Surrounded by people in the library, I cried. I broke down and wept as the grace of God poured over me. I was reading a post from Bloc Ministries, a nonprofit I work for. The post was about a bible study that they had one Thursday. They were speaking truth to the girls and asked that they go around the circle and proclaim that God calls them beautiful. “My name is ____ and God calls me beautiful”. One girl could not say it. She’d say her name and then giggle or move the attention toward her friends, almost like she did not believe the words she heard everyone else proclaim. One of the leaders realized this and looked into her eyes, “Your name is Serenity 
and God calls you beautiful.” The ladies said that you could see her body language change and she smiled, now “standing in the comfort of being assured she was made beautifully by the creator”.
Imagine, being in elementary school and thinking that you were not beautiful, that you were not worth something to anyone. When I was growing up, I was surrounded by love. My parents and grandparents would tell me I was beautiful, would tell me they were proud of me, and would love and support me constantly. I was lucky. Not everyone grows up this way; I’m sure that some of you reading this can attest to that. These girls and boys in lower Price Hill grew up completely different from me and they may not receive that love at home, if they even have a home. That’s why they go to after school programs like @iliffafterschool , to receive it. Teaching these girls that they are made beautifully by their creator is one of the most important things we can do; to let them know that they are loved and that they are so worth it.
Even as adults, sometimes we need to hear this. I have so much on plate right now between two jobs, volunteering, writing for the school paper, doing two podcasts, and taking six classes. Sometimes it is more than I can handle, I get hard on myself, I don’t eat, I don’t treat my body right and then I feel like I am worthless, ugly, and that my life is meaningless. Reading the post, I understood how the little girl felt and I remembered that even I need to stop and proclaim that God calls me beautiful and I need to remember that my creator loves me, blesses me with life, and takes away my worries. My name is Sydney and God calls me beautiful.
Shit Sydney Says 