I guess the short way to introduce who Stephanie was in my life is to say that she was my babysitter when I was a kid, but the truth is, she was far more than that. She was really much more like a sister to me; I never had a sister of my own, and I wanted one more than I wanted a lot of things. But Stephanie was my surrogate, the one who stood in the place where a big sister would have stood, if I had one. She was the one who taught me about make up, listened to my stories about my major crushes on boys, and crashed my slumber parties. She played with my hair and taught me how to make silly faces. She showed me what it meant to be a lady, but to be a goofy one at that. We used to tell her she was weird, but she would always reply "I'm not weird, I'm gifted." She had dreams--big ones, dreams that made me realize it was not only ok to have big aspirations, it was necessary. I remember wanting to be like her, so much so that I played tennis in high school (just like her) and went to Biola University for a small part of my undergraduate career (just like her).
So how does she inspire beauty? She inspires beauty by being fully and completely herself. She may have had her bouts of self-doubt or insecurity over the years, but even if she did, she was always authentic about it. She found who she was in Christ and encourages other women to do the same. She is a compassion incarnate, talented to no end, and totally and completely in love with Jesus. She has three beautiful little girls who adore her world and will grow in the knowledge of Jesus as they model themselves after their mother.
Stephanie, thank you for inspiring me to find my own true beauty, to take pride in the quirkiness of who I am, and to always put Christ first in my life. Thank you for being brave enough to be yourself and to encourage me to do the same.
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