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“You will be a glorious crown in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the palm of your God.”
Isaiah 62:3
Yup, I’m a pageant girl.
The desire to compete in my first pageant came after watching a small-town Iowan, Jessica Pray, compete on the Miss America stage. Although, I didn’t start competing for years later- there was always a little spark on my heart for it. Every time I thought of starting to compete, I would find myself sitting in lies of “I could never win”, “I’m not good enough”, “I’m not pretty enough”, “I’m not tall enough” … the list could go on.
My senior year of college at the University of Iowa, I started my non-profit program, RePlay. (Just a tid-bit, RePlay collects new or used sports equipment and then “RePlays” it to lower income communities to give everyone an opportunity to participate in sports. You can check it out here!! I’ll write about it in more detail in another post!) After having a successful start with RePlay, I realized that I had what they call a “social iniative impact” or platform in the pageant world.
I saw an opportunity to bring awareness that youth are missing out on fundamental opportunities by the cost barriers that expensive sports equipment has created. I was terrified to try to combine two worlds of sports and pageantry. But I followed my heart and went for it. Now, I will be competing for the title of Miss Iowa in just a few short weeks!
During my journey of competing, I have had highs and lows. I found myself trying to fit into a mold of what I thought a judge would like to see. Needless to say, it didn’t work. I walked away from my first few local competitions without a title and I started to truly lean into the Lord and rely on Him to lead the way. I knew that the desire to compete on the Miss Iowa stage was not an accident, because it was so strong. Completely undeniable.
By stepping into pageantry, I have grown in ways I never could have imagined. Since being crowned as Miss 80/35 in January, I have learned so much about how my heart is wired. Wanting something that is so much bigger than me has forced me to hand it all over to God. I have come to love my heart, my mind, and treat my body as a temple which is all necessary to be my best self. I have had to answer hard questions like, “What do I want to do in life?” or “What are my intentions?”, “What gifts has God given me to make an impact on the world?”
I continue to turn away from self-doubts and truly lean into the verse of Isaiah 62:3 “You will be a glorious crown in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the palm of your God.”
My beauty is not determined by my physical appearance and my victory is not decided by a physical crown. My heart has been beautifully and wonderfully made by the Lord and I am already victorious. I get to wear the crown that he has placed on my head as a daughter of the King every day.
The weight and pressure to receive the tangible, Miss Iowa crown has been lifted. No matter what the results are in June, I can rest knowing that I have received so much more. Now, I’m not saying that I wouldn’t appreciate a prayer or two… PLEASE SEND SO MANY PRAYERS MY WAY… but I am saying that I get to walk onto Miss Iowa stage with trust that my heart will be sparkling like the royal diadem it is.
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