2:21 - Autumn Edition

2:21 mag 2

0

1

0

F

A

L

L

I

one thing forever fashionable Awesome Calendar Download inside!

Advice on finding your group

S

S

U

E

2

0

1

0

F

A

L

L

I

S

S

2:21 mag

z

Forever Fashionable

U

E

z

By Kristen Schiffman

So, in high school I had these overalls. I looked like such a dork in them.

T he overall part wasn’t so bad; it was that they had huge, intricate roses sewn on all of the pockets and made me look like a farmer without a field. Not to mention I wore one of the straps unhooked for some puzzling reason. Oh, the horror!

In my defense, at the time, they were actually “in”.

As girls, fashion is important to us.

We love new trends and looking our best. Nothing says, “I have arrived,” more than that perfect pair of jeans and cute t-shirt. I bet it would be easier for us to remember what we wore two weeks ago to Social Studies class than what we actually learned!

But the truth is, as fun as fashion is, it comes and goes. What is cool today will not be cool next year. Orange will be the new pink.

Brown the new black. Leggings will be considered “so last year” and ballet shoes may be forgotten.

If we want to sink our teeth into something that never ends, we are going to have to look much deeper than the local mall’s sale rack!

Psalm 119:89 tells us, “What you say goes, God, and stays as permanent as the heavens. Your truth never goes out of fashion; it’s as up-to-date as the earth when the sun comes up.

Your Word and truth are dependable as ever…”

This verse is telling us that God’s Word is always up-todate. That means it still applies to what you are doing today… and tomorrow…and three years from now!

I hope that when you have a question about how to handle a problem at school or if you are

wondering what God thinks about the new music video that makes woman seem like they are only good enough for men to stare at…you will open up your Bible and seek out His answers.

The Bible is not a book that went out of style 2,000 years ago! As a matter of fact, Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is ALIVE and POWERFUL. I encourage you to read your Bible for just a few minutes a day…and see just what Christ wants to talk to you about. I promise, He desires to reveal Himself to you.

I pray this month’s magazine offering encourages you to do just that. Dig into His word, get to know Him more and for goodness sake, do me a favor and make sure your overalls are strapped on both sides!

Welcome Fall!

Download for

our

October.

Team

2:21

Delaney

calendar

offers

fun

and inspirational prompts for each week!

View the calendar online & download to your own computer. :)

Precious in His Sight Written by Esther

The other night, coming home from church, I saw the stars come out and the moon shining brightly in the sky. I thought of several verses in Psalms, and I was reminded once again how great and how amazingly awesome is the God that we serve.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Psalm 8:3-4 This is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. It never fails to leave me shaking my head and wondering why God would even notice us, among all the other things that He created.

Even though God has all these other things He has created that He could admire, He chooses to think of us, and to care for us.

When I think of that verse, my mind shoots several chapters over, to another verse.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1

Whenever I see a picture of the solar system or the Milky Way, I am always amazed at how big it is. I think ‘The solar system is so big that we can’t even see all of it, and yet God is bigger still.

He tells us that He has thrown our sins as far as the east is from the west.’ I can’t even imagine how far the east is from the west. If you walk east, you can keep on walking east for your whole life and you’ll never reach west. If you walk west you’ll never reach east. That’s how far He has thrown our sins and transgressions from Him. These verses always make me marvel anew that God, who made all the stars and knows the name of each, would even remember us. Yet the Bible tells us that we are foremost in His mind, that He thinks about us all the time. To me, that is amazing. How many of us think about God all the time and never think about anything else?

I don’t think that any of us do that, even if we try our best!

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I

© Stephanie Berghaeuser | sxc.hu - Image

awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:17-18 That means that we can’t even begin to imagine how much God thinks about us! ‘If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand…’ Wow. We can’t even count the number of grains of sand that is in one handful that we pick up off of the beach! Yet God thinks about us so much that His thoughts outnumber all the grains of sand. He thinks about us when we are sleeping, and when we are awake. No matter what we are doing, or where we are, He is thinking about us.

Isn’t it awesome that we have a C re at o r wh o n eve r s t o p s thinking about us? He loves us that much! But, sadly, we don’t think about Him anywhere near that much. Sometimes I may think about Him less then ten times a day, and yet He is always thinking about me… all day… no matter what.

So, no matter what happens, I do my best to remember this: God is with you and me. He’ll be with us forever, and He is always thinking about you and me. He has never forgotten us, and He never will forget us.

Meet the team online @ 221mag.com

By Angela Parsley

Been in a Fishy Situation Lately?

