DEPENDENCE

Dear Christian teens,

We've stopped depending on God.

Instead, we depend on our phones, what we look like, sports, school, what peers think of us...

To keep going, we feed upon worldliness.

To cheer ourselves up, we eat the most unhealthy spiritual food.

But we go to church! We might even read our Bibles, and pray a lot.

But is that enough?

This routine....does it make you happy?

Maybe it does. But maybe you don't really find a peace about life.

Maybe your happiness is only for a little while. Or maybe you are happy.

But to be honest, life isn't about being happy.

It's about fulfilling the purpose that God has given to us as Christians.

How can we possibly do this alone?

We trust in God, and we wait on Him.

And then we depend on Him.

We leave our selfish desires, surrender to God, and live on His grace and love.

When we are in need, we ask God to give to us; out of humility.

When we see an opportunity, we knock on God's door; out of humility.

When we lose our sight of purpose as a Christian, we seek God's will; out of humility.

Christians! Don't lose faith in our God!

He has carried you through all of what you've been through. He'll continue to do so.

Just please, rest your weary soul in Him.

Stay faithful to Him, for He is always faithful to you.

sincerely,

                 Sophie

BE A SANCTUARY

Dear Christian teens,
In this world is darkness.
A darkness that effects us.
A darkness that effects the church, our families,
our houses, our minds, our actions.
For us, it's easier to live like the world, act like the world
and think like the world.
But God calls us to a higher standard.

The Bible says to set ourselves apart from this world.
To be different from those around us and to be holy ourselves
so that God can use us for His will.
God still wants us to be in this world, but He wants us to minister
to those who are of this world.

John 17:15-17
"I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth."

You see, the Lord doesn't want us to be "better than" others.
He doesn't want us to put ourselves on a higher pedestal than everyone else.
He wants us to be different than others. He wants us to be in the world, not of the world.

How beautiful is that.
God chose us to use for His glory.
Even though we deserve nothing He gives to us, He still grants us His grace, His hope and His endearment.

Christians, God calls us to make ourselves sanctuaries.
Somewhere He can live.
Sacrifice yourselves to God. Sacrifice your flesh to God's use...not your selfish reasons.
Christians, be a sanctuary for the Lord.
Be a place where He can better us for the expansion of the kingdom of God!
Be a sanctuary. Be someone who seeks God's will.
For the more you seek Him,
 the more you find Him,
 and the more you find Him, the more you love Him.

sincerely,
                Sophie

GROWTH

Dear Christian teens,

As we look forward to this new year, for some of us, it may be a sight of new beginnings. And for others, it may be a sight of more failure.

More mistakes, more sin, more fear, more trials...I could go on and on!

But first, I want to encourage you all to look at the good things.

Look at how God has grown you this past year.

Even though it doesn't seem like it now, the Lord takes the nasty,

rough, and painful parts of our lives and turns them into miracles.

He uses those dark moments to grow us and turn us into something beautiful.

Sometimes we never truly understand something until we experience the hard side of it.

It's hard being a Christian.

It's hard to stay still and listen to God's voice.

It's hard not to get restless.

It's hard to be lonely.

It's hard to feel like a failure.

It's hard to lose what you love.

It's hard to have patience.

It's hard to love when you're not being loved.

It's hard to......

Jesus didn't always have peace.

Jesus wasn't always surrounded by friends.

Jesus didn't always succeed.

Jesus lost so much.

Jesus went through pressing times.

Jesus wasn't always loved.

Instead, He was beaten, spit in the face, rejected for who He was, forgotten, left out, He was poor, He lost everything, He became sin so that those who sinned would have life.

You see, Jesus didn't have a perfect life.

To be a Christian doesn't mean that you're always going to be happy.

Instead, you will be the exact opposite.

God doesn't want us to be "comfortable."

He wants us to grow through our mistakes and find joy in the darkest moments of our lives.

He wants us to read our Bibles, have a spiritual life, lead more people to Him.

He doesn't want us to be perfect!

But He wants us to grow.

Christians, no matter what...surrender to God and let Him grow you.

Use this time to let God chisel off those sinful ways of your heart, and make it more like Christ.

Being a Christian is hard. But in the end, you will find peace, hope, joy and love.

sincerely,
                  Sophie

FEAR

Dear Christian teens,

How amazing is our God! He has worked so much this past year.
There have been so many joyful moments, memories, and there have also been...struggles.

It's hard to admit it...but we all struggle from something.
Pain, sin, catastrophe, sickness, etc., etc.
So much darkness!

But where does it come from?

fear.

When God calls us to step out of our comfort zone, Christians tend to disobey Him...out of fear.
Fear turns into sin, sin turns into a lost heart, and a lost heart...loses that beautiful gift that God gives us.

Why aren't we making more disciples of the Lord?

fear.

There is so much fear.

We're surrounded by it. We can't seem to escape it.
It consumes us.
There is no peace, no joy, no...goodness.

Christians, when fear enters our life it is the only thing we know.

But there is a way from fear!
There is a hope that defeats fear itself!
This hope...is Jesus.
If only we will surrender to Him and give Him our lives.
We will find an unending peace.
If we will only search for Christ's redeeming joy, then oh the grace of Jesus finds us.

Deny fear.

What are we even afraid of?
Failure? Loss? Acceptance?

Trust me...
that is nothing to lose compared to the gift of eternity with our Father in Heaven.

sincerely,
                 Sophie