Dear sixteen year old Lyndsay,
Fall in love with Jesus. I know having a boyfriend seems like the biggest and best priority to have right now, but that’s not true, let Jesus completely sweep you off your feet first. Let Jesus come in and be your Prince Charming. Jesus is way better than any boyfriend you will ever have. His love really does take you over and completely consumes you. He really does make you want to be a better person. He leads you really well. The amount of acceptance you find in Christ outweighs any acceptance that you find in a man. His love is the best kind of love you can get. He forgives you no matter that you did that day to make him mad. He’s jealous for you, not jealous of you. Once you fall in love with Jesus, you realize that His love is the only kind of love that will never fail you and the only kind of love that you can completely put your trust in. Now, I’m not saying wanting a boyfriend is a bad thing, that’s a normal desire for a girl to have, girls have the need to feel wanted don’t feel crazy for feeling this way. My advice to you is to not let it consume you. Now, surprisingly I know you really, really well and you have a really great gift of making a lot of guys who aren’t so great into Prince Charming in your head. DON’T GO THERE. If it’s meant to be it will be. Be content with where you’re at right now and don’t look to a guy to fulfill those desires of feeling wanted, turn to Jesus and trust that He knows you better than anyone and that He’s the perfect match maker for you.
Don’t be afraid to be different. No two people look the same way and no two people are wired the same way. You’re different than your best friend and that’s okay. Your passions, desires and things that make you feel alive are different than the person sitting next to you in class, and that’s okay. Don’t try and mold yourself into who you think you should be, embrace those passions that The Lord has put inside of you, pursue the things that make you feel fully alive. If you’re being completely honest with yourself, you know that your passions look different than everyone else in school, and that’s okay, God has a different plan for your life and it won’t look like the typical American dream, and that’s not a bad thing, it’s just different. Being different is a good thing. I know everyone else in school is telling you to look like and talk like a Victoria Secret model, wear too much eyeliner and not talk to the weird kid in class, but don’t listen to them. Modest is hottest girl and those sweat pants are freaking expensive, you’ll give them to GoodWill in a couple years anyways, less is more when it comes to makeup… If you want to wear eyeliner go heavy on the top eyelid NOT on the bottom, talk to the “weird” kid in class, odds are they’re probably way cooler than you anyways.
You’re beautiful. God knew what He was doing when He created you. He made you exactly how you are for a perfect reason. Those freckles on your nose that you always complain about, He put them there, your big thighs that you think everyone looks at, He made them that way, your wavy/curly/mind of it’s own hair that you hate, He thinks you look way prettier with wavy/curly/mind of it’s own hair than straight hair, and I mean He is God, so He kinda knows what’s up. Our society is always telling us to look a certain way, be a certain size and to have the perfect personality to get people to like you, or the opposite sex to be attracted to you, but guess what… Society ain’t got nothin’ on God. Don’t worry about your size or which guys think you’re attractive you will attract the guys you want to attract, be you. He created you exactly how you are for a purpose. I can’t stress that enough. I know there are those days where you just don’t feel beautiful and the “if only’s” start to pop up, kick those lies out of your head. Now, I’m about to tell you some news that might be a little hard to handle, you will never be Megan Fox, you will never have the exact curves that Beyoncé has, and you will never be able to shake it quite like Shakria, but girl, you’re still beautiful, because you’re you. And no one in the world is exactly like you. Embrace all of the things that you view as flaws, declare truth over yourself. Stop saying I’ll love my body when… No, love your body now. Because when you finally get to your perfect weight or perfect look, guess what… There will be one more thing that you want to change about your appearance and a couple things that you just don’t love about yourself still. Love who God created you to be now. Because you’re not defined by the number on the scale, and you’re not defined by what others say about you. You’re worth and identity comes from The Father and what He says about you. And he thinks you’re beautiful, wavy/curly/mind of it’s own hair, freckled nose, big thighs and all. He loves you. And He created you to be you, and no one else can fill that special role besides you. So get off Twitter… that junk is pointless anyways, and go do something nice for yourself, because you deserve it.
Xoxo,
Lynds
