Paperdoll Blog Party Day TWO!

Most of you have probably read "In Step" in an article of Brio, or Natalie Lloyd's blog. Therefore you know about her extreme talent of being able to write about faith, beauty, imagination, and dorky ways all at once. She tells stories with nonfiction in a way that no one can.

In her book Paperdoll, she helps unravel a story that's familiar, yet viewed as plain. The story of the woman at the well. We tend to just view this Bible story as one of Jesus' many accomplishments. And nothing more. It gets put on the back burner when it comes to other miracles performed by God's son while on this earth. The Samaritan women was just that, a woman. We don't even know her name. She doesn't seem as special as Mary, Ruth, or Esther. But that's the irony of it all.

We, as a world, see them more important because of what???...their fame, their faith...the fact they seemed to have everything together...the fact that even in their darkest hour, they were stronger, more faithful, more powerful than we think we could be? Those are the women that tend to be remembered from the Bible because those are the women we want to be. We don't what to be the woman at the well that's lost everything, destroyed her own life, and has become an outcast to her people. We want to be like the girls that got it all, we want to be paperdolls.

The pretty one, the lucky one, the rich one, the smart one, the really brave one, the one with the cute boyfriend. We all know people that fit into those categories, their names are probably already swimming in your head. Your enemies, your friends. They seem different and suddenly you want to be them. So you trade in that one of kind hand painted china doll for one more easy to change, easy to blend in doll.

One made of paper.

God doesn't want His daughters to be paper. He wants us to have a heart, a soul, a mind, a spirit, He wants us to be ourselves. Even if that means pimples, baby-sized hands, bad eyesight, braces, ugly feet. Even if that means a C in science, a tutor in math, a fear of tests. Even if that means the inability to draw anything with detail, being a dancer whose never done a triple pirouette, the girl that can't sing, not always being nice and sometimes regretting what you say, wanting something more than anything but constantly wondering if you're talented enough to get. Those of you that don't know me should know that I just described myself. But I'm okay with that, because I'm okay with who I am. I know that even though I'm ALL those things and a million more, I'm witty, and funny, and a good friend, I'm honest, and brave, and beautiful and I have the biggest imagination.

But most important I'm a child of God. I'm worth something, He loves me. He loves Mary, Ruth, Esther, and the Samaritan woman and you all the same way. He loves look-a-like, act-a-like paper dolls. But he made hand-painted, unique, china dolls, which one do you what to be???

You can find Little Fairy here. Go give her some love, mkay?