Daughters of the King

Two (and a half!) year old girls are full of wonderful surprises. Today when we told Mackenzie it was time to get dressed to go, she came out of her room wearing her train hat on backwards, her heart-covered Elmo shirt, skinny jeans, black boots, a teal necklace, and her little pink purse over one arm. Before we left she had to be sure she had all of the essentials: her sippy cup with milk, two rubber balls, her toy puppy dogs, and her music player.

This girl has style. And confidence. I hope she never changes.

There are moments as a mom where I notice these beautiful, unhindered, inspiring pieces of her personality and character blossoming right in front of me, and I just want to step in and somehow protect that moment so that it never changes and is never blemished, because it’s priceless, and the world is harsh, and I don’t want her to ever loose her sense of confidence or trust or wonder or joy.

For now, for these few sweet years that I can protect that, I will.

I pray out loud for Mackenzie in the morning on the way to school each day, and we pray together at night. I often find myself praying that God will guard and protect her heart, that it will always be His. Tonight I found myself praying that she will always be confident and know her value and worth, because she is a daughter of the King.

That’s a phrase I haven’t heard in a long time. I heard it a lot at church when I was a teenager, and maybe that’s the thing — maybe it’s a message we aim at teenagers, because we want them to be strong, godly women, and then forget to tell ourselves when we’re older.

The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

So in case you forgot…

• You are priceless. You have great worth. (Matthew 13:45-46)
• God delights in you and rejoices over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17
• You are beautiful. (Psalm 45:13)
• You are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Pslam 139:14)
• You are blessed because you believe. (Luke 1:45)
• Wherever you are, whatever you are doing or struggling with or worried about or dealing with… God sees you. He hasn’t overlooked you. He hears your cry. (Genesis 16:13)

When you go to work on Monday, or when you make dinner for your family tomorrow night, or plan for Valentine’s Day, or put your kids to bed… remember that you are a daughter of the King. Life has changed. You may be who you thought you would be when you were 13 years old, or you may not. But you’re still a daughter of the King. That hasn’t changed. You are as priceless and beautiful today as you were then. And in the challenges you face, remember that He is the God who sees you. He is with you, and you are more valuable to Him than you will ever know.