rebelling against low expectations
Life seemed like it should be full. True, the first semester had been absolutely insane. I was at a new school, yet I had adjusted fairly well all things considered. Everything was picking up speed as we approached the mid-terms and consequently, Christmas break. I was constantly studying and making sure my end of term grades were perfect (or as perfect as they could be). Friends wanted to hang...
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15) For a season this past year, I had been going through a bit of a dry season in my relationship with God. Though in my head I knew that God never has and never will abandon me, my flawed and corrupted emotions often try to tell me otherwise–that when I sin, God turns His face away; or when I...
Clutching the jar tightly, the woman stood in the doorway and looked into the room. Her heart beat furiously. Her eyes darted back and forth. The room was so full of men, most of whom knew her. She glanced behind her and considered retreating. Suddenly she saw him. Everything else vanished. None of it mattered. Rushing into the room, she fell trembling at his feet. Breaking her jar open, she...
With Valentine’s Day coming up, we usually see cards, candy, and red and pink hearts everywhere–all representing this thing called love. But what is love? Google defines love as “an intense feeling of deep affection.” That’s a powerful description, isn’t it? However, Valentine’s Day celebrates romantic love, and many of us teens don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend at this stage of our...
It was early Sunday morning. Suddenly, I was awakened and told to go downstairs. I jumped down from the top of my bunk bed. The sun was shining through the windows, and the sparkling dew still coated the ground. We gathered around, and my father began to pray. It was a disguised way of telling us children that our mother, after being bedridden for nine months from cancer, had passed away in the...
My favorite Biblical character at the moment is Moses. Not Moses the deliverer, leader and lawgiver of Israel, but Moses the shepherd for forty years in the desert of Midian. It’s a part of his life we often gloss over or forget, but it speaks to my heart, because I too am in a bit of a desert season. (Again.) Deserts are tough. They’re dry and lonely, and they feel never-ending. To our human...
I sat beside him as he spoke. It was one of those conversations that I had originally been an active member of; but two people rapidly dominated the conversation to the point where I now was on the verge of feeling like an eavesdropper, rather then a comfortable part of the conversation. But it was too good of a conversation to just up and leave. So, eavesdropper or not, I sat and listened as he...
It’s usually easy to live as a set-apart Christian teen on Sunday morning. We’re quick to conquer the church checklist: Wake up. Read Scripture. Go to church. Read more Scripture. Listen to a sermon. Talk to Christian friends (usually about Scripture). Check. Check. Check. But between the church doors and the safety of home, something happens. We’re assaulted by our culture. Singing Christ’s...
Do you make New Year’s goals? For the past several years, at the end of December, I’ll sit down and write out my plans, dreams, and yes, goals, for the brand new year in front of me. It works great—for the first two months. I’m inspired, motivated, and have a sense of direction. But somewhere between February and March, my list flies out the window until ten months later, when I pull it out...
Tears. I flittered around a bit while considering what I should write about until one topic brought tears to my eyes. And that topic is tears. We look all around us and observe and experience sorrow. Why do we have trials when we pray for blessings? Is God is looking out for our best interests? When will all this suffering end? We all ask these questions when our lives seem to be covered with...
rebelling against low expectations
