Little girl, Rise!

By Colleen Mitchell

Photo by Kyson Dana via Unsplash.

There was a point in second grade where I dreamed so fully of being a Native American princess that I was nearly convinced I was one. When I looked in the mirror, I did not see my nearly transparent skin and wavy auburn hair as a detriment to my dream.

I saw a strong, brave girl who could claim what she wanted to be and be it.

And here I am some 35 years later figuring out that truth in a new way.

These days, I am learning to look in the mirror and hear God’s voice say to me: “Hello, precious one. You are brave. You are strong. You are a warrior. And you are loved. Right now, just as you are. All of all of you is loved and delighted in.”

And I am learning to believe that voice again, that voice that says that by accepting not a childish daydream version of myself, but God’s word on who I am, I can begin to delight in myself again too.
I can look in the mirror and see my graying hairs and that new sun spot in the corner of my eye and not see them as a detriment, but as a delight.

A delight that reminds me that I am a strong, brave, beautiful daughter of the One True King.

A delight that sends me whooping and hollering and beating the celebratory drum of my own heart, because God my father takes me by the hand and says to me: “Talitha cum!”—“Little girl, rise.”– (Matthew 5: 41).

Because of his love, there my little girl dreams can awake and blossom again, but in new light.

I am not strong and brave and beautiful in a fairy tale sense. God the Father makes me brave and strong and calls me loved so that I can be filled to the brim with his mercy and let it overflow to others in need.

I am HIS warrior princess, HIS brave girl, HIS strong one, and he DELIGHTS in me, and wants to use me in his service.
And he is whispering the same back at you when you face yourself in the mirror, sister. He is singing you your dreams, and delighting in all of you. He is inviting you to rise and believe. Do you hear the drum beating too?

About the Author:

Colleen Mitchell is a wife to Greg, bringer-upper of five boys, foreign missionary, and writer, speaker and encourager and wanna-be saint. She lives in Costa Rica where she and her family carry out the work of their missionary non-profit, St. Bryce Missions and run the St. Francis Emmaus Center pregnancy and medical hostel for indigenous women. She is the author of Who Does He Say You Are? Women Transformed by Christ in the Gospels and blogs at Blessed Are the Feet.