Running through the sand, chasing the waves, little giggles, + lots of making out.

The BEST photos comes from letting the wind do whatever it wants with your hair and not caring if your dress gets dirty. The real you comes out when you drop all of the expectations you put on yourself– especially you, ladies. It’s time to embrace the moments as they come instead of worrying about getting every little thing perfect. The imperfect, the messy, the raw– those are the moments that display the real love, real you, real personality.

Seriously though, I used to be so concerned with how I looked. Layers and layers of mascara were put on every single day so I could prove to the world that I was beautiful. I was begging for people to accept me. The amount of times I cried over having a bad hair day is crazy. A few years ago it clicked though–I was trying to meet some unrealistic image that I wanted to be seen as. I basically broke down, cried a ton, and finally came to a stable place of freedom from the expectations. You can also live in freedom by letting the walls down & actively believing the truth of who you were made to be.

The truth is, you are SO insanely beautiful the way you are! God made you with the perfect body size, hair texture, bone structure, smile, and all of the other parts of your body. He loves your personality, the way your voice sounds, every head on your head. He calls YOU by name. He calls you his beautiful daughter/son.

I know you’ve probably heard this but I am going to say it anyways— Cast your worries about yourself, your life, + the opinions of others, on Jesus. He wants to carry the burden– he knows we can’t measure up to the endless demands of the world and he does NOT expect you to. I always heard this and rolled my eyes. But here I am today a living testament of someone who started to actively believe this about herself.

I encourage you to read this out loud: “Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on me! He has called me and made me his very own beloved child. The reason the world doesn’t recognize me as I am is that they don’t recognize him. Beloved, I am God’s child right now.” 1 John 3:1-2 TPT

You are loved as you are.

–A girl sitting on her couch, still in her PJ’s at 5PM, no makeup, pimples, and greasy hair from not showering in 3 days.

P.S. More blogs like this to come, but for now enjoy these carefree, fun, authentic photos of real emotion and love.