I am nervous and afraid.

I am confident on the stage.

I am beauty.

I am grace.

Only He can define me.

I am hopeful when all is hopeless,

I see past the dark.

I am scarred and I am scared,

But my scars were my art.

I have beaten those demons

And broken my heart.

Picked up the pieces

And been torn apart.

I pull myself together once again.

I am more than just makeup and a cheesy grin.

I am a performer

And a poet.

I am character shoes

And bright red lipstick.

I am sheet music

And guitar strings

And the calluses on my fingertips.

I am everything I love and so much more.

I am angry and ornery and spiteful and weak.

But I am forgiven and saved and washed in the Blood

If these words pinned beneath my pen are all I leave behind when I go, then let it be.

With His Faith and Excellence, I have everything I will ever need.

I am my grandmother's faith

And my mother's persistence.

I am my grandfather's pride

And a little girl's hero.

There is so much more to me than meets the eye.

But only He can define me.