I love my girls. My eighth grade, boyfriend drama, awkward and trying to just figure out who they are kind of girls.

I have known my girls since they were in fourth grade and now they are scheduling for their freshman year of high school.

I've seen the tears over lost friendships and breakups and the anger that abounds because "my parent's just don't get it." I've seen the joy of making the volleyball team or singing in the choir concert. They never fail to let me know what is happening in their lives.

They're my girls and I love them.

But then I went to college and I had to say goodbye. I couldn't be their small group leader, their go-to gal once a week anymore and that wrecked my heart. I had known them for so long. I couldn't just leave them in the hands of a stranger. They needed me. I needed them.

When I first started hanging out with them on Sunday mornings I did it because I wanted to love them through their middle school years. I had experiences bullying and lonlieness at their age and didn't want anyone to go through what I went through. I wanted to show them love, compassion, community. I wanted to show them that I was fighting for them when nobody else was. However, I quickly realized that I wasn't the one saving them, they were saving me.

I learned so much from my girls. I learned how to listen and that sometimes no advice is the best advice. I learned that laughter is the best medicine. I learned that I had way more love to give than I thought.

I got to see my girls again the other day and boy had they grown. They were taller than me, more outgoing, more beautiful - but they were still my girls.

However, I quickly realized after this past semester not being with them, that they were okay without me. I couldn't be sad about that, they were flourishing in school and in their social lives. They were still happy and full of joy.

That's when it hit me, I realized that they weren't ever my girls to begin with. They were simply a handful of girls that God had given me to get to know, to watch grow up, and love with the love he'd given me. They were always His and I just got to have the pleasure of being in their lives.

His girls are beautiful. His girls are funny. His girls are one of the biggest joys in my life. His girls are so loved, so accepted, so perfect. And I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to get to know them.