rebelling against low expectations
Sometimes I have a hard time believing my words can make a difference. Writers get that – the risk, the uncertainty, the naysayers that tell us we will fail. Our world is made up of words – harmful, hurtful, loving, giving, grieving, cherished words. We spend our time rearranging the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, and even when we feel like we’ve crafted our finest, it’s just not good enough...
I can still picture the cursive writing on the book. “Standing Alone,” it read. That appealed to me. I didn’t want a normal teenage life. I wanted something different. Something with meaning. Maybe you relate. Since different wasn’t the norm, of course that would mean standing alone. It sounded heroic. I opened it and started to learn about holiness. About being set apart for God. About being...
Dear Independent One, I get you. I understand you. I’m like you. I tend to want to be in control, and I like to do things on my own. I don’t enjoy asking for help and I don’t easily admit it when I’m struggling. Sound familiar? There’s nothing inherently wrong with an independent personality; God gave us each different personality traits for different reasons. The problem...
I’m a teenager. And I love the new journeys and responsibilities that accompany being a teen like getting a job, learning to drive, and being trusted with important tasks. But what I find frustrating is the “teenager mold” our society has created. Until we turn twenty, most adults’ expectations of us are so low, it’s depressing. They assume all of us between thirteen and nineteen are just selfie...
Have you ever felt that fire in your chest that makes you want to yell the truth? Perhaps you just read a social media post that twisted Scripture. Maybe you heard something on a podcast that didn’t sit well with you. Or perhaps you were at youth group and someone’s answer made you cringe inside. That fire begins to burn and it’s all you can do to refrain from screaming the truth from the...
I’m a perfectionist, and I’m not proud of that. Being a perfectionist means I put a lot of pressure on myself, create unrealistic goals, and always try to impress others. I want to appear as if I have it “all together”. I’ll never forget how much I wanted to appear that way when it came time to pick classes for my Junior year of High School. In 9th grade, I took two honors...
There is no shortage of articles, podcasts, and books on how to pray, what to pray, when to pray, the benefits of prayer, model prayers, tips on organizing your prayers, and where to find nice notecards and journals to keep prayers. These aren’t unimportant questions. But there is a greater one: Do you realize Who you are praying to? When I stop and think about what prayer is, I am totally and...
Are we willing to follow God outside our comfort zones? I recently went on my first missions trip, and while it wasn’t anywhere exotic (just my home city), God taught me a few lessons about following him to new places. For context, the camp I volunteered with has several sign-up options: sports teams, home-repair teams (which I did for three years), and kid’s ministry teams. I was hesitant to...
What if I got real honest? What if I took a risk? What if I opened up my heart and let you see in? The song was not at all the kind I usually listen to. The music wasn’t mine, but the lyrics hit me deep and I instantly knew what I had to write. There was someone on the other end of my screen who had to hear this. Now, as I sit here, staring at my laptop, watching words appear in clear black on...
The letter you are about to read was written out of the deep desire of my heart to start living a life that loved like Christ loved. A few months ago, I was holding on to my own plans, hopes, and wants so tightly that I was hurting people close to me. However, God in His grace got a hold of my heart and something in me changed. As I started asking Him to help me, He started filling me with a...
rebelling against low expectations
