beauty contest

(noun)

1. a competition in which the entrants, usually women, are judged as to physical beauty and sometimes personality and talent, with the winners awarded prizes or titles.

Their hair was curled to perfection and flowed beautifully down their shoulders. Their faces were sparkled with matching foundations and bold lip stains. Interview suits and dresses wrapped the curves of their bodies in a flawless way. But something kept them from believing in their own beauty.

"I'm shaped like a box, even my dad has told me that."

"My mom said it was a must that we get my boobs done."

"I honestly just wish I could tan better."

As we sat for mock interviews, these were only a few quotes marching from the mouths of some Miss Louisiana Tech 2015 Pageant contestants.

I remember sitting there, heartbroken that a girl could possible think so low of herself.

During the pageant, backstage was a party for the enemy created by the flesh. Girls were constantly saying how much prettier someone was and moms were down their daughters throats about how to stand or smile. I knew than my entire purpose for being there wasn't to win or be competitive. The Lord allowed the 2015 LaTech Pageant to be a mission field for me, so I ran around speaking life and confidence.

After Miss Tech was crowned, I witnessed eyes fill with tears. I walked backstage to this anonymous girl and told her to hold her head high, for she was clothed in beauty.

I always looked at pageants with excitement, a chance to share my talents and get dolled up for entertainment. Nowadays it seems as though the less you wear or the flatter the tummy, depicts your capabilities for representing a town/school etc. This is not a hate article because I didn't win, this is not an article against working out or being healthy, the sole purpose of this article is to promote self-confidence in women.

My platform for the pageant was "There is no wrong way to have a body." I hold on to this truth and I constantly call-out my friends for saying negative things about themselves. For my talent I performed a spoken word titled, "Why don't you love me?" The poem was a conversation to flesh from the soul about how it saw itself. Here's that Spoken Word.

November 2015, I walked away from the stage seeing hurt and hearing words like, "I could never be in a pageant." Well, to every single girl who thinks they can't, actually you can. Your body is not a mistake. From the length of your limbs, to the proportion of your eyes and ears, you were knitted together by God. And He makes no mistakes.