rebelling against low expectations
Am I enough? So many teens walk around today asking themselves, “Am I enough?” The world gives us two opposite messages: They boost our self esteem and praise us for our works, looks, job, etc. They destroy our self esteem by telling us all that we aren’t. I don’t know about you, but I get sent the second one far more many times than the first. I feel that I can’t measure up, please everyone, or...
Have you ever felt worthless? Blunt, I know. But it gets to the point. I think everyone has felt this way at one time or another. I know I have. Feeling this way can really get to you. It will hang over every single thing you do, an oppressive cloud sending rain and thunder storming into your life. It saps your energy—and your happiness. It makes life… well, worthless. Let me tell you a story...
“The only absolute knowledge attainable by man is that life is meaningless.” This was the famed 20th Century Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s pessimistic outlook on life, and it is shared by many individuals today. Tolstoy felt life was meaningless because he rejected faith in God. But even Christians can sympathize with the feeling. Have you ever felt life was meaningless? One of the wisest and...
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...
To the ones who wonder if they’re worthy of love. To the ones who must fight constant voices in their life telling them lies that wound. To the ones who have believed what was never true about their identity because of the words spoken over them. To the ones who repeat what’s been said over and over in their minds until they don’t know what’s actually true or not. To the ones who question...
Our culture idolizes perfection. Walk into a library and you’ll see shelves stocked with self-help books that claim to improve your life. Scan social media on New Year’s Day and you’ll find myriads of resolutions. Shop in any mall and you’ll find perfect photos of perfect models with perfect bodies. Perfection is everywhere. As teens growing up in this society, it’s easy to become lured by the...
It’s been slightly over a year and a half since I wrote my article, “How Can I Find My Identity And Calling?” on the Reb. And that year and a half has broken and built up my faith in ways I had never seen before. Backtrack one year ago, and I was finally breaking free from a lot of abominable sin that had gripped my life for months, but had been rooted in my life for years. For about a month, I...
I love the old hymns. There is something about the deep spiritual and theological truths, and the way the lyrics and the harmonies flow, that compel me to stop whatever I’m doing at the moment and just listen. These are the old-school hymns like Amazing Grace, It Is Well with My Soul, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness. I was raised on these songs and have known them by heart since I was a young girl...
Dear Rebelutionaries, We’re taught to do hard things, step out of our comfort zones, and rebel against low expectations. We do hard things to bring glory to God. To share Jesus’ love. To honor Him by faithfully honing the talents He gave us. But I have a confession. Sometimes, I work hard to bring glory to myself. Sometimes, I think that God won’t pay attention unless I do hard things. Sometimes...
What is a man? It’s an important question, yet few seem to have an answer. Before I began researching for this article, I was pretty clueless myself. We have a general idea of what a man ought to be, but most of it is very vague and untrustworthy. You see, we face a dilemma. We’ve forgotten what it means to serve God through our manliness. We’ve lost our identity as godly men. That’s a problem...
rebelling against low expectations
