Adolescent, youth, or adult,
Today, I want to share some words of advice (and experience) that have shaped who I am as a female role model and who I am becoming as a woman.
- Always smile. Do you know that smiling confuses people? I am a “smiler;” I just can’t help it. I have seen many people for whom smiling is not their thing. I am encouraging you to adopt smiling as “your thing.” It does the heart, mind, and body much good to smile. I love Kirk Franklin’s song “Smile” because it has the lyrics “Even when I hurt, still I smile. I know God is working, so I smile. Even though I’ve been here for a while, I smile. SMILE!”
- You are BEAUTIFUL. I sometimes hear people call other people “ugly.” Personally, I don’t like to say someone is “ugly.” Of course, we all have our preferences and standards for beauty. No doubt, some of us look better than others at times. However, I believe that we are all beautiful. For one, we were all created in the image of God – can you imagine what God must look like if He created Beyoncé, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Melinda Gates, Susan Boyle, Alicia Keys, Kim Kardashian, and Onyinye Edeh in His perfect image?
Hope you see what I mean when I say “You are Beautiful.” There’s a saying that “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.” I agree! How do you choose to see yourself? How do you choose to see others? The choice is yours. When you choose to see yourself as a beautiful creation, you start acting like a beautiful creation. So, let’s embrace our inner and outer beauty because YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.
- Be open to LOVE. This is one I have struggled with and one I am still working on. Don’t get me wrong, I love LOVE and I am a lover. I love who I am. I love God, and I love people. However, I’m not very good at allowing others love me. Do you understand what I mean? For some reason, I have grown up feeling very protective of myself (and my heart) that I don’t allow others to love me the way I deserve to be loved. I often say it’s because I don’t want to bother others. But is it? Or, am I scared of something? Why is this? We all deserve and are entitled to be loved. However, I must caution that being open to love starts with loving oneself. Never allow yourself to seek love from others when you have not first loved yourself. I think I do a pretty good job of loving myself. But, I continue to work towards allowing others to love me. My parents have done a fantastic job loving me throughout my life. Maybe they’ve made me feel like that’s all the loving I need. Haha 🙂
- Preserve your temple. This advice is one that is very near and dear to me. The Bible tells us that the human body is the temple of God. Hence, we are called/responsible to protect our bodies. How do you protect your body? In practical terms, protecting our body means honoring the body by keeping it safe from harm. I believe that girls have much more to protect than boys when it comes to the body. Please, don’t let anyone abuse your temple; not even in the name of love. Specifically (and of critical importance), when it comes to sexual intercourse, don’t allow anyone to penetrate your body (pun intended) who is not the best for you. I’m not sure how to stress this point enough. While sexual intercourse can be very fun and is to be desired, please keep your legs closed until you meet/find the very best person you decide to commit the rest of your life to and “do life together.” Many girls and women have regrets when it comes to not preserving their temple. Don’t become one of the statistics.
These words of advice can seem difficult to adhere to, but believe me when I say they are not impossible. These are principles that have guided me throughout my childhood through adolescence and the adult stages of my life, and they continue to shape the woman that I am becoming; a woman who is admired by people from all walks of life, near and far.
Don’t you want to be an admirable woman? A woman of virtue? A role model?!
This is what it means to be a #StrongEnoughGirl
Sincerely,
Your big sister <3
TO BE CONTINUED… with more advice as we get inspired to share.
