Casandra Martin

Dear Daughter,

You are beautiful and so deeply loved. The world will tell you differently. It will parade vulgarity, immodesty, and indecency in front of you and tell you this is what beauty looks like. It will prod you to find your value in your ability to manipulate those around you through drama, sexuality, or possessiveness. It will hold up a lifestyle that celebrates losing control, losing your dignity, and losing yourself in order to get another “like” on an electronic counter. Don’t believe the world. Listen to the whisper in your soul, rather than the shout in the wind.

Beauty is not about how you look on the outside. Beauty is found in who you choose to be on the inside. The deepest beauty is found in a heart that plants itself in truth, compassion, gentleness, and joy. Modesty isn’t a hopelessly outdated idea. It is a teacher. Modesty helps you learn how to see yourself, your beauty, your purpose, and your value. It teaches others how to treat you – with the respect, dignity, honor, and admiration you deserve.

The world will challenge you, criticize you, and condemn you for not giving in, giving up, or giving it all at a party or in the backseat. It will hurt and it will sting and you will feel left out and alone. But here is the truth. Courage is the best part of being beautiful. Courage helps you stand up and tell the world that it doesn’t get to define you or write your story. Courage helps you trace the God-prints on your heart, take His hand, and experience the delight of grace.

Dear one, my Jesus Resolution today is to help you become the woman God has always planned for you to be. We will travel this road together, this journey into beauty. I am still learning, discovering, and experimenting with all that it means to be a woman who belongs to God. I want to be transparent enough, humble enough, courageous enough, and open enough to let you learn from my mistakes, to let you write your beauty into my story, and to encourage you to find your Jesus-reflection in the tears of joy and pride in my eyes.