Dear Child Me,
First I want to say that you’re going to go through a geeky stage.
Those princess curls you cut yourself at five years old are going to cause you all kinds of grief once you learn how to hold a brush yourself and think that you must stick to 200 strokes every night. Those big blue eyes that wrapped your Daddy around your little finger are going to be hidden behind glasses (thankfully, though, Daddy will remain happily entwined).
And you’re going to have to get braces. Ouch.
Don’t worry. You’ll make it past that awful age and discover Curly Girl and contacts and graduate into straight teeth.
Second, I want to say that you’re going to tell God no.
You’re going to read of princesses and knights in shining armor and missionaries who carried their coffins with them and you’re going to notice the difference.
Between happily ever after and laying lives down.
You’re going to get scared of that.
Because you already love Jesus and want to serve Him, but the flouncy skirts and tiaras interest you more than tales of huts.
Oh, darling, you’re going to quake. And then you’re going to say no to God and say you’re never going to be a missionary.
But, just as you blossomed out of the wince-worthy pictures, you’re going to realize that princesses are more than tiaras; they’re servants who share their shoes (excuse me, glass slippers) and rip their petticoats to bandage the wounds of the hurting.
You’re going to see that Kingdoms are worth fighting for when the King is noble and good (and He is, oh, He is) and princes aren’t the only ones who get to carry swords.
You know what they say about those, anyway. The pen wins.
Oh, yeah, I should probably mention that not only will you never tire of those princess stories, but those stories you read (the princess and the missionary ones) are preparing you to write your own stories.
Tales of true love and Truth, love.
Tales of heroines whom you think are stronger than you.
And you’re going to have some pretty grand girlfriends come alongside you, too.
Until you wake up one day and wonder at this daring strength growing inside you, this warrioress longing to step out on the front lines and defend the hurting, this brave pirate princessa who is intent on retrieving the lost from the Enemy’s camp. At the behest of your King.
And it is His daring strength, you know.
What you once told God you’d never do, you’re going to do. And it’s going to change your life.
And then you’re going to get home and forget.
But then you’ll remember. And when you do, you’ll step into those glass slippers and become the princess you’ve always wanted to be, and you mostly won’t even miss Prince Charming by your side because you know he’s got dragons of his own and you’re so focused on the ones your King is helping you vanquish. Then you’ll step right back out of those shoes and hand them to the hurting.
And that, my dear, is happily ever after.
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