Hello, beautiful. Yes, you are beautiful. You are beautiful, strong and worthy. Yes, worthy. I know you don’t feel like you are any of these things, but I can assure you that you are beautiful, strong and worthy. Want to know how I know this? Psalm 139:14 tells us, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well”. The magnificent Lord wove us in our mother’s womb. He handcrafted each of us to fulfill a purpose. Our purpose is to love and serve the Lord. What does this have to do with you being beautiful, strong and worthy? God created you. He chose you. Out of all the options He had in creation, He chose everything that you are – your smile, laugh, compassion, stubbornness, thighs, fears, shyness, independence, perfectionism. In His eyes, you are a work of art that He spent time carefully crafting and breathing life into. Our God loves you. You are His daughter, and He is your father. He is the king, and you are a princess in His kingdom.

From a young age, we are taught what society has deemed beautiful. We have been brainwashed to believe that “beautiful” has one definition, a definition that Disney, TV shows and magazines have monopolized. This standard of beauty is unreachable, whether it comes from "Cinderella" or the Victoria's Secret swimsuit catalog, those standards aren’t achievable because they aren’t real. We are constantly striving to look a certain way, a way that doesn’t exist, and we never feel like we are beautiful enough.

We are also taught from an early age that we need a man by our side, a man who will fight our battles, take care of us, and all we have to do is sit there. What need do we have to be strong? We have men to be strong, to fight for us. Wrong! You are a strong, independent woman who doesn't need a man. When we were little, this idea of needing a man, other than our daddy, to take care of us wasn’t part of our thought process. So, why is it that as we get older and start college, this becomes our goal? Sweetie, you are not defined by a boy or a man and what they think of you. The only man who should define you is God, and guess what? He loves you!

You are loved by a king more than you will ever know. I know it is hard to look past the early values and the future, and I am not saying never get married and stay away from boys. What I am saying is that your value is not determined by whether or not you have a man by your side. Your value is not determined by whether or not that cute boy you have a major crush on likes you back or not. The only man who can determine your value is God, and He loves you and finds you so very worthy of His love. If someone so powerful, and so perfect as Jesus can find us worthy, then, sweetheart, you best believe you are. I pray for you. The strong, beautiful, worthy girl you are. I pray that you see yourself as God sees you. Once you do that, you will always, always feel loved.