In past blog posts I have
talked about modesty and how important it is, as well as living
counter-culturally when it comes to dating and/or waiting to date for the right
time and guy. But today I want to stress one important thing to all the young
women of the world.
You are beautiful.
No matter what anyone says to
you, always remember that you are amazing in your own unique way.
I know how hard it can be to
have constant confidence in yourself, trust me, I am also a member of the
female part of the world and I know what it’s like! My freshman year of high
school was just…ugh. Even though I was home-schooled all through high school,
my freshman year was the time when I started to get out more and become active
in my community and Church. I was so clueless! But we won’t get into that……
My point in saying that is,
without the confidence that I gained over three long years it would have been
an even bigger struggle to fit in than I had already.
I was labeled the “Church
girl” within my youth ministry, not a bad title, I was proud of it because
having been home-schooled since second grade I have a strong Catholic education
and, well, going to Church and youth ministry was the most exciting thing in my
life at the time (Church is still the most exciting thing in my life!). The
only problem was I let the “Church girl” title become my only identity. I was
content with letting people get only so close and then I was worried that they
would see that I wasn’t what they thought. I mean yeah I knew a lot about the
Faith but I have other layers to my personality and other interests too. But I
didn’t want other people to see that because what if they didn’t like me? So I
went about my way, the typical “one person when you’re here, another while
you’re at home” kind of thing. Till I eventually realized that I hated being
labeled the “Church girl”, in fact I hated it so much that I got quite
irritated with anyone who had labeled me as that. (Not to say they are bad
people, they rock and are my friends) But I suppose I hated the fact that I had let that become who I was rather
than the people who had thought of it in the first place. So needless to say I
started doing everything I could to get out of that mode as quickly as possible. Only problem was, I had no idea
who I was! I remember being somewhat down about that fact especially when I met
people who were older than me and they seemed so confident and awesome. Kind of
like a freshman in high school being in awe of the seniors because they have
lived a mere three years more than you ;). So I went on some major soul seeking
activities. Every youth ministry retreat that came up I was there and
eventually I found one that was the perfect fit to give me the confidence boost
of the entire century. The Diocese of Portland Maine has a summer retreat known
as the New Evangelization Week (NEW) retreat. I will only say one thing about
it: it’s
awesome. I remember going to Confession and just was really upset and
saying things like “I have no idea who I am and I don’t feel very good about
myself.” You know typical teenage girl problems? And the priest, a good friend
of mine, was giving me advice but I only remember one thing he said, “Do you
know how beautiful you are? Do you know how much God loves you?” It was like
the Holy Spirit came down upon me and just opened the dusty corners of my brain
with a duh! moment. I mean it was like the Red Sea had parted in my
mind and I could see the sunny beach from across the wet bottom, and there was
my identity! It was like a Where’s Waldo book, but instead of finding Waldo I
found the best man of all time, Jesus! And He was saying “Hello, did that
seriously never occur to you?” Well, no, in fact it hadn’t; but it sure did
now! The most epic of face-palms was preformed that day because thinking back I
could not believe that I had never thought of God that way. Of course! He is
the perfect gentleman! He rocks my world! Quite
literally!
So to sum up that, I was
totally changed after that week at N.E.W. and I love the retreat still, I’d
encourage Mainers everywhere to definitely go and for everyone else check out
your local youth and young adult ministries as well as Diocesan wide state retreats
because you will not regret it, that’s a promise I can make with complete
certainty.
I finally realized what I had
been searching for, not Waldo, but Jesus!
Another thing I had been
struggling with for a long time, and still do today, was waiting for the right
guy to come along. I mean really, what’s taking him so long? I’m kidding (kinda) and even though I pray for
him and hope for him to HURRY UP, I realize the importance of waiting and
fulfilling what I have to do before we find each other. God has a plan for me
right now in the single state and I’m not sure what it is quite yet but I know
that when the time is right I’ll get my Mr. Darcy. But one thought that never
fails to comfort me when I’m complaining (again) to God is that he is out there
RIGHT NOW. I’m so excited! My future guy is probably in college right now and that’s
pretty much the most exciting news of my life. Besides the announcement that we
had coffee ice cream in our freezer the other day…
So for this whole post, if you
didn’t get anything out of it, I have a video for you that I made and it sums
up pretty much everything I have talked about and then some:
Yikes sorry about picture and sound quality I'm not the most computer savvy person in the world but I am way too lazy to do anything about it. Enjoy!
Songs:
Because of You ~Kelly
Clarkson, Know Your Enemy ~Greenday, Waiting on the World to Change ~John
Mayer, Don't You Know You're Beautiful ~Seabird, Perfect ~P!nk, What Makes You
Beautiful ~One Direction, She Will be Loved ~Maroon Five, I See the Light
~Mandy Moore and Zachery Levi, You're Beautiful ~James Blunt, Just the Way You
Are ~Bruno Mars, Hold Us Together ~Matt Maher
I do not own anything all
credit goes to the artists
Pics:
Credit to the magazines:
Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Vogue, and Seventeen
Credit: Ryan Gosling
Credit: Cinderella, Tangled,
Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, The Princess and the Frog, Aladdin, The
Little Mermaid, and Sleeping Beauty by Disney
I do not own anything
Hope you liked it!
So now that you know part of
my story, what’s yours? Who are you? What are you really searching for? Or rather
Who? (Not Doctor Who if that’s what you’re thinking…)
Don’t let these questions
scare you, ponder them and pray about them. Not knowing yourself isn’t a terrible
crisis, but it’s never too late to get acquainted!
Be a beauty queen in your own special way. And remember no one has the right to tell you that you are not gorgeous just the way you are.
Be a beauty queen in your own special way. And remember no one has the right to tell you that you are not gorgeous just the way you are.
Allow me to introduce
yourself: You are beautiful and you are a creation of God. That’s a great start
now you take if from here.
May the peace of God which
surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. +JMJ+
