From Brianna:
I'm what the world likes to call a "church girl". My parents are pastors and I've grown up in church all my life. Yep, a PK (preacher's kid). Sometimes, we get the WORST reputation. We're often held to a higher standard by people that don't even know us. Whether we want them to or not, our actions affect more than just us. After SO many years as a PK, I'm STILL getting used to this.
It took me a while to learn that no matter what I do, I can't satisfy everyone. Being a "good girl" doesn't mean that I'm without fault or better than anyone; for me, being a good girl means that I take pride in not conforming and I wear Christ on my sleeve.
We experience real life temptations and circumstances just like everyone else. What separates us from others is the Christ in our hearts. We don't experience these trials alone. We have our heavenly Father. Although we may be unpopular, we're treasured.
I'm not sure when the decision to have standards and be set apart became so unpopular, but one thing is for sure: my conviction is much stronger than my need to please. Trying to fit in just does not work for me. Tried it. It's so uncomfortable pretending to be like something you're not. At the end of the day, I have to deal with every decision I made. No one else. There's NOTHING wrong with being a good girl. There's nothing wrong with deciding to be better.
If you don't want to, DON'T. If you don't like him, SAY SO. If you don't feel right about it, PRAY. I encourage other young women to be strong and hopeful. You have a friend in me. My ultimate goal is to please the Ultimate Judge. Be better :-)
From Mo'Nique:
"Girls Gone...Better." Wow. When my partner presented this blog title in the beginning stages of creating "Pretty Proverbs", I couldn’t resist the temptation to giggle inside just a little. See, it used to be weird to think of myself as a "Good Girl", because that wasn't always my case. Now don’t get me wrong, I grew up in church. I have been Pentecostal for about 85 % of my life, and church had been a way of life for me. However, by the early stages in college, I made it my ultimate calling to run as far away from the alter as humanly (and spiritually) possible. I was simply tired of the labels, the standards that I had to live up to, the pedestal everyone wanted to place me on - all of it. Just down right fed up with religion and its people. In my eyes church people were only doers when they were IN church, but as soon as the offering was gathered and the benediction was over, the real people surfaced. However, now that I am wiser, I understand that this isn't all people of the church, merely people who just pretend to live a Christian life. Even so, I didn’t get too far before I started noticing the detriment I was placing on my life. Despite this flawless appearance (so I thought), I had learned to mask some pretty ugly scars. I kept bandaging wounds that insisted on bleeding out, and the more I bandaged, the thinner reality became. Before I knew It, I was a complete shamble. Falsifying a lifestyle that I didn’t fit into, just so I could maintain this worshipped image I had created. It wasn’t worth it. Too ashamed to return to God, I kept all of this heaviness on my shoulders and suffered in silence. Until one day, my daddy (God) lifted that burden and returned my voice. He forgave me and began teaching me how to forgive myself. So, no I never thought I would be able to call myself a “Good Girl”, ever, but here I am. A good girl gone...”better”.