As little girls, we dressed up in our teeny-tiny ball gowns and sat in front of the TV as mom popped in a beloved Disney Princess movie.

We lay there on the couch with our juice and Cheetos with a plastic tiara on our head, and we fell in love with fairy tales and happily-ever-afters.

We learned about Prince Charming and bad guys and that they are always in a battle with each other. (Spoiler alert: In real life, Prince Charming is quite often the bad guy. Yeah, thanks for preparing me for that one, Snow White).

Somewhere on that couch, curled up with our blankies, we were lead to believe we were just like the princesses. In reality, that’s all we ever wanted to be. We believed that we too were girls waiting for their lives to begin, waiting to be saved and waiting on their Prince Charmings to give their lives meaning.

You may look at the little girl version of yourself and want to pat her on the head and tell her that she’s got it all wrong, and that someday she would understand. That’s what I would say to my 5-year-old self after I told her to stop being so dang ungrateful about naps because young sista is BLESSED.

But then I would look in the mirror and I would see her. I would see her in my daily thoughts, and my heart, and on my Pinterest boards and I would realize that we’re not as different as I thought. We both want someone to see us, and know us, and tell us we’re perfectly lovely just the way we are. We desire to be a part of a love that is big and bright and worthy of reading about in a storybook. I

don’t have to be ashamed of it either because most girls I know are just like me—we’re just little girls in grown-up bodies walking around with our tiaras tucked into our back pockets, hoping that someone, somewhere, will someday come and make our fairytale dreams come true. But the thing most of us have trouble comprehending is that we don’t have to wait for marriage to love.

I’m not talking about physical love, but a soul-shaking love. The kind of love that makes your stomach drop a little. It’s a love that is shimmering in adventure and honesty and loyalty and proves itself time after time to be faithful.

What we fail to recognize is that we have been loved and are loved more deeply and passionately than our 5-year-old selves could’ve ever imagined. We are loved by the One who created the moon and the stars and gives rhythm to the ocean waves. The One who intricately made your heart and your personality, and knows the very number of freckles on your skin and hairs on your head.

I have decided to stop waiting for love because the boldest and most brilliant love I could ever fathom is being freely lavished upon me with every breath I take. It is the love story of Jesus, and how he gave everything: his body, his blood, and his life, so that he could have us, and that we could have Him too.

So here’s to giving up on waiting until marriage to love, because no love on earth could ever come close to the love that is showered upon us by the One who loves us most. We’re invited to be a part of the greatest love story ever told and it's happening in our very own lives each moment. It’s one that is still being written and we get to be apart of it today, tomorrow and for all eternity.

And that's a better love story than any Disney Princess movie I've ever seen.