Marked

 By Steve De'lano Garcia

"You can always recognize the woman God has

marked, because life hits her like it has a personal

grudge and she still gets back up with fire in her eyes

and worship on her lips. She gets dragged through

grief, betrayal, silence, shame, and pressure heavy

enough to crush softer people, yet somehow she rises

again, not polished, not delicate, but fiercer, wiser,

and far harder to shake. People watch her crawl

through what should have buried her and wonder

why she is still standing, still breathing, still lifting

her voice to God as if hell itself failed to make her

bow. That is how you know. Favor does not mean

she was spared the pain; it means she was carried

through it, held in it, and brought out of it with a

presence that unsettles anyone who thought she

would disappear. She does not stand there because life

was kind. She stands there because God decided that

what came for her would not get the final word."