Get Yourself PERSECUTED.

Woah.  That's kinda scary, right?  Sounds almost suicidal.  But that's not really what I'm going for here.  You would think that getting yourself 'persecuted' would be easy, right?  Making people not like you is an easy thing for most people, like destroying a good reputation or something.  But this is different.  First off, what the heck does getting yourself persecuted mean?
It means not laughing along with some perverted joke.  It means not cussing with all of the 'cool' kids.  It means not standing back and letting people make fun of being Christian.  It means telling people what you believe when they ask, and when they don't.  It means not cheating, lying, or being inappropriate.  And ITS NOT EASY, trust me.
When you do these things, odds are that you are going to get 'persecuted'.  It says plain and simple in 2 Timothy 3:12, "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted." So let's pretend that you did all those things already.  Hopefully you hang out with people where those things are totally acceptable, and in that case, you are really fortunante.  I consider myself blessed to be with both kinds, my friends I normally am with are great Christians that I love, but on the swim team I hang out with people who are good, but not exactly Christian good.  I love them just as much, if not more, but that's a different story.  Anyway, odds are you are at some point around people that you want to look 'good' near.  You want to fit in, we all do.  But when you do the things I talked about before, they are going to persecute you.  They might leave you out of the next event, or turn your back on you right then and there.  It hurts.  But let me share a story with you.
Long story short: the Apostles were telling people about Jesus.  They then suffered ridicule from the officials and high priests, who made them look stupid.  They were even put in jail for a while.  But then, in Acts 5:41, it says, "The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."  It doesn't sound hard, when you read their story.  But I dare you to do this challenge, and then say that it's easy.  Because it's not.

Do something that will get you persecuted.

Stand up to some people who keep on cussing.  Tell people that it's not okay to make fun of  the church and what we believe in.  Let them know that you are on God's side, and not the devil's.  And if you do it right, they will persecute you.  Maybe you'll be fortunate and they will embrace it, finding Jesus in their lives again.  That would be even better.  But be prepared to be an outcast, a loner, and closer to God.  Because it is WORTH IT.  I mean, how can an eternity of happiness and love in heaven not be worth a few hardships here on this temporary earth?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  With all of this thanking going around, you'd think that there would be nothing but joy in the air.  But let me tell you a quick story about what happened just several hours ago at my Thanksgiving...
All was going well, and my family had gathered at my grandma and grandpa's house.  They had a silent auction (with play money, of course) to get rid of some old things they no longer wanted.  Long story short, me and my cousin got quite competetive over some random items, and not in a friendly way.  More of a "this is going to be mine, and you are NOT getting it" kind of way.  Looking back, I see that I had completly lost my Thanksgiving spirit and was thinking only of myself.  I know that it was a petty thing to fight about, and there was no reason for me to get so selfish.  How can I say I was thankful for what I had when all I could think about was getting some random useless toy?
With that being said, let's try not to get too caught up in the little things as we move into this holiday season.  Here's the challenge:

Be legitimantely thankful for EVERYTHING, every time.

I'm talking everything.  Good times, bad times, boyfriends and break-ups, trustworthy friends and backstabbers, A's and F's.  Thank God for every one, because they are all going to make you better if you let them.  If you think your life is bad, think of this.  Got two legs? Got two eyes? Can you walk and talk and laugh and sing and dance and hug and smile and run?  You've got a lot of great things and you can do amazing things.  So be glad you have them, every day, not just Thanksgiving.

Boys. Enough said.

