To the girl...

To the girl who sits alone in the lunch room. To the girl who sits in the back of the classroom at an empty table. To the girl who cries alone in her closet so no one else will hear her.

You matter.

To the girl who doesn't get picked to play at recess. To the girl who doesn't get invited to sleepovers. To the girl who gets left out of group messages.

You matter.

To the girl who will bend over backwards to help someone but doesn't get anything in return. To the girl who smiles because she doesn't want everyone to know how much she's falling apart. To the girl who wonders if things will ever change or if she even deserves for things to change.

You matter.

But no matter how many times you hear it, you're not going to believe it. That's just the way you are. You're the type of person that sees worth in everyone else but yourself. You see beauty in everyone else but yourself. But guess what?

You are beautiful. You are worth it. You matter.

You've probably heard over and over again the fact that God loves you and that you're not alone. But who actually believes that? You probably don't. But whether or not you believe it doesn't make it any less true. You have been chosen for this life you are living because God doesn't always call the popular kids or the people who have successful lives. He calls the tax collectors, the fishers, or an ordinary virgin... he doesn't call the extraordinary. He picks the ordinary and the outcasts time and time again.

You are loved. You are chosen. You matter.

To the girl who's alone... and crying... and wondering whether it's ever going to change. I hear you. I feel you. Because I am you. I am that girl. This is my life.

It's easy for me to write this on my blog and make it look nice and neat and pretty. But it's not. If you are one of these girls then you know. We can read these pretty words all day long and maybe start to believe it in our heads but it seems like it will never make its way into our hearts. But until that day comes, we will just have to keep telling ourselves these pretty words.

We deserve the best. We deserve to be picked first. We matter.

We are beautiful. We are worth it. We matter.

We are loved. We are chosen. We matter.