Dear Beautiful Girl,

Being a woman in your twenties is probably the hardest time of your life, despite what people say or think. Being pressured to look a certain way, say certain things, wear certain outfits, and live a certain lifestyle in order to be ‘good enough’ can be extremely detrimental to your happiness.

Let me tell you something, you are good enough. Whether you are dating the star football player, whether you are in the coolest sorority, whether you have the nicest car, the most likes on Instagram, or the most followers on twitter, or you don’t even have social media at all, a car, the new outfits, or the guy of your dreams, you are good enough.

Seeing all the pictures on Instagram, the “relationship goals,” the engagement pictures, the best girl-friendship ever pictures, etc. can make you sit back and wonder why you aren’t good enough to have those things, what makes you different? I will tell you, the reason those pictures and likes and ideas and filters make you feel inadequate, or at a loss of something you need or are ‘supposed to have’, is because it is not real.

Behind every selfie, every man crush Monday, every sorority-posed picture, every woman crush Wednesday; there is pain, there are tears, there are imperfections and sadness. Those smiles in the those selfies go dull as soon as the camera snaps, the happiness ceases as soon as that couple unlinks arms after the picture, when that guy puts his phone down after taking a picture of his perfect girlfriend to post the adorable woman crush Wednesday he texts another girl and goes to bed unhappy. There are real, genuine relationships, friendships, laughs, and lives but what you see is not what you get. Never compare where you are in your life based on what you see around you, because you have absolutely no idea what you are looking at.

Nothing is wrong with you because you don’t party every weekend, nothing is wrong with you because you haven’t found the love of your life yet, nothing is wrong with you because you spend Friday night in your apartment in a t-shirt eating ice cream watching Grey’s Anatomy for a sick amount of hours while everyone else is out doing who knows what until 4 am, nothing is wrong with you if you don’t feel like brushing your hair before class, or putting on the perfect outfit, nothing is wrong with you if you don’t have tons and tons of girlfriends to hangout with and experience the perfect picture-taking adventures with.

This idea of perfection, this idea of life as a young woman, this social idea of what our lives as women are supposed to be is fake, it’s all a lie. You know what’s real? You. You are real, your bad breath in the morning is real, your stretch marks are real, your tears are real, your love for animals is real, your love for coloring is real, your favorite flavor of hot tea is real, your favorite Lifetime movie is real, your hatred of peanut butter but love for peanuts is real, your love for the smell of rain is real, your tendency to take up two parking spots everywhere you go is real, your inability to understand math is real. You, my dear, are real and you are worthy. You were not made to blend in; you were made to stand out.

Believe me when I tell you that you are worthy; not because Instagram tells you that you are famous, not because your likes on Facebook make you feel pretty, not because some guy takes you on a date, not because your mom tells you she is proud of you; but because God says you are worthy. God stands for you, who could possibly stand against you? Every flaw, every pimple, every blemish, every hair on your head is there for a purpose, for a reason. You are worth every amount of good this world can offer you because God says so.

Delete social media, delete the idea of this fake world that just does not exist, delete the ‘friends’ that aren’t supportive or uplifting, delete the boy who doesn’t lead you to Christ and a life of love and happiness, delete anything in your way of pure happiness and joy in being who you are supposed to be, delete the idea that you have to have certain things right now, and have it all figured out right now, because you don’t. God has it figured out for you, and he has even far before you were born.

Be genuine, be wholesome, spend nights at home alone, skip the party, skip the date, laugh at yourself, chill out, take off your makeup, take off those shoes that are killing your feet, and be you. Learn who you are, and who you are supposed to be. Your time will come, your knight and shining armor will come, your true friendship will come, your dreams will come true; your time will come. Until then and forever after, seek validation in who God says you are, not what this world says you are supposed to be.

People on this Earth, pictures on the internet, flowers you are given, dates you are taken on, likes you get, pictures you take, friends you make, money you receive, will never define your worth. Your worth was discovered when God decided this world needed you. It’s your time to figure out who that person is, because no one in this world can do that but you. Once you do this, I promise everything in this world that you desire, and everything you dream of will come true, in the most genuine, amazing, unbelievable way you never knew possible.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Be still, and let God fight for you.

Kim Kardashian currently has 58.1 million followers; Jesus had 12.

Sincerely,

The girl who finally discovered her worth