A Girl Called Samson

by Amy Harmon

In a way, he radicalized me too, if faith can be called radical. I’ve come to think it might be the most rebellious thing of all.

I have known no greater comfort in my life than to be able to call upon God’s words when I am at a loss for my own,”

A woman is what she makes of herself . . . with God’s direction, of course. We all need God’s direction.”

It is David and Goliath, but then I remind myself who won that contest, and I am not so fearful. If God wants an independent America, He will make it so.”

Great miracles were wrought on their journey, but miracles do not make life easy. Most often, miracles just make the next step possible.

I did not believe the dreams were from God. They were too much in my own mind and heart to give Him the blame or the glory.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Never have words penetrated deeper or lifted me higher. For what good is life without liberty, and what good is liberty without pursuit?

Loss is not spread equally. I have learned that lesson well. It is a lumpy porridge and a thin gruel, and fate does not consider the suffering of a mother and say, Perhaps I’ll spare her this time.

An education was about more than

reading and arithmetic. It was about wonder too, and becoming able and useful people.

“Thou hast made me tall and plain, and I will never e’er complain.”

I had never considered it a privilege to be a woman. Not even once. I had struggled at the bit of my sex, at the reins of society, at the saddle of tradition. It had not occurred to me that men had their own burdens, that they were bridled too. It was not women who died on the battlefield. I had been denied and barred entry to a world I wanted to experience, but had I been barred because I was disdained or because I was valued? I suspected it was both. Even so, I was less inclined to complain about my lot.

The glory is not mine. Or even ours. The glory is what God makes of our sacrifice.

it is one thing to be treasured and it is another to be a treasure. One is valued, one is possessed, and people aren’t possessions.