Good Enough

For every girl who has ever judged herself for how she looks.♥:

Late one night, a young girl laid out on her bed one night, crying. She had a magazine in one hand and a camera in the other.

"I'm just not good enough," she cried.

Her father knocked on the door. Wiping at her tears, she hid the camera and threw the magazine under her bed. "Come in," she called quietly, while she crawled underneath her covers.

Opening the door, he said, "I just wanted to say goodnight." When he heard her sniffling, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Goodnight, dad," she replied, turning away from him. He walked in, sat on her bed, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing.. I'm fine," she insisted, avoiding his eyes. After a few moments though, he asked again, softer, "Tell me, what is it?"

She sighed. "Dad... do you think I'm pretty? All my friends say how beautiful those girls are in magazines, but when I try taking pictures like that, I don't look like them at all."...she began crying.

"Sweetheart," he hugged her, "No picture could ever compare to the way you look. No camera could ever capture your beauty! It's not what is on the outside that makes you look so beautiful; it is what is on the inside that shines out! Your wonderful spirit radiates through your smiling face, making your image so captivating that no one would even think to call you ugly!" He looked her in the eye; "not for a second could they dare say it."

The girl stopped crying.

"I love you, daddy."

"I love you too, my princess. Don't ever forget that."

~♥~

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

(1 John 3:1a)