Posted by Posted in character, Family, myth of adolescence, teens, teens doing big things

On Teenagers and One in Particular

Me and my beautiful thirteen year old sister, Celia.

Me and my beautiful thirteen year old sister, Celia.

Last Saturday was my sisters birthday. She turned 13. Wow! My lil’ sister just turned thirteen! This post will be half about how great God made my sister and half about teenagers.

First off, I made a C-E-L-I-A acrostic for Celia.

C- Creative: You are such a talented young lady and even though you don’t think that you are very artsy or musical I do think you have a creative side to you.
E- Eclectic: You define this word, Celia. I don’t think of this word in any way but with you in mind. I love your stars, stripes and polkadots and who but you would put red and pink together. Although it makes choosing a color for our room difficult I love this crazy quality of you.
L- Loving: On the toughest days you are there with a kind word of encouragement or a thoughtful note. You give great gifts and the people you love know that you love them, which is great knowledge.
I- Interesting: If a stranger started talking to you, they would come away amazed. You are such a cool person. With your cupcake business, love for kids and special needs kids and other things you make a very interesting young lady.
A- Always smiling: Or in other words very cheerful. Your disposition is always sunny and you brighten peoples days.

Second, I want to say 13 quick things I love about Celia.

1. your laugh
2. your hugs
3. your gifts
4. your initiative
5. your verse 4 the day
6. your loyalty
7. your cuteness
8. your ease around people
9. your love for others
10. your thoughtfulness
11. your joy
12. your faith
13. your love for Jesus

So there you have it. And a big hearty HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER CELIA!!!

Now on a different note I want to tell a quick story and move on to the topic of teenagers.

When someone was talking to our family and found out it was Celia’s 13th birthday the next day, this was her remark. “A teenager! Now I can’t talk to you until you are 20!” She quickly recovered with a quick…”Not ALL teenagers are bad, but…”

This story saddens me. She could have been joking but the main truth remains. Our culture doesn’t look too fondly on teenagers. Why?

First, let us start with the common perception of teenagers. (Fun fact: the word teenager was originated rather recently… in the past 65-75 years)

When people think of teenagers what do they think of? Some popular answers may include: lazy, rebellious, sleeps in, adolescence, punk, drugs and many others. Why does our culture think this?

Lets look at some history…. Think of some of the great people in the Bible and world history. Lots of them were young. Here are some examples: Daniel, David, Esther, Mary, Josiah, (moving into history) Joan of Arc, George Washington, Clara Barton and Alexander the Great.

Your average young person say on the frontier could manage a household, protect thier family, go on long hunting trips and more in thier early teen years. They were mature and responsible. Hard working and not wimpy.

I am not saying that all teenagers were perfect then and horrible now. What I am hinting at is that the culture back then (frontier as my example) expected more of their teens. Nowadays as we learned from the above conversation the teen years are expected to be bad.

Lets take a final look at how the Bible talks about teens (young people).

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12

Teenagers are supposed to set an example!

What about this one?

“The glory of young men is thier strength.”
Proverbs 20:29

The teenage years are special years to serve the Lord. You are young and strong and God wants you to use your teen years for something special!

the teen,
Priscilla

P.S. A lot of the ideas about teenagers I got was from the book “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris. If you are intersted feel free to read that book to learn more. Or go on their blog: therebelution.com

Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, Bible characteristics, challenges, character, do hard things, faith, Family, myth of adolescence, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution

#34- Made a List of Requirements For My Future Spouse

I think it is important that we have a picture of what we want our future spouse to be like. They aren’t going to be perfect but if we know what we want them to be like we won’t settle with the first thing the world throws at us. We will only settle with God’s best for our lives and marriges. So here is the challenge. Make a list of requirements for your future husband/wife. Examples of requirements include: being a Christian, having a strong prayer life, comitted to no divorce, being a wise steward of what they are given and more. Then make a list of wants, things that are not necessarily needed but would be good to have. Examples include: coming from a Christian home, being bilingual, plays an instrument, has some of the same interests. My sister and I made a list as well as our Dad and Mom. You can then compare lists. Also, try to work on your list yourself so you can be that sort of person too.
We got the idea for the lists from the book: “Before You Meet Prince Charming” by Sarah Mally.

Thank you!

Priscilla

Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, abortion, challenges, do hard things, Living for God, myth of adolescence, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution, words

#33- Took Steps At Abortion Clinic

So I have not been keeping up with my hard things as much as I would like. Sorry! But yesterday I did a couple hard things while at the abortion clinic (hard thing #2) with my family. I talked for the first time with a mother going in. I was standing by the driveway trying to hand out booklets when someone actually rolled down the window. My mom was right there and together we talked to her. She ended up going in and getting an abortion but it was cool to see how God can use your holding up a booklet to open a conversation.

Priscilla

Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, challenges, do hard things, Living for God, myth of adolescence, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution

#31- Made Healthy Choices

So, recently I made a few small healthy eating choices, not as many as I should have but a good start. Having water at a restaurant instead of soda pop. I have also been working on portion sizes and not as much snitching on treats. The Bible says that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Let us use it that way…

Sorry it is so short!

Priscilla

Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, challenges, do hard things, faith, Friendship, myth of adolescence, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution

#30- Visited a Spanish Church

So I am intensely trying to learn Spanish. I got gobs of books on Spanish at the library, I am doing Spanish workbooks and I have a Spanish learning app that I use every day. But I needed somewhere where I can listen and speak the Spanish language. Not just write and read it. So my mom suggested I find a Spanish church to visit and get connected in the hispanic community here in Mooresville. We saw a sign for a church and this afternoon I found myself walking down to the ol’ church house with my mom and Spanish new testament in hand along with a carefully translated paragraph explaining why I was there just in case I got tounge tied. (or in case I didn’t know how to say it because I procrastinated learning Spanish last semester) I was nervous. What if I didn’t know what to say? What if they laughed at me in Spanish? It isn’t any old situation that could make Priscilla nervous. 🙂 However, breathing a quick prayer I pushed open the door to the church and strode in, expecting dozens of Spanish eyes to stare at me. Instead five friendly pairs of eyes smiled at me, welcoming me in. And that is how Mario, Yolanda, Sierra, Juan and Pudi came into my life. They are the five sweet members of the small church. They truly had hearts for the Lord and were accepting of me and trying to help me learn, translating in English every once and a while. They prayed over me and I know that in the future they might be a big part of God’s plan for me. Who knows what will happen if you take that step of faith?

Priscilla