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Dear Clara

My daughter, my Clara, my sweet girl,

  You can wear Batman outfits. You can also wear sparkly shoes. You can play with trucks and dinosaurs. You can also play with tea sets and princess dresses.
  Yes, we will happily let you follow your brother on adventures, discovering trees, rocks, and mud, to return with dirty feet and scraped knees. We won't think much of it if you like bugs, or baseball, or the color blue. And likewise, we will be unconcerned if you prefer dolls, ballet, and all things pink and glittery.

  God made you a girl. A beautiful, strong, gentle, capable, precious little girl. Being a girl is a good thing. It is no better and no worse than being a boy. But it is different. And that is a good thing, too. A God-designed thing.
  All girls are not the same, and all boys are not the same. Yet your father and I are different; you and your brother are different.

  One thing we all have in common is this: God made us, just the way we are, intentionally and for the purpose of knowing Him. He did not make a mistake in our design.
  You do not need to be less of a girl. I do not need to be less of a girl.
  But I do need to be less of myself- so that I can be more like Jesus.
  Less like a sinner, lost and broken; more like my Savior, who found me and has made me new.

  I will remind you of these things sometimes, when the world rages against our door with lies. And if you choose to listen, to believe that God designed you well, you will find the incredible joy and inexplicable peace that comes with embracing- not who YOU think you are- but who God says you are.
  After all, He would know. He made you.

  I love you!
    - Mama

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