Chelsea's Story
What happens when you throw a rule follower, a moppy blonde mess of a bad haircut, and a chubby pre-teen into a sea of glitter, cliques with their boyfriends, and Louis Vuitton clutches?
Out could come a girl who feels like she is drowning in that sea of
perfection, expectation, and standard. This sea has schools of those upholding beauty, style, and image. It has schools of those who know how to
fit in and of those who prey on ones who don’t. This sea looks breathtakingly beautiful and has the ability to captivate anyone to dive in for a swim, but it is nothing but a treacherous, swirling muddle of disorder and confusion. This offbeat girl who read Chicken Noodle Soup for the Teenage Soul and wore powder blue sparkle eye shadow (with no eye-liner or mascara might I add) to match her light blue Sketchers and Lip Smacker lip gloss on days when she felt extra snazzy was inevitably thrown into this disillusioning sea. She could have drowned into the sea as a nobody. Sound familiar? She saw a variety of platforms that could have kept her safe for a while. There were girls in this sea who seemed safe as they clung to their gossip and bad-mouthing others. She saw couples who seemed safe, because they had each other. She saw girls who were certainly safe because they had the perfect bodies, clothes, and were physically flawless; certainly no harm would come to them. She thought about swimming to any of these platforms to prevent being sucked under into becoming a meaningless, unnoticed entity. However, something kept drawing her back from choosing those options to save her. In her journey of trying to keep her head above water, falling underneath here and there, her head would bob up and she would see a sheer glimpse of a sun rising above something. This something seemed vaster, way more secure than any of these broken down platforms that tried to pose as a lifeguard in the raging sea. Trying to keep her eyes focused on what security lay before her, platforms of popularity and image would get in her way. The harder she tried to swim toward the sunlit assurance, the more ideas of what she should look like, act like, and things she should say would get in her way. Scarred, but free, she found herself safe on an island. The ground was sturdy, the sky was lit, and she wasn’t alone. People like her, unique and confident, people who swam away from what the world views as acceptable were with her. People who accepted her and loved her were with her. In a sense, this was my story, (I have many more details I can share later) and this could be yours too.
As young women we are all pressured into believing what we need to wear, what size our clothes need to be, what music we need to be listening to, how we need to behave around boys. You get it, you live with it every day. Maybe you aren’t the dork with the sketchers and high-waisted khakis that weren’t long enough to be pants and not quite short enough to be capris. Maybe you aren’t the girl who doesn’t know how to style her hair or even know that holding a boy’s hand is a thing. Maybe you’re not the one who doesn’t know what to do with her hands when she’s standing in a crowd. [[ Do I stand with my hands on my hips? I look awkward if my arms are just dangling at my side. Do I lean against the wall? Do I hold my hands in front of me? Behind me? ]] Maybe you aren’t her. Maybe. But there is something that you’re uncomfortable with. There is an insecurity that you have about yourself. There is. No, don’t deny it. It’s there, and it’s up to you to decide which platform you swim to for safety and assurance. Are you going to gossip about everyone else to feel secure about yourself? Are you going to get a boy’s attention by flirting and showing way too much skin? Go intimately further with a boy to get your friends’ attention? Or will you seek God? The One who created YOU. The dork. The bigger boned. The one with small ears and weird knees. Yes, he created YOU just the way he wanted to. You’re beautiful, you’re worth living the life He created for YOU with your skills and talents- just the way you are. God told us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
W O W!
Wouldn't you rather go by His standard of beauty than striving to keep up with the next cool thing? So the next time you find yourself drowning in a sea that’s pulling your identity apart, swim to HIM. The One who created your identity. So I’ll ask the question again:
What happens when you throw a rule follower, a moppy blonde mess of a bad haircut, and a chubby pre-teen into a sea of glitter, cliques with their boyfriends, and Louis Vuitton clutches? She swims safely to shore with her Father waiting for her to wrap His loving arms around. With Him she becomes confident and secure in who He made His princess to be. She will accomplish extraordinary things. She will love others and serve them. She will be kind and gentle, as she is a daughter of a King. What would you do?