Been in a Fishy Situation Lately? Did you ever think a fish could get you back on the right track with God? I know that is a funny question, huh?

But really if you were in a tough crisis with God ever wonder how could He get you back? There was a servant of God named Jonah. God used a fish to bring him back to obedience. By now you have been in school awhile. How has it been going? How have you been walking out your faith in front of your peers? Has God given you a difficult assignment yet? Sometimes He does that you know. Sometimes things are so difficult that you will want to say no, maybe even run away from things God wants you to do. However, God’s

ways are the best ways and we are better off to stay the course. Yet, if you do run, be assured that God can always bring you back.

The book of Jonah opens this way, “One day long ago, God’s Word came to Jonah, Amittai’s son: ‘Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.’ But Jonah got up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish—as far away from God as he could get.” Jonah 1:1-3 (Message)

Thanks to God (and a big fish) Jonah was back on track.

Jonah was a servant of God. His assignment was to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh.

Yet Jonah ran the other way. We are not too different from Jonah. We too are servants of God. God also gives us assignments. One of which is to tell of His good news making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Do we regularly do this?

How about when you know in the pit of your soul that you should talk to that certain person in your school about Jesus but instead you ignore it? That is running away from God like Jonah. We do this all the time and we should not. It is disobedience.

But the story is not over yet.

Remember, sweet ladies, the Bible tells us that, “there is now NO condemnation in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 emphasis mine). Remember that always. If you have received Christ as your personal Savior there is no more condemnation.

No more beating yourself up. Christ took all our past, present, and future sin and covered it. He is the reason we are forgiven and clean—even when we mess up. For Jonah there was hope and for us there is as well.

Read the story of Jonah for yourself, it will bless you. We see that Jonah turned to God and confessed. A huge fish swallowed him and there he stayed for three days. Disobedience can be stinky and messy. There are always consequences for sin but no condemnation. As Jonah lay there in

that stinky and slimy fish he poured out his heart to God. God then commanded the fish to spit Jonah out on the shore near his destination.

Thanks to God (and a big fish) Jonah was back on track. Instead of a clean and easy ride over to the city of Nineveh he took the stinky, smelly, extended route. Our choices determine the path but God always makes it right. We can do nothing to mess up His plan. Sometimes we may choose a harder route but we can never fail God’s ultimate purpose. Jonah went into that city and preached his message. Immediately the people repented before God. Now isn’t that amazing?! He did what God asked and the results were only the kind of results that God could produce. A great revival broke out in this city.

Oh did I mention that these people were enemies of Jonah’s people? Yeah they were. Maybe that is why he was hesitant in going the first time.

Whatever the reason I want you to look at your life right now. Are there any friends or enemies that you are in contact with who need the Lord Jesus? Are there any that you need to be talking to right now? Keep me posted because I want to know. I will do the same for you. Let us walk out fully what God has given us being mindful to share the good news of Jesus to all that God leads us to. Praying for you sweet ones! Go forth and walk it out!

“You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I'm about to burst with song; I can't keep quiet about you.

God, my God, I can't thank you enough.�

Psalm 30:11 (The Message)

What’s Your Problem?

BY CJ CARELTON

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT) I love my Bible. I love to just sit and hug it sometimes. Does that sound a little strange to you? Try it. Go and grab your Bible, dust it off if you have to and give it a tight squeeze. I love to sit in a quiet place, close my eyes, hug my Bible, take a few deep breaths inhale…..….exhale……… and just be still. Can you feel it? That overwhelming sense that you are not alone. That the One who created you, the One who loves you and needs you is eagerly waiting to spend time with you.

I have to be honest with you, I stopped reading my Bible years ago. Reading it was doing nothing for me. One day while I was visiting with a friend I told her my problem with my Bible. She told me what I was doing wrong, the problem was not my Bible, it was me. You’re not supposed to read your Bible you are supposed to study your Bible.

Oh, I get it. If I am serious about my faith and understanding what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ I need to study God’s word.As I began to study amazing things began to happen.

I saw passages in the Bible in ways that I never heard before. Things I had learned over and over again in Sunday school and in my youth now took on new meaning and I began to understand how these things that happened so long ago are applicable to my life right now.

Are you up for a little Bible trivia? What is the longest chapter in the Bible? Psalms 119. What is the shortest chapter in the Bible? Psalms 117. Do you know what the middle verse of the entire Bible is? Psalms 118:8 which reads, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people.” (NLT) Wow, did that verse ever speak to me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord—it is better to escape, find cover, shelter or sanctuary in the Lord, than to put your trust, confidence, hope or faith in people.

