It’s a new year, a time to think about the year ahead and all the opportunities it holds for you. Be challenged this year to put the temptation to focus on ‘yourself’ and ‘your needs’ aside, and instead, direct your focus on God and the things that are dear to His heart.

Focus on the needs of those around you. There are people at your school and in your neighborhood who do not know the love of Jesus. How might you demonstrate God’s love to those around you? Perhaps you can be a friend to someone who is not so popular, perhaps you can help someone in need, volunteer to babysit for a mom who needs a few hours to herself. Look for opportunities to serve others and by doing so you will be demonstrating God’s love in practical ways.

Ask God to help you be more sensitive to the needs of others this year. Ask God to give you the boldness and the desire to serve others and not just focus all your attention on YOU! As you seek to help others, you are “being about the Fathers’ business” and this pleases God. As you focus on others you are giving God opportunity to work in your life and in your behalf. God knows what is best for you and how to bring that to pass in your life. As you focus on God he will focus His love and attention on YOU!

What  is in your ‘heart’ matters to God! The bible tells us; “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) The ‘heart’ ~ that place deep within your being that is the center of who you are. This is where you connect with God, and it is top priority for God to connect with you!

God tells us in his word, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23) Why do you think God is so concerned with you ‘heart’?

It is with your ‘heart’ that you ‘connect’ with God. Your relationship with God begins with believing in him in your ‘heart’, and it is with your ‘heart’ that you continue to develop a strong relationship with God.

There are so many things in life that are tugging for the attention of your ‘heart’. Why do you think this is? If other things can get the attention of your ‘heart’; you will soon find that it is difficult to connect with God. You can be certain, the enemy wants you distracted and disconnected from God.

Things that may be tugging at your heart are; hurt, fear, offense, anxiety, mistrust, unbelief, jealousy, unforgiveness, and anger, just to mention a few. Involvement in sin will also clutter your heart. Things such as these will cause you to be disconnected from God.

I challenge you today to examine your ‘heart’. What are the things in your life that you are giving your ‘heart’ too? What things are cluttering up your ‘heart’? A cluttered ‘heart’ has no room for the love of God. Is connecting with God your top priority?

God wants all of your heart, not just the ‘left overs’. The bible tells us, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”(Mathew 22:37) God wants your ‘heart’ so he can fill you with his joy and his love. Ask God to search your ‘heart’ and reveal anything that is a barrier between you and him. Ask God to send his love to cleanse your ‘heart’ and make you whole.

It is never too late to turn your ‘heart’ back towards God. Give God all of your ‘heart’ and watch him do amazing things in your life.

After speaking with many girls and hearing their stories, I have sensed a common thread. Can you guess what the common link is? If you guessed “self-confidence” you are correct!

Many girls struggle with “who they are” and “who they think they should be”; therefore they are looking for acceptance among friends, and especially among boyfriends. This is where the struggle takes place. Until you decide to be confident in yourself, you will always be looking for approval from others. The trouble here is that those you are seeking approval from, are struggling with their own issues of self-confidence. Oh…it may not appear that way to you, however, hidden under their outward appearance are teenagers who are struggling with low self-esteem.

The way to improve your relationships is to build your self-confidence. The way to do this, is to stop seeking approval from others and seek to be the best at “being you”. God designed you perfectly, with unique gifts and talents. When you seek to “be like others” you are going against the natural intelligence built into you! Seek to please God, not others and watch things around you change. At best you will be happier “being yourself” than you will ever be trying to “be who others want you to be”.

Seek after God’s approval, allow yourself to follow your own desires and watch and see that you will attract great friends, both girls and boys, to yourself. You will attract other confident young people who accept you and don’t want to change you. Then in these relationships you are free to be yourself; without worrying about the approval of others. I challenge you to put aside thoughts that “you have to be like the other girls”, and dare to be “yourself”. Dare to set the example of a “self-confident” young woman. Will you take the challenge?

This time of year for teenagers, is often filled with anxiety of things ‘unknown’. New teachers, new friends, new schedules, new cities, new jobs, the list is endless. However, none of these things surprise God.

God is aware of all the changes taking place in the natural realm, as well as in your life. Just as nature yields itself to God’s wisdom, be encouraged and yield yourself to God’s perfect plan for you this season.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”(Jeremiah 29:11)

Be encouraged as you enter into this next season, be expecting God to show you new things, give you a fresh start; perhaps at school, with friends and family, with a job. Be encouraged to be yourself, don’t take hold of pressures others may be holding out there for you. Walk your journey, and watch yourself be transformed as God works in you and through you.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

God is with you where ever you are. Be expecting great things; what happened last year is over, what happened yesterday is over. “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”(Luke 18:27)… Today is a “Fresh Start.”

Ever get the feeling that today is nothing more than a repeat of yesterday? Day after day, I hear young people who talk about their day as if it is nothing special. Often when asked the question, “what are your plans for today”, a common response is “nothing new, same old, same old”.  When I think about what a “gift” each day is, I am troubled when I hear young people react with such a response.

Jesus died that you might have life and have life abundantly! Each day is a day of new beginnings. Each day is a gift, which when opened with anticipation, is full of surprises. I challenge you to look at today with a new awareness. God has hidden treasures in store for you. Only those that are diligently seeking after those treasures will find them.

Look at today as an adventure. Many of you, at one time or other have gone out on a “hidden treasure hunt”; remember how much fun that was! Just the anticipation that you would find new things as you searched around for them, was so much fun, and being the first to find them made it even more exciting!

