I've been compared to a lot of people in my short lifetime of almost two decades. Being the “funny girl” naturally put me on the pedestal of the first female comedian everyone can think of. Being a curvy girl has gotten me compared to the likes of Melissa Mccarthy, Rebel Wilson and the all-powerful Jennifer Lawrence. My ability to sing and love of performing has sparked people to compare me to the lead roll of the hit broadway musical Hairspray. *Please note that I can not dance nor should I ever try*. On the kinder side of comparisons, I've gotten my name thrown in with great women like one of my personal heroes Beth Moore. By the end of my senior year in high school most of my friends had taken to calling me Jesus due to my being the ever present “church kid” in their lives. Never once did I ask for these comparisons to be thrown my way, they just kind of happened. I personally don't see myself worth of being mentioned in the same sentence as the great women *and the king of kings* above, they all just kind of happened and admittedly I have seen myself embodying parts of the people that my peers see reflected in me.

As I moved on to college, I was positive these comparisons would lessen if not stop all together! I was so so wrong. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in my first year away from home, emotional, physically and most importantly spiritually. I spent countless days trying to figure out who I was and what God wanted me to be and after lots of prayer, wise council and four changes of my major I settled in on social work. My number one priority is to get overseas and make a difference in the lives of the people I come in contact with by bringing them the good news! I've devoted my whole life to overseas missions and that is one the thing that guides my steps as I make my very adult choices in my first year away from home. When it was finally time to tell my friends about this major change I made it was practically old news! I'd changed so many times they were pretty much used to it by now and didn’t bother to get too excited about any basket I decided to put my eggs in (I can't really blame them), so after reluctantly mentioning that I changed my major to an undergrad that would put me on the social work path nothing more was said and everything went right back to normal. Until someone else from my tiny college caught wind of what was happening and came over to ask me about my new major, and one of my friends lovingly joked “now she's even more like Mother Teresa!”. Once again I was being thrown in with a saintly person who I have no hope of truly being like. I didn't shoot down the idea or really talk about it at all and silently just let the comment pass. But just like every other time, once I got a second alone I really let it sink in what was being said about me. You see when you think about Mother Teresa you think about the amazing things she's done! You think of the way she seems to always have a heartfelt and pure answer to any question asked of her and on the rare occasion you think about the fact she wears a head cover, but that's almost last on the things that are important about her legacy. All of these amazing things are just and noble but, if you take a second to take a peek at our culture and what they hold as important qualities, none of the things I listed after Mother Teresa’s name seem to hold a candle to what really matters to the modern American.

We live in the decade of beauty tricks and tools that completely change the way you look if you have a steady enough hand or enough money to get something cut off or put in, and change yourself to be whatever you want to be. It’s no longer about whats in your head but rather whats on it and what color it is and what famous rapper you've married. We have stepped out of the era of Mother Teresa and into a time where Kardashians rule. So what about the girl who doesn't get her name thrown in the mix of Kim’s and Khloe’s? What about her? How can she remember the value she has in the kind of culture that really could care less how good of a person you are? This is a tricky question that I personally have struggled with for a long time. Long nights were spent wondering if anything could be done about the way others viewed me. What would it take to become the kind of girl that all the buzz is about? I don't want to give you the road map to being a Kardashian. I want to encourage you to stay on the path you are on by giving a bit of scripture that has kept me going. Peter 3:3-4 says, “your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of a gentle and quite spirit, which is of the great with in God's sight."

Long story short, stay true to who you are! Keep putting value in the things that are actually valuable and press on being Mother Teresa. The world around you may not care but the King of Kings finds true beauty in the gentle heart.