Should I just focus on cardio?

No. Learn to lift correctly and learn to lift heavy. Start light. Doing that will help you more than cardio. Adding cardio Will help tremendously. Go follow a program like starting strength, Focus on learning to do the lifts correctly, that means squatting below parallel.
Oh don't make the the mistake of thinking women shouldn't lift like a male. Muscle is muscle, women lack the testosterone to get the size a male does but will benefit positively all the same.

Allow me to preface this by saying that I know strength training is critical to building a healthier body, but my main goal is to drop pounds, and just about everything I've read about getting serious about weight loss seems to favor cardio over strength. I know that women can't bulk up with basic strength exercises, but I am worried that adding strength at this point will impede my weight loss, if that makes sense. Is it okay to just forgo strength until I reach a point where I'm comfortable doing strength exercises?

Sure, it's fine. Two things:

1) Strength training shouldn't impede your weight loss progress.

2) If you have areas where you carry your weight disproportionately no matter how thin you become, you might want to be careful about using direct weight training on those areas because you could end up looking bigger. You can think about that later when you begin to incorporate strength training.

I would suggest doing a combination of both. Do more cardio then strength training, but do try to do some strength training from time to time. I wish I knew that when I started on this healthy journey 14 months ago. Some of the best programs to do are those that combine strength with cardio. Jillian Michaels has some great workouts. 30DS (not my favorite, but it combines both) and JM no more trouble zone. You burn some nice calories and you get in some nice cardio and strength training at the same time. Win win situation. Good luck on your journey :-)

I think the most important thing is that you are doing something that you enjoy. That said, using weights in addition to cardio will help preserve your muscle mass so you will lose more fat than muscle. Lifting weights lets your body know that muscle is important and necessary and that it should stick around. It doesn't even have to be a big deal, in my opinion. I had a 5lb dumbbell at first and didn't really know what kind of exercises to do so just kind of lifted it in different ways and when that got too easy, got a larger dumbbell, etc. It might not be perfect but I think it is still beneficial and will not hinder your weight loss, in my opinion.

Do what you enjoy because ultimately, that is what you will stick to and have the greatest results with.

Although, I know you said you are mostly focused on weight at the moment, but strength training can change the body in a much more dramatic way than just cardio. I'm not talking about just being more muscular, but fat loss, inches lost, dress sizes dropping, less muscle lost (everyone loses "some" muscle when they lose weight)
6lbs into my own weight loss and with heavy lifting I've gone from barely being able to do up the button on my jeans, to them being so loose they fall down when I run, and I can pull them down without undoing the button! Even though I'm obviously slightly bigger, my stomach is flatter than it was at 12lbs lighter. (profile pic, left: 132lbs, right: 144lbs) My body fat was also 27% at 150lbs when I first started lifting, about a year on from that, I was the same weight but 22% body fat.

Also, while it may slow down weight loss, if you have quite a bit to lose, you will still lose weight. The rate at which a person may build muscle, and the amount of water they may possibly retain by lifting heavy, is not going to be above that of fat loss (in a person who has quite a bit they want to lose) so there's really no need to worry about your loss stalling completely.

Fat loss happens in the kitchen. Focus overwhelmingly on what you eat.

Read a lot of books and gain lots of knowledge! Eat well.

I say no. I made that mistake when I first started losing weight. I did nothing but cardio and yes I loss pounds, but I had to also deal w/ lax skin and little muscle tone. Strength training transforms your body's composition. Focusing on cardio will only make you a smaller version of what you look like now. Cardio and strength combined are key to transforming your body. A good mix would be 3 days of cardio and 2 days of strength using light weight and high reps.

Starting strength is great. Focus's on basic whole body movements such as deadlifting, squats, powercleans, benching, military press.
Here,
http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs
You learn the lifts, start out light, very light. You will be adding at least 5 pounds to the bar every time you go to the gym. So don't worry if your only lifting the bar.
I wouldn't worry about weight loss when you first start a program like this, give it 3 months or wait till you top out on the program then work on maintaining your lifts and cut your calories. There is no thinking in a program like this, there is even a calculator for the program that will tell you what you will be lifting the next time you go to the gym and you will be improving every time you go the gym once you learn the lifts. I can't say it enough, learn the lifts correctly and that means learning to squat below parallel. Once you get to a certain level of strength it's alot easier to lose. .

I lost about 20 lbs a few years ago doing strictly cardio. The number on the scale went down and I dropped 2 sizes but my body still doesn't look the way I want it to. I am now "skinny fat". I have about 10 lbs to go which is why I joined this site. I am focusing more on strength training now as I realize that doing cardio isn't helping me get rid of the fat. I think if you are severely overweight, then definitely focus on the cardio more but I would not neglect strength training as it is very important to help get you looking the way you want.

You should check out the book "New Rules of lifting for women" Its an eye opener and will help you get the body you want, not just lose weight.