let us run with patience

When I was a brand new 16 year old I was asked to team teach the combined young women's lesson to the girls ages 12-18 with one of my best friends.

The subject? Dating.

Neither of us had ever been on a date and we hadn't the slightest clue about dating in the first place. We still don't. But we just read from the For The Strength Of Youth pamphlet and quoted a prophet and called it good.

What I didn't realize as a brand new 16 year old was that the class I taught on dating wouldn't apply to me much, at least not for a long time. It wouldn't apply to me because I wouldn't get any opportunity to apply that lesson on dating.

Starting when I was somewhere around the age of goo-goo and gah-gah I was introduced, as all little girls are, into a world were every girl is a "princess" and every girl is supposed to be swept off her feet by a knight in shining armor. I grew up dreaming of a Troy and Gabriella relationship only to find out that I'm more of a Kelsie when it comes to guys.

I found that I wasn't invited to the "balls" at the school and soon made friends with a guy named Netflix who kept me company on dance nights. I made a mental note not to check Facebook the night after a dance because it would quickly be flooded with pictures of happy couples in fancy attire before the head out on their dates.

So here's the confessions of a girl two months shy of 18.

I've only ever been on one date. I asked on that date.

I wondered sometimes if there was something wrong with me. If there was some kind of secret I was missing or some kind of potion I needed to drink to make a prince fall in love with me.

What I didn't realize was my divine worth.

What I didn't realize was that I am the daughter of a king regardless of the fact that my prince still hasn't shown up yet.

What I didn't realize was what Heaven saw in me.




Amongst painful teenager dateless-days I realized that the worth of a teenager has nothing to do with dates. I realized that what really mattered was what the King thought of me. I realized that if I wanted to find my prince someday that I'd better make sure I'm worthy of him. I'd better make sure that when the time comes I'm ready to enter into the castle.

So I want to write a message to the small girl in the little white dress. You might not go on a hundred dates in high school. You might not stay up late every night with a buzzing phone with messages from adoring men. You might go until after your 18th birthday to get asked on a date. You might have to wait longer. You might have sit on stand by as your friends go to proms and homecomings. You might be forced to live every Taylor Swift song ever written.

You are still a princess.

The worth of your soul is not dependent on the number of dates you have, but the amount of good you do.

The worth of your soul is not dependent on your prom dress, but your three white dresses.

You are beautiful and your prince awaits.

Now as a little girl you may think that happily ever after ever after starts as you ride away in a horse drawn carriage, but the truth is that your happily ever after begins now.

Run towards God and the right man will follow.

As for me, I'm still running.

"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." -Hebrews 12




Feel my sunlight


p.s. This is a shout out to all you guys out there. Ask a girl on a date. It doesn't have to be me. Heck it might be better if it wasn't. Just tale a girl on a date.