We all have to deal with them at some time or another... so how are we supposed to be like Jesus and at the same time have a crush on some guy?
First off, let's chat a little bit about the one thing that makes our lives so confusing- boys.  Quite honestly, they are just people.  People that make our lives interesting, yes, but just people.  And it's totally okay to like one of them.  It's natural, probably some girl hormone type thing.  But we have to protect them and ourselves, and that's where Jesus comes in.
A few key words: honesty and modesty.  First of all, honesty.  Don't lie, that's the first bit.  But second, be honest with yourself.  If this guy is going to be a bad influence, it's probably not good idea.  And there are better ways to make him a better person than to date him.
Modesty shouldn't even have to be on here, but sadly girls tend to... well, not be modest when they are trying to get a guy.  This isn't all of us, I know.  But to be blunt, he should be in love with you, not your body.  If the only way you can catch his attention is through flaunting yourseslf, it's time to be honest with yourself and rethink all of this.
The bottom line is, if you are doing what Jesus would do throughout all of your guy drama- which believe me, we all have- then you should have minimal problems.  If it's time to walk away, walk away.  If you need to end something, end it, but if it's fine to start something, start it.  When it comes down to it, these things are for you and God to decide, not this random blog.
You knew it was coming... the challenge!  This time, it's:

No matter where things go, keep Jesus with you.

Guys can make things pretty complicated in our lives, and they can get you in some weird situations.  But whatever choice you find yourself having to make, remember what Jesus did.  He died for us so that we could be saved, and He gave you life.  He can come again at any time, so make sure He's not going to walk in on something that He wouldn't be proud of.

Be BOLD!

It's not always- okay, it's not EVER easy to stand out in a crowd.  Whether you want to or not, it's tough.  And once you do stand out, it gets even harder.  But how are people supposed to know we are Christians if we don't stand out, stand up, and tell people?  There are two quotes I want to share (I'm paraphrasing here), and I wish I knew the authors...

Spread the good news.  When necessary, use words.

What makes you different than a non-Christian?

Lets talk about that first one. (Like I said, it's not exact.  Feel free to comment and give the proper one).  Anyway, this is a good one.  You don't always have to tell people about Jesus, you have to show people about Jesus. Huh? Show people? Think about it.  What would Jesus do?  Would He watch that kid get picked on by the football team, or would He try to stop it?  Would He laugh when the girl dropped her lunch tray, or would He pick it up?  So what would you do?  Be like Jesus, or not?

Secondly, what does make you different than a non Christian?  If people looked at you, would they say, "That girl is a Christian, for sure." or would they just say, "That girl."  Make sure people know you love Jesus.  If people have questions, answer them!  If people are doing something wrong, tell them to stop.  When people see you, they should know you're a Christian.  Leave no doubt in their minds!!  Just think about what YOU can do to.....complete this challenge!

Be an obvious Christian.

It won't always be easy, it definatly won't always be fun.  But do you think dying on a cross was fun?

Make Somebody's Day!

Based on my observations, girls are experts at putting people down.  Why do some girls put so much effort into making other people feel bad?  It might make you feel good for a second or two, but really, it's just going to come back to hurt you.  All those sayings, 'what goes around comes around' and so on, they actually are true.  You probably will have to learn that for yourself, but hopefully you can take my word for it.  So what do we do instead?  We do this challenge...

Put somebody up, not down!

That girl with the super funky boots that you totally envy?  Tell her how cool they are!  Or that epic haircut that you've been admiring for the past week?   Tell her how awesome it looks.  Trust me, it just might make their day, and will make you feel good too.  You never know the long term effects of your good deeds.  You might help them get over something serious, like an eating disorder or depression.  Or maybe they just needed a little boost!

That's all for this post, so lets go out into the world (or school, because it's not like we have time to go anywhere else) and make somebody's day awesome!

A Fresh Start

Okay!  So, as the first post, it seems necessary to give you, the reader, a little overview on what is going to be coming up.  First off, the reason this blog exists in the first place is to help teenage girls (like us) to be more like what God wants us to be.  You will be getting lots of tips, stories, and encouragement as you keep up with our blog.  We want this to help us teens DO something, not just think something.
Each time a new post comes up, we will give you a Challenge.  This is something that we are going to try and do, and we hope you will do it as well.  So the first Challenge ever is...

Get back on track.

Maybe you're not in the best place ever with God right now.  Maybe you should be doing more for Him, but you just have so much biology homework that there is just 'no time'... Or maybe you haven't done anything, and you just accidently clicked on a link to this place and have no idea what we're talking about.   But there's no better time to start than...right now.  Do something little for Jesus, than a little bigger, and a little bigger.....you can do it!