once upon a time

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to twirl and pirouette in front of windows, mirrors and anything that welcomed a reflection. She would practice her routines for hours in the garage in her classically white roller skates. She did flips on bars and gymnastics in the yard. The whole world truly was her stage. She never doubted her talent, never questioned her beauty. She knew she was a princess.

As the little girl grew up she learned to nourish a perfectionistic tendency from deep within. As the years went by she began doing less and less of what she once loved because she would somehow fail if she was anything less than the best. Her self-worth became wrapped up in what she did well, where she excelled, and slowly her creativity was squelched, almost becoming non-existant--almost. She became a ridged rule follower and would cast harsh judgmental thoughts and glances upon those who weren't. She never felt good enough because not even the girl herself could live up to her impossibly perfect expectations.

Luckily the story doesn't end there. In college the girl saw her desperate need to return, yet again, to her first Love. Over the next years the girl learned to feast on the words from her Abba, Father. She found freedom from bondage and began living again, walking in truth. She began to receive blessings and cast away curses spoken over her. She now fights lies from the enemy boldly with the Sword of Truth. She finds joy in encouraging and standing in the gap for others. She has learned the power of her words and considers it all joy to be entrusted to speak into the lives of women.

This now woman believes in miracles, takes God at His word. She is beginning to believe again that she truly is a princess, for her Father is the King of all kings. Her dreams, she realizes, are a gift from God, the very Lover of her soul, and she prays expectantly, waiting patiently, (some days more patiently than others), knowing that extraordinary is not just something saved for the future...it's right now!

And while her story here on earth will one day end, she keeps her focus upward knowing that one day she will be united in perfection with her happily ever after.