So really it encouraged me to look deeper into myself and to look deeper into who I wanna be, and who God’s called me to be. And not only that, but I’m glad I was bullied because it made me look deeper, it made me rely on God and pushed me and made me more determined for the dreams that I had. I wouldn’t be who I am today—I know that for a fact—I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for those times. Because instead of giving up and letting what they said form me, I strived to show the world and myself who I really am, who God has made me. And that is unique, and His treasure and different from the rest of the world. We as believers are different and the world won’t like that, so we will be bullied, that just comes with the gig of being a Christ-follower. Jesus was bullied. I’m encouraged by that, knowing that, hey, when I’m bullied, when I’m persecuted, so was my God, so was Jesus! We strive every day to be more like Christ and Christ-like, and I feel like that’s kind of just part of it. And we overcome, and like I said we look deeper into who we are, and we see what we want, what we need to strive for, what we’re passionate about. And we strive for what God has for our lives, and not focusing on the bullies, and the harsh words.
Crown of Beauty: So what are some ways you would show love to someone who was hurting you?
Lauren: Well first I obviously, I would need to forgive them. I can’t take any next steps without forgiving them. And then after forgiving them through Jesus, I would need to take my eyes off of what they did, off the hurt, off of that person. Because so often we just focus so hard on that so much that we can’t move on. So we would need to stop focusing on the person, on the hurt, but instead I would need to keep my eyes on Jesus. And just focus in on Him.
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