Hi everyone! As I mentioned on one of my other posts, I love public speaking. After some friends brought up the idea, I decided, why not post my speeches on my blog as well!
The following speech was my first official speech ever. This speech was written for my public speaking class my freshmen year of high school in 2012. Personally, it is one of my favorite speeches still to this day!
Invisible Worth by Ashley Rocha
Presented 12/6/12 to school
Hi. Before I start I'd just like to say that I pray you will listen to this as if I were not the one giving this speech. I pray you will listen to it as though it were God giving it and not me because the words of this speech are not my own but his. I know this because he has spoken them to me himself. He has told me in many different ways but it always came down to this. Your worth is not found in what you see. As you can probably tell, I was born very different from the rest of you, of course we all have our differences but mine can be seen in the blink of an eye. It took me and is still taking me sometime to realize, my worth is not only found in what I see. I've had a lot of friends, been made fun of, and have also been afraid but it wasn't long until I figured out that it was God that created me this way and that he loved me. So what did I do next? I asked God questions, so many questions. Why couldn't I be tall like everyone else? Why couldn't I be beautiful and no one would ever like me. And I would look in the mirror and notice someone that this world would not consider beautiful. This I believed. Over the years though, I slowly began to realize that others born like me had simply decided to give up on life and themselves because they had absolutely no hope. I began to wonder if this was how I wanted to live the rest of my life. Making fun of myself every time I looked in the mirror. Well with what I believed I was worth, I was headed in that direction. For the past 8 years of my life, God has taught me so much and it is because of the things that he has taught me and what I have learned, is the reason I stand up here today. I would like to share with you some of the amazing and life changing truths that God has taught me.
I truly believe with all my heart, that the way that you view yourself and why you believe it, are probably one of the things that effects the choices that we make in our lives the most. Look at drugs, bad dating relationships, happy people, sad people. The way that you live your life is almost completely based off of how much you value yourself. Do you think that that 17 year old boy in my neighborhood would have taken those drugs that all the cool kids at school were taking if he knew he was good enough and didn't need to prove anything? Or that girl at your church have that broken heart right now if she knew she didn't have to have a boyfriend to tell her how great she was all the time because no one else would? Or that celebrity be so lost because she didn't get that part in the movie and now she thinks she's worthless because she wasn't exactly the type of person they were looking for? Do you think that heir lives and their actions would be different if they truly knew where their worth lies? I think it would have been a very different outcome!
So why do we care about what other people think though? Why do we always have to have someone approve of us and tell us that we are good enough? Why couldn't we have just been born knowing, yeah I'm cool enough? I believe that we are given this desire because God knows that he is the only one or thing that can complete us. I believe it was given as a reason to bring us closer to him. I believe that when we want someone to admire us, it is really God telling our hearts they desire something to complete them. God brings us to our knees looking for purpose and acceptance, yet in this world we find none, and it is when it comes to this, this is when he reveals himself in mighty ways!
So once we find God, what makes his response to our worth so much more fulfilling and easier to accept than the worlds? Well I'll tell you, if you want to be completely crushed by the answer, I don't recommend asking a celebrity. See the world will tell you for a girl, you are truly worth something if you are the prettiest one on the plant and for a guy, if you are married to her. Now honestly, I think that that is a pretty high standard to meet. So they're basically saying only one man and one woman can be worth something at a time. But I wonder what God thinks of us as far as our worth goes? Do you know what he says? He states in proverbs 31:30 that," charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but the one who fears the Lord is to be praised." Now it didn't say in there that anyone under 150 pounds is beautiful and everyone else simply isn't worth your time. No, but it says the one who fears the Lord is to be praised! Or like it also says in Proverbs 31:10" the one with noble character is worth more that rubies" it didn't say the guy or girl wearing the latest fashions and styles, no this worth is found in something completely different. In their character and personality. But I think of all the verses I've come across on this topic, the one I love the most is a verse found in 1 Samuel. It states, " man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord of Lords and Father of galaxies looks at ours hearts" He himself tells us our worth is not found on the outside and yes people do judge us by this, but whose opinion really matters to you? Sinful mans, whose idea of cool and popular, and fashion are changing all the time? Or the King and ruler and owner of the hand that split, flooded, plagued, healed and saved this earth and our world? I believe his vote should count!
So if for some crazy reason all of a sudden today, every human beings worth was seen by what was in their heart and there was no way to be seen from the outside. What would you look like? And would you be proud of that?
Even today I still wonder if the reason that some people aren't my friend is because I'm worth enough to them based on the outside. I pray that we wont forget whose vote really counts in our lives. Worth is not found on the outside because if it was some of us would ever be worth anything our entire lives.
So what I hope you really realize and take away with you today is this, if you cant find your worth in what you see, its probably because there's nothing there, but if you look for your worth in what you cannot see, you will find that it truly is there. Thank you.
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