Teenagers These Days

This is a SHOUT OUT to my 3 Bible Study Gals. These are the three girls I mentor. They are 9th and 10th graders and they have such a special place in my heart. They don't have boyfriends. They don't drink or do drugs. They don't hate their parents or authority. They don't dress to impress. They have hearts of gold. And I'll tell ya why....

They love their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and they show it by the way they talk, act, and live. I have so much respect for who they are choosing to be for Christ. It makes me think back to my high school days when I was so focused on how "cute" I could dress... when I dated dramatically and sporatically and broke hearts and got my heart broken over and over again... when I didn't understand purity or sacrificial love....and when God was someone who only wanted me to behave and obey.

My teenage years were filled with insecurity, competition, and vanity. Always trying to outdue the next pretty girl in school. Always worried about what my boyfriend thought I looked like. Always too ashamed to talk to God about my sin. I didn't know hope. I didn't know mercy. I didn't know what a relationship with Christ looked like. I didn't understand His grace. I didn't know He cared about my struggles with my looks or about my purity. I thought those issues were too little for God to care about.

I am thankful that God didn't leave me alone when I was 15. He kept appearing and showing me that He loved me. Through friends at college, professors, preachers, my sister and my parents, Jesus showed me that he was more concerned with what my heart condition looked like than my appearance. A friend just reminded me recently of the verse in 2 Corinthians 4 that says we are not to lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away but inwardly we are being renewed day by day by God's word.

Thank the Lord that I am becoming more beautiful to Him each day though to the world I am looking more worn-old-wrinkled-flawed.

I have great hope for these three young ladies: Caroline, Katie & Laura. They understand that the true beauty is kept locked away from the eye but shines through from the heart. (yeah, I just thought that up myself...lol)

I hope I have kids that grow up to be gems like they are.