Yiling

This is one of my young cousins, one of the most talented i would even say in my family.

Yiling, at age 10, has performed her dance, piano and acting numerous times and recently in a play that wow-ed me with her explicit facial expressions and graceful moves. She acted as the little pretty fairy. =)

She reminds me a lot of myself when i was younger; i too learnt dance, piano and art concurrently then. But i never had the boldness and confidence she exudes now on stage. =)

I want to bless her to grow up truly confident from deep within, bearing hope and dignity in her God-given identity. I say this because even from the sparse time i spent with her, i had read low self-esteem from her face and heart. And it was most explicit when i heard her own father 'joke' this while we were all watching her performance video -

"Oh yes you look like an (ugly) monster. That is why the boy (the male lead) ran away from you".

There was a certain look of helplessness on Yiling's face. Though my heart was deeply saddened at that moment, i soon rose in my heart to be strong and bear hope in the Lord that He will change this situation to His glory. My entire family will be saved.

I then hugged Yiling by my side and said "You did really well in the play. And you looked really pretty", to which she gave me a little grin at the corner of her mouth. =)