She’s a Beautiful Disaster, and She’s Everywhere

I remember like it was yesterday. Taken off guard, eyes tearing in the middle of my work day. I had never heard the words before. But as they danced along the radio waves they burned themselves on my heart.

She loves her mama’s lemonade, 
Hates the sound that goodbyes make.
She prays one day she’ll find someone to need her.

She swears that there’s no difference, 
Between the lies and compliments. 
It’s all the same if everybody leaves her.

And every magazine tells her she’s not good enough,
The pictures that she’s seen make her cry.

She would change everything for happy ever after.
Caught in the in between, a beautiful disaster,
But she just needs someone to take her home.

Beautiful Disaster
by Jon McLaughlin

She’s a beautiful disaster, and she is everywhere

I see her every day.

Online. At the grocery store. Walking her dog across the street.

I read her story in the headlines.

Suicide. Cutting. Body shaming. Rape. Teen pregnancy. Abuse. Trafficking victim. Orphan.

I see people shake their heads at her wondering what went wrong. I try not to shake them and scream.

We went wrong. We did this to her.

Church members. School teachers. Relatives she thought she could trust. We look, but we don’t see. Smiling and nodding and moving right along. Clicking our tongues. But do we help? Do we love? Do we go beyond the how are you to find out what’s really happening in their world? In their heart?

Do we go beyond the how are you to find out what's really happening in their world? Click To Tweet

Maybe she is you

Praying that someone will want you, need you, love you. Feeling very much alone. Not measuring up to the ads on tv, the magazines, the Instagram models around you every day. Pressured on every side to give yourself over to the lust in another person’s heart. Wearing a mask of normalcy and hoping that no one can see how you really feel. Willing to give up everything just to be happy. Just to be known. Just to be loved. Only seventeen, or twenty-three, or thirty-one…but oh, so tired.

You need to know…

You are not alone. I know it feels that way. I know it seems that there is not another soul on earth that understands you.

But you need to know, the God of creation formed you in love exactly how He wanted you to be. Then, knowing that sin would keep you from His presence, He sent His own Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for your sin. That penalty is death. Jesus died in your place. There is no greater love than His.

You are not alone. Jesus paid the penalty for your sin. There is no greater love than His. Click To Tweet

Jeremiah 31:3 – I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. (ESV)

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)

Psalm 147:2-4 – The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. (ESV)

We are all God’s daughters

He created us, but He also gives us a choice. To join His family or to go our own way. Where we start does not determine where we end.

We must give our hearts and souls to the One who loves us all with all He is. His Word says even now He is preparing a heavenly home for those who put their faith in Him.

Will you give Him your heart in return? It may be battered, bruised, and worn out from being used by those that promised love and didn’t deliver—but He can make it whole again.

We have a responsibility to each other

Maybe you aren’t the broken one. Or maybe you were and God healed you. You have a responsibility to show His love to the hurting around you.

You have a responsibility to show Jesus' love to the hurting around you. Click To Tweet

Sometimes we need to pause long enough to see the pain behind the fake smile. It takes just a minute to give a hug, lift a prayer, or send a text. But it can mean the world to someone who just needed to know another living soul cares about them.

Be that person. Be the one to pull off the mask of “I’m okay” and share a much needed hug. We’re all in this thing called life together.

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If you feel I wrote this post just for you, I also wrote a book just for you. It’s called Forgetting the Fairy Tale and a version of this post is included as the Preface.

I want you to know that I see you. I’ve been you. Somedays I still am. But you and I, we have hope in Jesus. He has changed my life and He can change yours too. I hope you will read the book and tell me tell me what you think in an Amazon review on Facebook or in a message. I’d love to hear from you.