A God Who Comes Close: Honoring Women on International Women’s Day

In the U.S., March is Women’s History Month, and March 8 marks International Women’s Day— a day to honor women across cultures, generations and nations. As we celebrate the influence and resilience of women, we invite you to reflect on something even deeper: How does God view women?

Scripture gives us a clear and beautiful answer.

Again and again, God comes close to women—not because they are weaker or less spiritual, but because he sees the weight they carry and the realities they live. He steps into their stories with compassion, dignity and purpose.

He meets Hagar in the wilderness— abandoned, mistreated and unseen— and reveals himself as El Roi, “the God who sees me."

He hears the silent anguish of Hannah, weeping over her barrenness, and entrusts her with a son who would help lead Israel.

He engages the Samaritan woman in a deep, theological conversation at a well, transforming her shame into a testimony and making her one of the first evangelists recorded in the gospels.

He chooses Mary, a humble teenage girl, as the environment through which the covenant promises would take on flesh.

And after the resurrection, he appears first to Mary Magdalene, entrusting her with the first proclamation of the risen Messiah.

Women were never an afterthought in God’s plan. They were central to it. Through them came the covenant, the promises, the Messiah—and the first announcement that he is alive.

As TWR president, Andy Schick, has said, restoration almost always flows through women. When women are trusted and resourced, the impact does not remain with them alone. Families stabilize more quickly. Children are protected. Communities are rebuilt with greater resilience.

We see this truth reflected in Scripture— and we see it lived out around the world today.

When God honors a woman, the blessing multiplies. What begins with one woman often becomes change for an entire family, even an entire community. Women invest in their families. They nurture faith across generations. They carry hope into places others may never reach.

This is why women are not a side note to our ministry— they are the focus.

And here is the profound truth woven through every page of Scripture: Women do not chase God. God comes close to women.

He comes close in wilderness seasons.
He comes close in grief and longing.
He comes close in obscurity and in calling.
He comes close with trust, with commissioning, with honor.

The same God who met women throughout Scripture is still moving today—bringing hope, healing and renewal to the world.

On this International Women’s Day, know this:

You are seen.
You are valued.
You are essential.
You are not invisible to God.

May we celebrate not only the achievements of women, but the heart of a God who continually draws near—and may we join him in reflecting his love, sharing his hope and investing in women everywhere so that restoration can flow through them to the ends of the earth.

- This devotional is based upon TWR president Andy Schick's internal address to the TWR Women of Hope global team.