some women, strength looks like building. Starting the business, writing the book, leading the ministry, taking the idea God has placed on her heart seriously enough to actually do something with it.
But even there, there is an important question: Who is driving what we are building?
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Krista Tressa for an episode of the Christian Authors with Marilyn Jeanne Designs Podcast about being a faith driven entrepreneur. And I think that is a conversation Christian business owners desperately need. Because it is easy to put "Christian" in our bio. It is another thing entirely to allow our faith to shape the way we actually operate.
How do we make decisions? How do we treat people? How do we define success? How do we respond when business isn't growing as quickly as we had hoped? What happens when obedience isn't the most profitable option? What happens when God's timing doesn't match the timeline we created?
Being a woman of faith in business isn't simply about building something successful and thanking God afterward. It is about allowing Him into the building process.
If you are an author, entrepreneur, ministry leader, or woman trying to figure out what faithful business ownership actually looks like, I think you will find something worth sitting with in this conversation.
Listen to Faith Driven Entrepreneur with Krista Tressa: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/christianauthorspodcast
Strength Can Look Like Gratitude
Strength does not always look like doing something big. Sometimes it looks remarkably ordinary. Sometimes strength is waking up in a difficult season and intentionally looking for evidence of God's goodness.
And I will be the first to admit...I am still learning this one.
In another recent podcast episode (a replay from our Books, Beauty & Business LIVE) I talked about the Daily Gratitude Journal.
But gratitude isn't interesting to me because I think Christian women should slap a "just be grateful!" sticker over everything difficult in their lives.
NOPE.
Life can be hard. I have walked through seasons where I could not see what God was doing. I have experienced loss. I have had plans fall apart. I have questioned myself. I have felt behind. I have looked at everything I was responsible for and wondered whether I was failing at all of it simultaneously.
Gratitude doesn't require us to pretend those things are not real. Biblical gratitude makes room for the hard thing and God's faithfulness at the same time.
Sometimes strength looks like saying, "This hurts. I don't understand. This is not what I wanted." But God has still been good to me.
That kind of gratitude does not make us oblivious to reality. It helps anchor us within it.
If gratitude has started feeling like another Christian obligation you are supposed to be better at, I hope you will listen to this conversation instead. Maybe we don't need to manufacture grateful feelings. Maybe we need to slow down long enough to notice God's faithfulness.
Listen to Daily Gratitude Journal with Gina Stockdall: https://youtu.be/c4JqW4YRJfU
Strength Doesn't Look the Same on Every Woman
This might be one of my favorite things about this month's Holy Calling Magazine. When we chose Strong Women as the theme for August 2026, I didn't want to create some shiny collection of stories about women who had conquered everything. Because that is NOT what strength looks like in real life. And it is certainly not what women of faith need more of.
We don't need another collection of perfect women making us wonder why we can't get our lives together. We need testimonies. We need honesty. We need women willing to talk about what God has carried them through. We need reminders that strength can look different depending on the season.
For one woman, strength may look like starting. For another, it may look like staying. For another, leaving. For another, resting. For another, building. For another, surrendering. For another, asking for help.
And sometimes...strength looks like admitting, "I don't know what I am doing, but I know Who I am following."
That is why I am so excited about the August 2026 issue. Inside Holy Calling Magazine, you will meet women with different stories, experiences, and callings. And my hope isn't that you will finish reading and think, "Wow. I need to become more like her." I hope their stories make you think, "Wow. Look what God can do."
Discover the August 2026 Strong Women Issue: https://amzn.to/4hEtW3c
Maybe We Have Been Measuring Strength Wrong
I think Christian women can accidentally turn even Biblical womanhood into another impossible standard. Be strong, productive, joyful, grateful, a wonderful wife, an intentional mother...all while building the business, serving the ministry, knowing your Bible, making dinner, taking care of yourself, drinking your water...
And apparently we are supposed to get eight hours of sleep somewhere in there too. Who knew?!
But what happens when we can't? What happens when we are tired? What happens when we are still learning? What happens when we need somebody else? What happens when our best doesn't look particularly impressive?
Maybe that's where we need to remember the rest of Paul's words, "My grace is sufficient for thee."
Not your productivity. Not your platform. Not your accomplishments. Not your ability to keep everyone happy. Not your perfectly organized planner.
His grace.
And sis, His grace is sufficient even here.
Women of Faith Don't Have to Prove Their Strength
I don't think becoming a strong woman of faith means eventually reaching a place where nothing shakes us. I think it means learning where to run when something does.
Back to God.
Again.
And again.
And again.
We pray. We open Scripture. We ask for wisdom. We receive help. We practice gratitude. We faithfully work. We rest when we need to. We repent when we are wrong. We learn. We grow. We keep going when God tells us to keep going. And we surrender when He tells us to let go.
That's strength too. Maybe especially so.
Because the goal was never becoming women who don't need God. The goal is becoming women who know exactly where our strength comes from.
Continue the Conversation
If something in this has made you rethink what it means to be a strong woman of faith, don't stop here. Explore these three conversations from three different angles:
Building something God has placed on your heart? Listen to Faith Driven Entrepreneur with Krista Tressa and explore what it means to allow faith to influence not only what you build, but how you build it.
Trying to recognize God's goodness in an imperfect season?Listen to Daily Gratitude Journal with Gina Stockdall, a Books, Beauty & Business replay about slowing down and intentionally noticing what God is already doing.
Need to hear from other women walking this out in real life?Read the August 2026 Strong Women issue of Holy Calling Magazine and meet women with different stories, struggles, callings, and testimonies of God's faithfulness.
Because maybe being a strong woman isn't about proving how much we can carry. Maybe it's about knowing when to place what we're carrying into the hands of the One who has been strong enough all along.
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