rebelling against low expectations
Three weeks ago, my family switched churches. Again. Going from a five hundred people church back down to a fifty people church is…different.It’s taken me three years to start unearthing the secrets of acceptance at my last church. Now, even though I’m still going to youth group on Wednesdays, all that hard work is starting to seem pointless. It’s as if another inch of sand washes out from under...
I am nineteen years old. I have never dated anyone or been in a serious relationship. Do I want to get married someday? Absolutely! Since I was a little girl, my dream has been to be a godly wife and a mommy to a house of little ones. However, during this time of my life, God has me absolutely single. Even though it is hard sometimes, God has been teaching me a lot about how he views...
The night of the last presidential election, I made a poor decision. I looked at Twitter. My feed was full of tweets and retweets rejoicing, mourning, celebrating, or decrying the situation as it unfolded, minute by minute. Praise and blame was heaped on both of the major candidates—and on their supporters. My birthday came just a year too late for me to vote in the presidential election. As I...
I’ll never forget the first time a guy asked me out. Well, at least I think he was asking me out. One mid-summer afternoon, he walked into the office where I worked. After a few minutes of small-talk, plus scheduling an appointment, he leaned against the door, quirked a brow, and remarked, “Man, that Chinese food across the street smells good.” I inhaled. I couldn’t smell a thing. “Would you like...
“Guess who contacted me…again?” My friend showed me her phone screen. I peered at the message. “Oh no. Not again. Really?” For over a year, a young man my friend knew had been randomly Facebook messaging her. At first she thought he might be interested in her, but after sporadic, odd messages with no seeming purpose to them, she was beginning to think he was just weird. Or really, really lonely...
“She’s been single for eighteen years,” My coworker said with awe in his voice to the girl folding clothes beside him. I braced myself. I had been waved over from my post in the fitting room to join a conversation two of my coworkers were having about dating. Usually, I could handle the frequent comments about my lack of experience with love in good humor. Tonight was just not one of those nights...
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him.'” (Genesis 2:18) This verse used to stump me. It was something that caused me to prop my chin on my hand and say “huh!” If God knew man shouldn’t be alone, then why are there so many single people in the world today? As I sat back and thought about these...
If you are anything like me, you had a goal for your future relationship and marriage from a young age. You were going to do it right—you were going to save your first kiss for your wedding day, involve your parents and friends in the relationship, choose the right person on the first try, and live happily ever after. You probably watched friends and family members fall into relational and sexual...
“So, who do you think is the cutest Disney prince?” Uh oh. I glance up at the other two girls sharing the table and nudge quinoa around my plate, stalling for time. Questions like this freak me right out. I could say that Cinderella Man is okay, except his features are too delicate, or that Prince Adam has nice eyes, but he could stand a haircut. However, something seems off about this whole...
Friendship is a powerful thing that we too often take for granted. I know from experience that friends can be a huge influence in your life for good or for bad. They can spur you on for Christ or drag you down to sin. They can offer you encouragement or end up betraying you. They can bring you excitement or bring you devastation. Friends are important – and we need to choose them wisely. But one...
rebelling against low expectations