How often I found myself dealing with something and the first thing I would do, is to run to one of my friends. But what does that verse tell us? The best place to go would be where we can find shelter, at the feet of our Lord. It’s a hard thing to do. People are tangible, they are right there in front of you, you can ask them questions and you can clearly hear their response. You know what?

That can happen in your relationship with Christ as well!

As you begin to study His word (Joshua 1:8) and hide it in your heart (Psalm 119:11), you are developing your relationship with Him (2 John 1:9). As that relationship blossoms you will be able to understand scripture more clearly (Matthew 13:12) and be able to hear His “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12).

And now, a challenge . . .

How does that sound? Does it sound a little overwhelming? I know sometimes when I look at my Bible it just seems so big. I am not sure what I want to read or what God wants me to read. I get so overwhelmed that I just put it down and do something else. If you look at the last paragraph I listed five scriptures. That is a great place to start!

Take time to apply it to your life: Here is your challenge. Begin to study those five verses. How do you study? Let’s use Joshua 1:8 as our example. I begin by learning about the book. In my Bible it gives you a synopsis of each book. So I would learn who wrote it, when it was written and what the main theme of the book is. So now I know all about the book of Joshua. With that information in my head I would then read the whole chapter. So in this example I would read Joshua chapter one. I want to find out what is happening, why was this verse written and who is the author writing it to.

Why is this important or necessary? Let’s take for example that you found a note on the floor at school.

You glance at the letter and half way through you see your name and it says, “Cj just makes me sick. I am going to have to tell her I what I think.” Your first reaction? “Oh yeah, I will tell you what I think.”

You feel your body getting hot and you need somewhere to sit down. Your head is spinning with all kinds of thoughts, “Who would say that about me?” You look to see who wrote it- “What! I thought she was my friend!” Who did she write it to? Your friend in drama class? What is going on here? You begin to read the whole letter from the beginning; soon the understanding begins to unfold. Your friend began the letter by writing about this and that; then she began talking about your performance in the recent school play. The two girls were complimenting you on the great job that you did and that they should encourage you in your acting and singing abilities. Once you took the time to read the full letter, you understood that you made your friend sick with envy.

Do you see how your understanding can get confused if you don’t take the time to get the full story. The same goes with scripture. In order to understand what you believe in you have look at the big picture.

Reading a verse here and there gives you very limited knowledge of scripture and who God is.

221mag.com

I like clothes.

I play sports.

I have fun with my friends.

I totally text.

I rock out with my iPod. I flip my camera.

I type faster than my Mom. More than anything, I love my Jesus.

I Exemplify.

I am Team 2:21.

Dear

Daughter:

Finding a Group

By Julie Sanders

Dear Daughter, When you walk into a crowded cafeteria or youth room, before you pick a seat or drop your bag, something inside you will whisper, “find a friend.” Even better, find a group!

So much of life is organized around groups. Maybe you have a group you sit with a lunch or stand with in the hallway. Do you belong to a club? A team? A small group? Do you join groups on social networking sites like Facebook?

People are built to be together, and who you connect with makes a difference in who you become when the group is gone and it’s “just you.” Finding your group helps you find yourself as an individual.

Since God put us together, He totally understands our need for companionship. He gave Adam a wife, Noah some “ark mates,” and King David a BFF. When He started sending out people as missionaries, He sent them in teams. Tucked away in the pages of scripture (Acts 16:13-15) is a picture of a group of gals who met because they loved God. They lived in the Roman colony of Philippi, where wanting to worship God definitely made them the minority. Theirs was the small club, but what drew this group of women together was that they loved to pray. They met by the river, and that’s where the missionaries Paul and Silas met them.

Her group was known for wanting to follow God . . .

Lydia was already influential, having her own business, and she was especially open to what she learned about God that day. She invited the leaders to her home; group leaders always have an opportunity to influence others. When the missionary pair ended up in prison and then was miraculously released the next morning, verse 40 tells us they went to where they knew a group of God followers would welcome them – Lydia’s house. Her group was known for wanting to follow God. Wanting to find other people you feel comfortable with, are accepted by, and have fun with will motivate you to find the right group. You might be tempted to settle for something less than God’s best, but the same teacher who saw something special about Lydia’s group told another bunch of Christ followers not to be tricked, because “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Cor. 15:33) The group we choose to associate with influences us, so we need to choose wisely.

