I grew up in a Christian household. Now I do not mean we had bibles everywhere and the manger set up year round, or anything like that. Instead, we are deeply rooted in our faith.

I grew up believing in God and a higher power, also knowing that heaven is real. I knew from a young age that times do get rough, but God is always watching over me and taking care of me. My faith was very strong even as a little girl, something that has always been important to me.

As I got older, I became less and less committed to my faith. It's natural, as you get older you have the opportunity to make decisions for yourself, and I wasn't making it a priority anymore. I didn't even realize it was happening until one Sunday I woke up and wasn't at church and didn't feel bad about it.

In college, a lot of people lose their faith altogether, but that's something that did not happen to me. I always had faith, but I wasn't as committed to it as I had been before. When things went wrong I knew I had God to rely on, but I forgot that I also had Him to rely on when things went well.

Once I realized that I wasn't as committed to my faith as I had been previously, I began feeling guilty. I felt that God was mad at me because I wasn't worshipping Him as much or talking to Him. But as it turns out, God still loved me.

God loved me when I didn't love myself. He loved me as I made dumb decisions. He loved me when I was happy. He loved me when I was mad. Regardless of the circumstances, God loved me. And guess what? He still loves me now!

I put so much pressure on myself to be the "perfect" Christian that I lost sight of being one at all. I never thought that would ever happen, but it turns out I'm not alone. We all take some time off or venture onto a different path, but at the end of the day, God still loves us.

I'm not a perfect Christian by any means, but God doesn't care. He loves me and thinks that I am the perfect me. He made me, as well as everyone else, in His image. When I don't love myself, He still loves me and thinks I rock, despite the dumb things I may or may not do.

I won't ever be perfect, but God doesn't care. He loves me and thinks I'm the perfect me, and that's all that matters.