When I was a little girl, I can remember, I moved to a new city and I told every kid I met that my name was Stacy. I told them that I had a twin sister named Starla but she would be here at the end of summer to start school and that I would be going back to my mom.

I remember when I went camping one time with my cousins, that I pretended to be deaf.

I remember pretending to be older than I was. ( Like that ever worked 😆)

I remember trying to be smarter than I was. (Mostly that just turned out to be sassy)

I struggled when I was a kid trying to be exactly who I was. I felt so out of place in my family. When I turned 13, I found out that my dad wasn’t really my dad and that my mom has been married before. I never knew my real dad. Not knowing to whom you belong or where you come from really puts a tailspin on the soul. Now I’m 41 years old and I feel more myself than I ever have in my entire life. In my 30’s, I thought I was going to struggle forever with the fear of what other people thought of me. In my 20’s, I thought I knew everything. Apparently, I was still pretending.

Overcoming the things that try to twist our souls and turn us into something that we’re not requires us to find the One who made us. The scripture says, “I was knit together in my mother’s womb” before I was ever born. I remember reading the verses and coming to the realization and revelation that it was God who made me. That revelation plus the revelation that my Father in heaven is the One who watches over me and takes care of me, stripped me of the fear of what other people think.

Three things everyone should know:

1. They are loved.

2. They were wanted.

3. They are wonderful creations made by God the Father to be a blessing and a gift to this world.

The scripture says, “the power of life and death are in the tongue.” So please, be careful with the hearts of people around you. Be responsible with the power that you have, that comes with the fact that you, have a mouth that works. Go out there: Be love & speak life.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Proverbs 18:21

For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

Psalm 139:13-15

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

John 13:34

Thanks for listening,

Starla