"Why am I so worthless?"
Those were the words I began telling myself when I was ten.
"Why doesn't anybody love me?"
I was always the girl no one wanted to be around—the girl people avoided for reasons I could never understand. Their whispers, their mocking stares, their disgusted expressions… It made me hate myself even more.
I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror without feeling sick, without asking myself why I was here, without wondering why I had to be me.
Every day, it was the same. Until the day my grandmother died.
That day, I stood at her funeral, staring at the only person who had ever truly loved me. The only person who had ever made me feel like I mattered.
For everyone else, I was just... nothing. Maybe that's why I became so self-conscious.
Grandma always talked about God.
She would hold my hands and say, "Even when you see yourself as worthless, God sees you in another light."
But I never believed her. How could I? I was just an insect in a world full of people who didn't care whether I existed or not.
I cried for her again that night. I couldn't stop. It felt like the only person who ever saw me was gone.
The funeral ended, and I walked home alone, lost in my thoughts. That's when I heard it—a voice.
It was soft, almost like a whisper carried by the wind. But somehow, it felt warm, like it had always been there, waiting for me to notice it.
I don't know why, but I followed it.
It led me to an old, forgotten part of my house. In front of me stood a tall mirror covered in dust, hidden beneath a thick, heavy cloth.
The voice spoke again.
"Take it off."
My hands trembled as I reached forward, gripping the fabric. Slowly, I pulled it away.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, in shimmering golden letters, words appeared on the glass.
I read them aloud, my voice barely above a whisper.
"This is how God sees you."
The words faded as soon as I finished speaking.
My breath caught in my throat.
I hesitated, then reached up and wiped away the dust covering the glass.
And that's when I saw myself.
Not the broken, worthless girl I always thought I was.
Not the girl covered in the words of others—ugly, weird, unloved, useless.
No.
The reflection that stared back at me was different. Words shimmered across the mirror, appearing one by one.
The first one I saw was...
"Loved."
And then more followed.
"Precious."
"Beautiful."
"Chosen."
"Enough."
"Wanted."
Tears spilled down my cheeks. My chest ached as I reached out, pressing my fingers against the glass.
Is this... really me?
The voice returned, soft and warm.
"This is how I have always seen you."
For the first time in my life, I felt it.
Love.
Real, unconditional love.
And this time... I believed it.