Just think how different your day would be, if you looked at each moment as part of a “treasure hunt”. God knows the plans he has for you today!  God’s blessings are new every morning!

Take the challenge, start today as part of a new adventure and see what is hidden around the corner for you to discover! Keep your eyes opened, expect to find hidden treasures. They are hidden that you may discover them; see each day as a journey of discovery. Most of all, take someone along on the journey with you. See the wonders God has hidden just for you!

Often we are expecting certain levels of love and respect from others in our life towards us; however, when was the last time you evaluated your life to see if you have been demonstrating love to others?

Have you recently reached out to someone with an act of kindness with no expectations in return? Have you recently reached out to be kind to someone who everyone else ignores? Or perhaps when was the last time you were kind to someone who has hurt you?

Love is not just a ‘feeling’, it is a decision!

Decide today to be loving towards others, regardless of their behavior towards you, and watch God do amazing things through you. When we take the focus off ourselves and direct our thinking towards the needs of others, our own lives improve.

Jesus demonstrated the ultimate sacrifice of love. He died, so that we may have eternal life. He loved us before we ever loved him. Let’s share our blessing of the love of God with those around us. Dare to be different, step out of your comfort zone, and love others just because God loves you!

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I watched a movie recently that prompted this blog posting. The movie was about a race horse being trained as a champion competitor. The race horse was valuable and respected because of his “blood line”. His owner was convinced that because of his heritage he would be great!

I got to thinking…how much more valuable are we as the descendants of God!!! We have royal blood flowing through our veins. God is our ‘daddy’, we were destined for greatest.

Just stop and think about it, we are children of God, the almighty, all powerful. There is nothing that can stop us from becoming all we were destined to be.

Just like in the story, the race horse developed into a champion! You too can be a champion when you train with Jesus. He will teach you all you need to know to win your race called “life”. God’s word says Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart…” God believes in you…Do you believe in yourself?

You are a champion on the inside. Do not let anyone or anything stop you from becoming all you can be. Run your race; follow the path God puts before you. Do not compare yourself with others, because no one is designed exactly like you.

Keep your eyes on the finish line, and not on those along side of you. Be who God designed you to be, and you will become a champion. You are special God is convinced of this!

Often friends and family may let you down, they are not there when you need them, or they just cannot relate to what you may be going through. God understands. He will direct your paths. He will stand with you when no one else will.

Trusting God means that you obey what he instructs you to do. Obedience to God’s word, demonstrates that you understand and trust that he knows what is best. You can trust God’s instructions; he will always tell you the right thing to do. In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. You can always put your trust in God’s promises.

When you feel that you are alone, and don’t know where to turn, stop and pray; ask God to direct you and comfort you. God loves you and you can trust him always.

Things come and things go, people love and people disappoint, but God’s love last forever. God has used people and things in my life to demonstrate his unending love for me.


I am thankful for the mountain top experiences in my life that have brought unspeakable joy; as well as the valley experiences, that despite the intense pain, taught me to never give up, to believe beyond my doubts and fears.

I am thankful that in the mist of the storms of life, there are beams of sunshine that always shine through as a beacon of hope.

In a world of uncertainty, I am thankful there is a refuge in God’s peace, a peace that stretches beyond my natural understanding to a place of certainty. Here is where I meet God, and he showers me with his great love.

For this, I am forever thankful!

Courtesy of Wambie.com

We were created by God to be connected with others in relationships. God created Adam so he could fellowship with him. God created Eve to fellowship with Adam. God’s word says in Genesis 2:18 “It is not good for the man to be alone.” God knew that we would need friends. There is something designed in all of us that desires to connect with others, teenagers are no exception. Teenagers seem to have a strong desire to be part of “the group”. This means different things to different people, however, the bottom line is, everyone wants to “belong”.

Wanting to belong and have meaningful friendship is great, however, to what extent will you go to “belong”, or be able to say that someone is your “friend”. This is where I see that most teenage girls get trapped. They want to “fit in” so badly that they often make poor choices that often lead to heartaches and disappointments.

Can anyone out there relate???

First of all, I would like to share that if you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, you already belong to the greatest family ever…God’s family! As a member of God’s family you are royalty, I know what you are thinking…”Me, royalty”? Yes, YOU! You have been “Fearfully and wonderfully made”, (Psalm 139:14). Now that you know how special God made you, I am going to present this challenge to you.

Instead of trying to “fit in” to some popular group, ask yourself this question. “Who is worthy to be MY friend”?

Have you ever thought that the friends you chose should be those who deserve your friendship? Have you ever tried really hard to be accepted, sometimes compromising your own character to do so, only to find out that afterwards, that person(s) turned their back on you? If this sounds familiar, you are not alone!

So here is where my challenge comes into play.

Instead of trying to fit into others expectations of a friend, begin today, to make decisions regarding the type of friends you would really like in your life. Friendships based on loyalty, respect, kindness and love. (Love based on actions and not just words). Those are the types of people who are “worthy” of your friendship.

Do not sell yourself short just to “fit in”.

Respect yourself enough to trust God to bring the right friends across your path, and do not settle for “fake friendships”. I know this will be difficult at first, but it will be well worth your effort. Choosing your friends wisely will save you much heartache.

You may ask, “How do I know if a person will be a good friend”?

You can start by asking yourself a few questions. First of all, how do they treat others that they are in relationship with, because they are likely to treat you the same way. Secondly, do you have to compromise anything about yourself for them to “let you” be their friend? These are just a few. I trust that God will give you a witness in your spirit regarding those people who are “worthy to be your friend”, just ask him to help you. You are special and deserve “good” friends in your life. You are loved!