Sweet girl, you are so very brave. Walking into a room of strangers with great hope each time to meet a friend. My heart breaks for you, because I see the disappointment and confusion when a kindred spirit is not found. My heart aches for you because when I was your age I had never moved locations and had never had to start again. I had my closest friends and they were mine forever. My heart aches because I know the longing in your heart to be known and to know.
And yet you stand tall, with a smile on your face, paving the way for the many younger ones behind you. What will you become, my Aubrey girl? You are so beautifully courageous. I just don't even know how to express my gratitude to God for you. You teach me so many things about believing the best about others, about unabashedly opening your arms to those who cross your path, about forging ahead when your world has been tossed and turned by the waves.
I hope to teach you that YOU have such great value, just as YOU are. You don't need to be competitive (though you wish you could understand this, "Dodgeball game,") and you don't need to think it's somehow your problem when others don't see your worth. You are wonderfully, beautifully, perfectly woven together by the Creator who loves you more than I do.
Aubrey Grace, I anticipate greatly watching you become all that your King has made you to be. And you will do it.
