A lesson in confidence.

Hello lovely girls,

I am coming on here today to tell you a couple of things I've learned about confidence over the years.

I will start by telling you that it has not been an easy one for me. My journey of confidence has been challenged by such obstacles as a full body back brace that I wore over my clothes for 4 years, 4 years of braces and 1 year of invisilign, a diagnosis of PCOS and endometriosis accompanied by uncontrollable weight gain (yes, I truly mean uncontrollable) and terribly painful cystic acne. So let's be real, my view of myself wasn't always the greatest. I spent a lot of days being sad and feeling terrible not because of how I felt; and I felt horrible, but because of how I looked.  I looked in the mirror and I was sad, sad because I didn't look the way I used to, sad because I didn't look the way I wanted to, sad because I didn't look like the people I idolized. I beat myself up constantly and spent a ridiculous amount of money trying to make myself better than I was. Let me tell you right now, before you try this, it doesn't work.

But my girls, there is something that works. And I'm going to tell you about it. 

Here's how it goes, you need to put your phone down, turn off your instagram notifications, take a day off of pintrest, stop making a list of the things you want to do to change the way you look and ask yourself one question: When God created me what did He think about me? Did God look at you say this one will be so great when she is able to stay the right weight. She will be so wonderful when she finally figures out how to keep her skin clear. She will be beautiful if she simply dyes her hair a different color and learns how to apply concealer correctly. I really hope you know the answer to those questions ladies. It's no. Absolutely not, not in a million years. He said this is My child. This is my daughter. I love her more than she will ever comprehend. He said you are fearfully and wonderfully made. 

So just stop looking at yourself and look at HIM. Stop trying to fix something that He says is beautiful. Stop criticizing the way you look, because when you do, you are criticizing the work of your Creator. 

Confidence is not something you gain girls, it's something you choose. Choose to be confident because of the girl that God made you and not because of how you look. You are incredible. You are wonderfully made. There are things about your character and your personality that are only yours and they are amazing. Embrace who you are and be confident that you are made and loved by the God of the universe.

I'm going to end on my favorite quote.

"I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking."

— George MacDonald