So often we allow others to determine our worth and validate our dignity. We compete in subjective activities and base our self worth off the decision of strangers who are judging us with no context. We rush sororities or fraternities and wait for people we have never met decide whether or not we belong in their chapter. We rely on a boyfriend or a girlfriend to show us affection and admiration to be validated that we are enough. We work hard in school to get good grades and get accepted into prestigious colleges, to prove that we are successful.Yet, somehow, whether those situations work in our favor or not, we will feel that we are not good enough.

There are times when the hard work we have invested has paid off and we are granted an opportunity to flourish, but there are also times when the hours we have put our blood, sweat and tears into are not enough to achieve the outcome we imagined.

It can be so easy to allow other things to control our self-perception. As long as everything is going our way, we feel great. But, people and things fail us.

I've been competing in pageants for about 2 years now. Talk about an activity that I could easily base my worth on the outcome the judges decided that day. And honestly, there were times I felt that I wasn't good enough and because I hadn't done as well as I wanted, I wasn't worthy of success. But, I was wrong.

After a few competitions, success and failure, I realized that I am worthy in Christ. Every girl I compete with is deserving of the title. Every girl I compete with has worked hard, invested time and money and is unique and successful in their own way outside of the competition. Just because you don't win, does not mean that you are not worthy of the job. It means that on that day, God had a different plan for you and on that day, it wasn't your turn.

I have been in difficult relationships and friendships, where a boy has made me feel less of myself or I've been excluded by friends. We have all been there. But, in this world, you need no one to validate you other than God and yourself.

The great thing about having faith, is that it anchors you to something stronger than yourself. It allows a sense of peace to fall over you and guard you from the pain you are experiencing. I am a Daughter of the King, and you are a Child of God.

When you realize that you were made uniquely in the image of Christ and that you are unconditionally loved, that is a sense of dignity no one can take away.

"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10.