gathering light...

this is for you.

i want you to know first how beautiful you are. numbers don’t equal beauty. a size doesn’t equal beauty. a skin tone doesn’t equal beauty. beauty is the way you love other people. beauty is the way you are uniquely you. beauty is the way your curly hair compliments your green eyes. beauty is the way your unique features of dark hair and light eyes makes you strikingly beautiful. beauty is the gentle words you use, the lovely style you have. beauty is your heart that is too big for your body. beauty is the way you wear glasses because they suite you. beauty is the light you bring to a room. beauty is the reflection you are of something bigger. beauty is the way you treat others with respect. you are beautiful.

secondly, i want you to know how much purpose your life has. purpose isn’t being rich or making the most money. purpose isn’t having the nicest of everything. purpose is the way your gifts and abilities bless other people. purpose is the people that love you and your connection to them. purpose isn’t being better than someone else, rather being excellent at whatever it is you do. purpose is the fact that you will be missed when you’re gone and things aren’t the same without you. purpose is your dreams, passions, goals. purpose is the things that make your heart come alive. purpose is the reason you exist. purpose is the way that the story of being nothing than becoming something changes other people. you have purpose.

i want you to know you’re free. you’re free from the past. you’re free from choices you’ve made. you’re free from what you’ve done and what’s been done to you. you are free from the pressure to become something that you aren’t. chains have fallen and you are not who you were before. you’re free from having to measure up. you’ve been liberated. you’ve been released. you are free.

you are loved. you are new. you are going to go somewhere and you’re going to be somebody. you’re enough. you are precious. you are prized. you make life better for other people. you are stronger than you think. keep going. get up. don’t lose hope. 

now…believe it.