This weekend I have the privilege of spending the entire weekend with 18 girls (9th – 12th grade) and 3 ladies from a North Georgia Christian school.
We are going to be talking about purity, modesty, our worth to God, our legacy and a whole bunch of other things. We are going to watch ‘My Fair Lady’. We are going to eat, giggle, talk, blush, be totally embarrassed, giggle some more, eat some more, and hopefully meet Jesus in the midst of all of this.
I’m glad I am not a teenager. Lord, have mercy, they have pressures to deal with that I never even thought about as a teen. Did you know 20% of teens admit to SEXTING? My word, we did not even have cell phones when I was a teen, much less know anything about taking a sexually explicit picture of ourselves and sending it to someone else via a cell phone. In the rural area where I live there are 14 year old girls who are pregnant. Dear Gussie, they are just babies having babies! Eating disorders (now, there’s a topic I know a little about), cutting, gangs, unbelievable peer pressure with regard to sex and on and on it goes. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that just because a kid goes to a Christian school they don’t deal with all of this. THEY DO!!
I’d be lying if I said I was not nervous about the whole thing. I feel a heavy weight of responsibility over this event. Sure I was a teenage girl, but that was, um, er…….a few years ago. I’ve never had a daughter. I have not done much speaking to teens. I’m not cool. I’ll probably go to bed before the movie is over and be up hours before they are. But I do love Jesus and I so desire to help these girls make better decisions than I made when I was their age and older.
So, if the Lord brings me to your mind Friday, Saturday or Sunday morning, I declare that you will not be wasting your time flinging a prayer heavenward in my behalf. I know my only responsibility is to speak what the Lord has given me. Jesus’ responsibility is to work the thing through in their hearts. Did I mention I want them to make better decisions than I made at their age? I really do.
Some things you might talk to Jesus about if you think of it:
that I would humbly speak His words
that the girls would have receptive hearts
that we would all be in good health and rest well
that I would connect with them emotionally
that the Holy Spirit would totally blow them away with how important purity is
that this weekend would make a difference in their lives for the rest of their life
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! You are a blessing to me.
