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Growing up wasn’t always so easy for me.

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In my childhood and early teenage years

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I was really insecure.

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And I would think really low of myself

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and wouldn’t accept myself as I am.

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A great part of it was my

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elementary school teacher who would

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often single me out in front of students

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telling me that I was not gonna(going to)

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succeed in life and I was not going to

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do better than a C average.

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And so that really kind of…

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when he said those things to me,

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over and over again, they kind of stuck to me

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and I started to believe it

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and that's how I became

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more and more insecure.

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I also had friends in school,

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they knew that something was different in me

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because I grew up in a Christian home.

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And they knew that and they just

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treated me like I was a different person

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than they are(were) and I never really fit in,

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in their little conversations

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or something that they had.

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Yeh that was kind of hard for me.

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I wouldn't really open up to my parents

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because I thought, "its ok,

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its who I am, I'm different.

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I'm not one of them and its ok you know?"

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And when I was about 14 years old

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I had this amazing experience with God.

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it was at night, late at night and

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I just realized how

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God has this great love for me

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I was reading Bible a little bit and

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I came across this verse.

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And it really hit me that he has this

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unconditional love for me and

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it doesn't matter what other people

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think about me because

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they will never love me as much as

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God loves me.

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And they will never care about me as much

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as God does. And so just knowing that was

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starting to build a little bit of my confidence.

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And you know I was then able to

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talk to my parents a little bit about that

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and my friends,

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I started to go to different bible studies

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and learn about God's love for me.

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At times I tend to think

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too highly about myself,

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or even go to the other extreme

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and beat myself with a false humility.

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And there's this really cool verse in Rom. 12:3

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and it talks about how we should not

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think highly of ourselves

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but just think of ourselves

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in a sober judgment.

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And I think that somewhere in-between

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is really healthy for a person

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to be in that state of mind.

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God chose me before I was born.

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He gave me certain characteristics

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and gifts and talents.

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And I believe that God is perfect

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and that He doesn’t make mistakes

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and therefore I'm not a mistake.

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And in Jeremiah 29:11 it says that

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God has plans for me, plans to

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prosper not to hurt me.

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To give me hope and a future

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and this means for me that he really

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planned for me to look this way and

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for me to have these characteristics to have

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certain talents and gifts,

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and that I'm not a mistake and that

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I'm a unique person for that.

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And that I should be grateful for who I am

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and just worship Him for

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just creating me like this.

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I know that I like to dance my whole life

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I’ve liked to watch other people dance,

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but I never really tried it myself.

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I thought that I would never be good enough,

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or that I didn’t think that was for me.

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And then one day I just decided that I'm gonna

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go with it and try it.

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And I decided I really really like it.

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I believe that I don't have to be perfect

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in everything that I do. I can make mistakes

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and because I don't depend on other people

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and what they think of me,

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it’s more about what God thinks of me.

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And it’s more about not proving myself

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but just expressing myself.

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And I found that

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I can express myself through dance (and)

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that God gave me that talent

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and that's why I'm using it. And also

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if I would have to prove myself to somebody

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that would mean that, I would..

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Making mistakes would frustrate me.

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It would be more about competition,

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and not about art.

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And for me because I'm free of that,

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I'm free of proving myself to others

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I can experience this great joy

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while I'm dancing.