Princess

For years, I struggled to believe that God made me beautiful. I knew it in my head from the Scriptures, but doubted it in my heart. With my curly hair, brown skin, and plain looks, I earned the titles negra, nog-nog, and the worst, “charred bottom of a frying pan”. I would hear these taunts over and over during my childhood years that it took me a while to be confident going out in public and looking people in the eye.

I was probably crying often about this because I remember my dad once told me and my younger sister, “Darlings, you are princesses.” I felt like he was saying, “No matter what people are saying, stick it in your mind: You are princesses.”

Of course, I thought my parents were just biased. They were saying that to make us feel good about ourselves. I nowhere looked like the commercial models or teen pop stars I saw on televisions and in magazines, so how could I even be, or look like, a princess?

But the Lord showed me otherwise. First, He pointed out who He was — God, Sovereign Lord, Ruler and King of kings. Then He reminded me that because Jesus Christ has become my Savior, He has adopted me as His own daughter (Jn. 1:12). By virtue of my relationship with Christ, I really am a princess, the daughter of the King.

I was tempted to think God was just like my parents, trying to appease me. But in my heart, I heard His rebuke: “But I am not an escape hatch. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!”

Now I know that God is beautiful — and so are we! He wants us to be free from the lies that have hurt us in the past and hinder our growth in the present. We must live in the truth of what He says we are:

But you are God’s chosen people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things he has done.

1 Peter 2:9