Letters to the Girl I was my Freshman Year

This is my first letter of four.

Letter One:  You are beautiful.

Dear Me,

           

Go look in the mirror right now.  I’m serious.  Get up, walk down your dungeon-like hallway, into that community bathroom, and stare in the mirror.  No, I don’t mean the one with the toothpaste and water stains behind the sink; I want you to look in the full-length one on the back of the door. 

Stand there for a few minutes and say this aloud:

“You are beautiful.  You are smart and capable.  You belong to a God whose love for you is not dependent on your ability to recognize your own worth.  You are loved by a God whose goodness is not dependent on your ability to recognize it.”

Maybe this is easy for you to say right now.  Maybe you believe every single one of these truths.  If I am remembering right, you do believe them.  You left high school so confident and so passionate.  I recall you telling a scholarship interviewer that you planned to make a footprint at whatever college you chose to attend.  You didn’t stop there.  You told them that they would be lucky to have your footprint on their campus.  You meant that.  You had passion in your eyes.

I know that right now you feel pretty indestructible.  Every step that you have taken has led to you walking on this college campus.  You are so lucky to be a part of a family who has encouraged, supported, pushed, and at times, carried, you to this point. 

You know where you stand with The Lord.  You accepted Jesus as your Savior long ago and you are excited to gather with other believers and share His love with others.

I think you know these truths right now. 

But you will forget.  You don't believe me.

College is going to stress you out and challenge you.  For the most part, you’ll handle the pressure, but sometimes, you will crack.  We all do.  I wish that I could say that was not going to be the case.

So do me a favor.  Read these letters and do as I say. 

In this first letter, I want to remind you to tell yourself that you are beautiful.

Really, promise me you will.

You might believe yourself now, but one day this year you will wake up and decide that the mirror reflects your worth and that the value on the scale is representative of the value of your existence.  You are going to start trying to run away your insecurities.  You are going to feel like you are making yourself stronger, but hear me now:  You are only going to grow your weaknesses. 

You are going to turn the gym into your sanctuary.  Listen to me:  You will not find your peace here.  You can never run fast enough to escape the insecurities.  The little voice in your head is going to keep telling you, “You’re still not there yet.”  You will have no idea how far you will need to go.  It will never be enough.

Remind yourself of this when you go down that path:

Stop trying to create your own worth.  You are trying to give a price to a precious jewel, a priceless gem.  Stop fighting for your value.  The maker of the universe created you above all the other creatures.  He made you in His image.

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Psalm 139:13

This image is so much deeper than the physical attributes that you are noticing in the mirror.  You are only seeing the temporary, here today and gone tomorrow vessel for a beautiful soul worth dying for. 

“The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:7

Jesus died for you so that you could enter into the presence of God as holy and blameless in His eyes.  He died so that you, every inch and pound of you, could fall before the Father in praise and surrender. 

“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

Colossians 1:22

This has nothing to do with your outward appearance.  Let me emphasize that.  Since accepting Christ, the eternal gifts you have received from God—the ones from which you can find your worth—are not dependent on how you look, how you feel, what others think of you, or anything you can do.

I pray you would realize the value of this gift. 

Eventually you will.

Tell yourself you are beautiful.

Because you’re going to forget.

Tell yourself you are beautiful.

Because that is exactly how God sees you. 

Love,
You