By Kristen Entwistle

There are days, more often than not, when I find this hard to believe.  I have never been the girl that turned the guys’ heads.  I have never been the prettiest girl in the room, the skinniest girl in the room, the smartest girl in the room, the only one someone sees.    Most of the time I just feel like I’m invisible.

I know that it’s not about outward beauty.  I know that inside, outside, backwards and forwards.

I know that I am a child of God and I am beautiful in His eyes.  I know that right side up, upside down, and sideways.

But we live in a world where to be single means that there is something wrong with you.  What is it that people don’t like about you?  What’s wrong with you?  The girl with the foot fungus and hipster glasses is married – why aren’t you?  Are people scared away by your disease?  You do know you’re not going to stay young forever, right?  Do you want a family?  Why aren’t you good enough for anyone?

We live in a world where to be accepted you have to be beautiful, skinny, athletic, popular, genius – or at least two of the above.  We live in a culture that encourages girls to dress in the least amount of clothing possible and to be as skinny as possible.  We live in a world that worships outer beauty, and if you’re not beautiful or pretty or even average, you’re not good enough and you’re not worth it.

I have believed these lies for many, many years.  Some days it’s easier to suppress them than others.  But they never go away completely.  It’s something I’ll be fighting my entire life, something I’ll be praying for deliverance from every day.  There’s no fix for it, only the will to keep reminding myself of this truth: I am His, I am a daughter of the King.  And nothing can take that away.

Not poor health.  Not the lies of this world.  Not even Satan himself.

So I’ll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned, to Him who chose me, who died for me, who sees me as beautiful even when I do not.