When you look at yourself in the mirror, what do you see? What voices, words, labels, do you carry in your little “Mary Poppins” bag? Are you hearing the truth of who this magnificent creator of ours made you to be, or is the climate at your school, your friends, the boys, creating the toxic tornado that takes your breath away and steals who you are?

I remember growing up, trying to figure out my place in this world was complicated. Designer clothes, money, perfect skin, having a boyfriend were definitions of worth. It’s so easy to consumed by what the “Cosmo” or the “it” girl says you need to be important, but the truth is, it’s not real. You could have the boyfriend, you could have the clothes, but the inside may still be broken. Insecurity and lack of self-confidence led to a life more empty than I could have ever imagined. The world does such a fantastic job at saying that “if you are this” “ if you do this” “ if you wear this” you are enough, but this line will always change and the scale to getting to be enough is never going to be reached.

So who are you? I can give you some insight.

You are “more precious than jewels” Proverbs 3:15a

You are beloved, and you are gorgeous. You are created by a King that wouldn’t want you wasting your body and your mind, throwing it out for attention. You are not bait to be caught by some fish and gobbled up. You are this extraordinary girl.

I know reading these words may seem worthless when the world and the devil whisper things that seem so real. It’s definitive and it’s now, right? It’s harder to wait for the right guy, to stand your ground amidst the judgment, especially at a young age. It’s so much easier to fall in line with the world than fight this world.

You may think to yourself, “it’s better to have something than nothing” or maybe you say to yourself “the attention is nice, I’d rather this than be invisible.”

But what is this doing to who God created you to be?

I fed those lies for years and was so broken because the world fed off me for so long… I let the need to feel loved physically get in the way of the love God wanted to show me, and I allowed “ the something” be enough when it wasn’t even close to what I deserved.

Today you can choose to love yourself and respect the young woman you are, or allow the world to suck you dry. The insecurity that lives in your heart, the weakness and desire for some semblance of love, the broken hearts you carry are not wasted, but continuing the cycle will just further pain. When I chose to look up from the rabbit hole I was in, God showed me the “fierce-hearted woman” I was created to be and the peace I felt was way more rewarding than a night with someone, or “pretend love”.

Your worth is more than what comes out of a boy’s mouth. Your worth is not the clothes on your back. Your worth is more than the mistakes you make, or the broken pieces you carry.

This walk is hard, I know that you may want to seek love, seek attention, seek worth, in some boy, but the King of King’s already loves you. Just look up, breathe, and feel that heart beating beneath your ribcage. You may not know this yet, you may not realize the destiny designed for your life but trust that as hard as high school and college maybe, you are destined for beauty beyond your wildest dreams. Lose yourself in finding out who you are, and let God lead the right man into your life.

Even as you read this; you may think “God doesn’t love me” or “ God can’t forgive me for what I’ve done.”

You may feel Unloved.Unimportant.Unworthy. Unvalued. Uneverything.

There is a book called “ Hello, Beauty Full” by Elisa Morgan and she writes about this “hiss” the constant lies that consume us, but she states that “ God offers a promise of something else entirely… ‘Don’t let feelings of failure weigh you down. Instead, try to see yourself as I see you.’ This is the promise that God has created me to live under: God loves me, and because He loves me, He sees me as beautiful. Period.”

Now the question is, will you take a leap of faith and believe this truth?

Say Goodbye to the insecure, Burn down that circus and bloom into the truth of beauty you need to exist in.

You are too young to settle for a fake love, when true love is waiting right above you.

Written By: Beth Basilio Cox 

Buy Beths Book HERE