Am I Good Enough?

Today I listened in on a conference call about raising awareness for the HIV/AIDS in the black community, but it was the closing remarks that have been resonating in my mind for the past few hours. A fellow Hamptonian is part of the pageant committee that hosted the call and in the middle of her closing statement I heard her say, "I wondered 'Am I good enough?'"

My mind instantly heard Kevin Costner's tribute to Whitney Houston, where he so eloquently describe a woman that he clearly loved and admired. He said, "The Whitney I knew, despite her success and worldwide fame, still wondered, ‘Am I good enough? Am I pretty enough? Will they like me?’ It was the burden that made her great, and the part that caused her to stumble in the end."

We all wonder - at some point in each of our blessed lives, are we good enough. Thinking back over my years, I have wondered that same thing when it comes to school, work, pageants, and, more recently, relationships. But my smallest successes in each of those areas of my life give me hope. They remind that I am good enough - and how do I know this? Because I say so and I won't accept anything less. I truly know that I am good enough because my Heavenly Father says so. And after His approval, I need no one else's.

For those of you who may still doubt if you're good enough. I will simply challenge you to: Know that you are beautiful (tell yourself this every day). Believe in your dreams (because if you don't who will?). And always look forward because you cannot change your past. But the future? That is in your hands.