Lydia may have been in the least popular group of Philippi, but it was the right group when God used them to do something unique. The group of believers

that started in her hometown, maybe in her home, became a strong and influential church whose influence was felt around the world. We know Lydia specialized in selling purple fabric … my kind of girl! But because she chose to be part of a group that sought after God’s things, we know she was a worshiper of God, an influencer of others, a host to the first church in her town, and a protector of God’s servants. What will the group you choose help you to become?

Your group might not have a varsity letter, a table that’s yours, a secret handshake, an inside joke, or nicknames, but every group has an influence. You’ll look for a group this year. That’s the way we’re made. And when you choose, I don’t pray you’ll find the most popular group, but the one that helps you be the girl God plans for you to be and the young woman of influence I believe you can be.

For good company, Mom

2:21 is not adding new team members at this time but will be announcing openings soon.

Stay tuned!

Praying for “The One”

“Iʼve got it all written out.”

My friend Shay folded herself into the chair next to mine.

“Wanna see?” She smoothed the creases of a well worn slip of paper and nudged it towards me.

“Hereʼs my list of everything Iʼm looking for in a guy.”

Iʼm sure I raised my eyebrows as I started to read her very detailed qualifications.

Blue eyes.

Shaggy blonde hair.

Skateboard style. Laid back personality. Not too short, but not too tall.

“Sounds like a want ad for the newspaper”, I couldnʼt hide my smile. Shay laughed and snatched the paper back.

“So when are you gonna make one?”

Feature Article

by Joye Dicharry

“I donʼt know” I shrugged, “I guess thereʼs only one thing that matters to me and thatʼs whether he loves Jesus or not.”

“Well, yeah, thatʼs important to me, too, but donʼt you care what he looks like?”

God knows me better . . .

Sure, I cared, but looks weren’t at the top of my list.

God was. And I was pretty confifident that God knew what I liked even better than I did.

And thatʼs why I didnʼt make a list and wrote prayers for my future husband instead.

I watched Shay date one guy after another (all of them fitting ʻthe listʼ to a T) and I turned dates down and fell asleep praying for the man God would one day give my heart to. It wasnʼt easy, in fact it was pretty lonely sometimes.

But my prayers, like invisible threads, were binding my heart to my future husband.

They solidified my commitment to save myself for him. I wanted the man I married to be my first and only love, my very first kiss.

It was the summer of my fifteenth year and I couldnʼt sleep. I remember that night vividly. I knew God wanted me to pray for my husband.

Lying in my bed, staring up at a dark ceiling, I prayed for his salvation. I prayed for him to know Jesus like I did, to surrender his life to his Savior.

I now know that was the year my husband gave his life to Christ. He was eighteen and thousands of miles away. Angry, confused, and running. But he couldnʼt outrun the love of Jesus and the power of prayer. He didnʼt know if God would take him, if he could ever be forgiven, but he was tired of running. The moment his knees hit the floor in surrender, he felt the arms of God wrap around him in an embrace heʼll never forget. Love washed over him like a cleansing waterfall. And

his journey to me began.

Two years and thousands of miles later, we would meet and become the best of friends. And I can say now that itʼs true...

God does know me better than I know myself.

He brought the man of my dreams to my doorstep. I didnʼt have to go out searching for him, or ʻplay the fieldʼ, or even make a list.

I just gave God my heart and trusted him to give it to the right man.

The man I prayed for. The man that is now my husband.

My first date, my first love, my first kiss.

Maybe youʼve made a list and several matches fell through already. Maybe youʼve already given your heart away one too many times.

The good news is that it’s never too late to make a commitment to your future husband and it’s never too early, either!

You can start by praying for him. Write your prayers in a journal that you can one day give to your husband.

Trust God with ʻthe listʼ. Trust Him with your heart. Heʼll give it to the right guy.

Meet our featured writer Joye at The Joyreful Journey

The Chocolate Diaries Written by Maddie

Š Bartek Ambrozik | sxc.hu - Image

Depen"ng on # day, if a genie gave me three wishes, one of them would probably be that chocolate and cookie dough were healthy – even go beyond healthy, needed for proper functionality. Needless to say, I love milk chocolate, and if you wrap it in unbaked, cold cookie dough, even better! I had a piece of cookie dough the other day, a treat even rarer than baked cookies, if you can believe that. I noticed something about my quarter sized ball of deliciousness – once it was gone, I wanted more. It was not so strong as to be an addiction but I certainly wasn’t going to pick up, say, a piece of celery after having eaten the chocolate chip dough.

