rebelling against low expectations
I was crying and screaming. “God, where are you?! Why have you left me when I need you the most? Why have you abandoned me?” I have severe anxiety. It wakes me up at night, gives me nightmares, and when my body doesn’t know what to do with all the built-up anxiety, it shuts down and makes me pass out. The panic attacks I experience make me want to just lay down and never get up...
My feet pounded the track, and I was out of breath. I was struggling, pushing hard…and then someone lapped me. Track is hard. I’ll be honest with you and tell you I was not a runner when I joined the middle school track team last spring. I got 16th place in a mile race with only 16 runners, and I was lapped quite often. I tried hard, but I was frequently discouraged. Still, I’m thankful...
To the one who grew up in a Christian family . . . To the one who memorized chapters of the Bible . . . To the one who wears T-shirts that read “child of the King”. I am speaking to the one who never rebelled against their parents, never went partying late at night and never shoplifted. I am speaking to the Christian who grew up with a false front marked “goodness.” I am speaking to people like...
I hate writing about the Gospel. That’s not hyperbole, not an SEO-driven hook to get you the read the rest of this article. It’s 100% true. That might be a shock to a lot of you. After all, I’ve had articles previously published here on the Reb. But that was a long time ago, and the truth is nowadays I hate doing Gospel-focus articles, deeply. Look at my personal outlets as of late and you’ll...
Sometimes we’re not sure we can handle life. We understand the big battles and the somber sufferings will be difficult, but sometimes even the daily tasks mount to overwhelming. We have that massive assignment to finish, and studying has to be balanced with work. We have customers yelling at us over something outside of our control, and it takes everything in us to just be kind. We have only an...
“I can do it.” Those four simple words were the embodiment of my attitude towards guys throughout my early teenage years. With the strong feministic views of society crowding my mind, I was not about to let anyone, especially a guy, help me. I was a strong, independent woman, and I could do it myself. I remember very clearly one afternoon at church, when we were all clearing up after a church...
It was a week before our end year concert. The orchestra director made a few announcements that I didn’t hear. I could only seem to listen to my heart beating, my blood rushing, my breath passing through my mouth. Eventually, she passed around the seating chart. It felt like the violins and violas were taking as long as possible to examine the chart. Then it reached the cellos. Time seemed to...
You’ve started classes. You’re beginning to fall into a schedule. And most likely you’re creating—or rediscovering—school year habits. Hopefully they’re good habits—starting work on assignments ahead of time; minimizing your time on social media; eating breakfast. Perhaps some of them are not so great—procrastinating schoolwork with Netflix or staying up until ungodly hours. But in all of that...
I didn’t want to wait. I’d already been waiting for months! I’d had plenty of preparation already, I had prayed a lot about it, I had the time, and I was ready to do this hard thing. God had placed in me a passion and desire to start a Bible study group to disciple younger girls. It was the sort of thing that I couldn’t simply forget or push to the back of my mind, even though I tried. But then...
It was certainly no accident that we stumbled across this blog post from John Piper the morning our show aired on Focus on the Family. What a wonderful reminder that every good thing is a gift from God — and we can’t take any credit. Piper writes: I was born into a believing family through no merit of my own at all. I was given a mind to think and a heart to feel through no merit of my own...
rebelling against low expectations
