rebelling against low expectations
“I can’t, but thanks for the invite.” The sentence echoes on my lips, spoken to more people than I remember. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to say no. I thrive on adventure and exploration. I’m a social butterfly. And yet, I’ve said so many no’s I never wanted to. I wasn’t always this way. But when I first got sick as a young teen, I watched as “out of sight, out of mind” became a...
When I was in middle school and high school, people started to notice I didn’t look quite like everyone else. I was very skinny and all of the sudden I started earning new nicknames: Twig, Chicken Legs, Little Liz. Kids started asking questions and making comments: Are you eating? Look how skinny your arms are! You’re so skinny, if you turned sideways you’d disappear! Do you have an eating...
In the Lord of the Rings, as the journey grows increasingly dangerous, and it starts to become unclear who is truly on his side, Frodo slips on his fateful ring, running as fast as his hobbit legs can carry him, alone to the dark land of Mordor. But his faithful and devoted companion Sam eventually figures out where Frodo has gone and catches him in the nick of time—moments before Frodo sails...
In middle school and most of high school, I was the girl who sat alone—at youth group, my homeschool co-op, and pretty much any other social situation you can imagine. I felt invisible, like I could disappear, and none of my peers would notice. At the end of the day, they went home with phones full of contacts and plans for the weekend. I didn’t. But I was far from alone in my experience—61% of...
You sit surrounded by people, yet you feel alone. Each person talks to someone else. Each one seems to feel completely at home with those around them. You get a few glances, maybe even a few smiles, but there’s no doubting you feel like an outsider. You feel small. You feel invisible. Even if you’re conversing with someone, perhaps one you may even call a friend, you wonder if they’re really...
Teens filter into youth group, smiling and waving at their friends. But no one talks. No Christian rock blasts in the background. No snacks are passed around. It’s difficult to have normalcy when youth group is through a screen. Online youth group is quite the experience, but it means the world to me to talk with my small group, learn about Jesus, and pray together. I never realized how important...
As I’ve been dealing with social distancing, canceled events, and the overarching fear and uncertainty engulfing our world, I’ve been thinking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the final two years of his life, which he spent in prison for suspected political resistance against the Nazi regime. While our circumstances and Bonhoeffer’s are very different, I believe there’s much...
“Be okay with missing out,” I told a living room full of middle school girls. “You don’t have to be a part of every single activity or conversation.” We were talking about friendship, but the concept is relevant to so many areas of our lives: be okay with missing out. Easier said than done, I know. We want to be a part of everything. We want to be a part of not only conversations and activities...
When I hear the word “friends,” I usually feel pangs of hurt inside of me. Many a day I have wept painful and sometimes bitter tears in response to these hurts. I have often felt excluded, rejected, and lonely. I have been excluded because some of my friends already had their own friends, and even when I tried so hard to be there for them, I was rejected. I just wanted to have friends...
“I am tired of moving around. I am tired of saying goodbye. I am tired of this ache in my heart that won’t go away.” Finally alone, I let myself cry as I expressed my feelings to the Lord. After all, I was passionate about my faith and desired to serve God. I was ready to follow Him wherever He might lead. But here I was, moving to a strange place, serving the Lord in a new ministry–for the...
rebelling against low expectations
