We live in a world where we are told that the desires of our hearts don't matter. We are told that they make us weak, and we shouldn't let our weaknesses show. When people give us compliments, we shy away. When we desire relationships, we are told that we don't need anyone else. Being a powerful, independent woman is the most important thing.

Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't have characteristics of power. I always admire the strong women in my life who always seem to know what to say and live a life worth following; women who are passionate and powerful. However, it is when we are told that our heart's desires don't matter, it is when we are told that these desires make us weak; that is when something should be addressed.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." - Proverbs 4:23

Let that sink in for a few minutes. Now, read that verse again three more times. Above all else. Do you know why that is? It's quite simple: God created us, and He knows that our heart is the core to who we are. Our hearts are the source of our bravery, conviction, imagination. It is also the foundation on which our faith, hope and love begins to grow.

So instead of thinking about the desires of your heart as making you weak, what if we thought about it this way: As a woman, your heart is the most important thing about you. Pretty crazy, right? But it is true, and so, so good. So guard your heart. Guard it not from your desires, but guard it from everything in this world telling you that your desires are wrong.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:27

You have probably been told that you, as a daughter of the one true King, bear the image of God. But what does that mean? You bear the image of God... as a woman. Your heart as a women was created by the King as a reflection of His own heart. That is so beautiful. We were literally created by God in His image. He created us as women, and he placed those desires in our heart; we shouldn't be ashamed of them.

It's pretty much impossible to talk about the desires of a woman's heart and not talk about two of the biggest longings we all have: beauty and romance. We all have a desire to be beautiful. To feel like a princess. There is nothing wrong with that. We all have the desire to be loved by someone. There is nothing wrong with that. Why are we believing that wanting to be beautiful and wanting to be loved are both terrible things? The desire to be beautiful and loved has been set on our hearts by God.

However, the world around us has given us many standards of beauty that we feel we need to look up to, and that causes heartbreak. The standards of beauty keep getting higher and higher, and it is exhausting. We begin to think of our desire to be beautiful as a bad thing, and we blame our hearts for it. And what do we do instead? We busy ourselves in our work, we distract ourselves from the pain in our hearts. The whole point of this is to not live up to the high standards of beauty, because that is exhausting. God created us in His image and He is beautiful. Shouldn't that be enough beauty in itself?

The world around us has also taught us that wanting a relationship is bad because we shouldn't depend on anyone but ourselves; that wanting a relationship makes us weak. I'm not saying that you need a man your life to be complete, because that is definitely not true. But still, we want this, to be desired and pursued by someone. Every woman wants it, we all want to feel important to someone. God placed on our hearts a desire to be loved. Why? Because He created us as a reflection of Him and guess what; He has those desires too. He also desires to be loved by us.

Since the world believes the opposite, we tend to harden our hearts to no longer feel the desire of beauty. We harden our hearts to the desires of wanting to be loved because we are told that makes us weak. How sad is that? It tears me apart that because we can't live up to the high standards of beauty, or we believe that we shouldn't desire being loved, we turn our hearts so we don't feel anything. We are told to put up this front that we are powerful and independent, and that everything in life is OK.

Don't let the world's standards tell you that your desires don't matter. Don't think that it is a bad thing to desire to be wanted or to be beautiful. Now, those shouldn't be your main focus in life. There is a difference between simply having those desires and letting them consume you. Don't let them consume you. But just remember that those desires aren't bad; God created you to have those desires. No matter how hard you try, your desires are still there, and so is your heart. Your heart is still there, yearning to be set free, yearning to find the life your desires tell you of.

We all have desires. A woman's heart is so beautiful and so powerful. We were meant to fight for our heart's desires. It is in our desires that we bear the image of God. You see, your desires don't make you weak. In fact, they strengthen who you are. A woman is fierce, her heart is fierce. Accepting those desires is the ultimate sign of a beautiful, passionate and powerful woman.

Just remember, woman, at her core, was created for romance, and she posses a beauty to unveil. God created us in His image to be beautiful, powerful and captivating.

"The King is enthralled by your beauty."- Psalm 45:11