And since I couldn’t go and get another ball of it (if not for the raw eggs reason, then that I’d like to keep my figure in tact) I was now in a dilemma where what I wanted, I couldn’t have and now nothing else seemed to compare.

I stopped when I realized I DON’T always do that with

G o d . H ave I eve r re a l l y CRAVED God to the point where nothing else seemed good enough? Have I ever found that I not only love God but I

CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF HIM? If I could do it with something as bad for you and finite as chocolate chip cookie dough then why can’t I, rather, why am I not doing that with God? I am going to commit to something, and I hope you will too – I am going to find a sweet tooth for God. I already love God, I just want to be crazy for Him. I want to be the Christian who, when she eats all her cookie dough, she runs back into the fridge for more….errr, I mean I want to be the Christian w h o , w h e n s h e fi n i s h e s something God has called her to do, reads an article that inspires her, or learns something knew about God, she keeps running to find something else to read, something else to learn, and something else God is calling her to do.

I want people to see me with a completely uncontrollable desire for the Lord – the only obsession that is magnificent

and CAN be fulfilled (and won’t hurt my waistline!). Even when I haven’t been hungry for Him, He can never get enough of me.

Do we SERVE, DESIRE, and LOVE an AMAZING God or what?!

Lord, I want to want you. I know I need you, and you know that I love you, but I want to be obsessed with you. I want a desire for you that other people will not be able to deny. God, show me that nothing else can even come close in comparison to you – that you are all that satisfies. You are all I need, you are all I want.

I love you with everything that is in me, Lord, I give you my life.

Amen.

Are you what you wear?

By Erin Bishop

We’ve all heard the expression “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but most of us have. I’ve made several trips to the library in search of a new book to read and often decided whether or not to look at the back cover based on the front cover. I don’t know what I look for in a book c ov e r d e s i g n , bu t I l i k e something that “pops”. Nice colors, pictures, designs, and eye-catching. The covers with just words rarely get my attention unless I’m looking for a specific book. I’ve probably missed out on some good reads because of my “at a glance” judging.

1 Samuel 16:7 says “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Truer words have never been spoken.

As a teen, not only did I made a quick assessment of a person on the street by what they were wearing, but I looked to others that I held in high regard for how I should look and what I should wear. I remember back to the 6th grade when I first became aware of fashion and brands and how, sadly, they

played a large part in what crowd you hung out with. My family moved between 5th and 6th grade so I went to a new school in 6th grade. I had spent 6 years at my old school and everyone knew everyone, so friendships that began in kindergarten weren’t based on your style and what brands you wore. But in the 6th grade I found out that the groups had long since been formed and there wasn’t much room for the new kid. Have you ever changed schools or found yourself in the new kid position? It’s not fun, is it?

I remember believing that if I had Keds shoes just like the cool girls, they would like me. I remember my Mom couldn’t see paying for Keds when she could get me a knock-off pair for half the price. (I can see her logic now, by the way.) I decided to make a blue square on the back of my knock-offs so people would think they were Keds.

Guess what? It didn’t win me the overnight popularity and gobs of friends that I had been hoping for.

Fast forward to high school; all the girls were going on dates a n d h a d b oy f r i en d s. N o t wanting to be left out, I began to study these girls so I, too, would be part of the crowd.

This meant more makeup, form fitting jeans, skirts and shirts with lower necklines. I remember one day when I was walking between classes one of the boys I knew since junior high stopped me and told me “that was quite a dress you had on yesterday”. The dress was borrowed from a neighbor girl who had quite a reputation with the boys. It was black suede, very short, sleeveless and a low v-neck line. I remember feeling very pleased and validated with the attention. At the time, I believed that by following the crowd I would fit in and get the friends, acceptance, approval and status I so desperately wanted. Instead, I found myself on the fast track to situations and emotions far beyond what my maturity level could handlefar beyond what I was meant to handle at that age. My identity and worth was wrapped up in what others thought of me, but at the time, I didn’t realize it.

Are you what you wear?

Shortly after graduation my sister (who is two years younger than me) told me that my body and the way I looked in jeans was the topic of many Friday night gatherings between the guys. I was stunned. I had no idea that I drew such attention, especially from this crowd, the popular jocks. I didn’t run in their circle, after all. I wondered what other conversations I was a part of and what else was said about me. Even though I was looking for attention, I had no idea my wardrobe choices would leave such a lasting mark or affect my reputation. I just wanted people to like me and to accept me.

Now my identity comes from Jesus and I feel an inner peace about who I am. I don’t feel the need

to change who I am to fit in with the crowd. I am, however, careful about my identity in a different way. I guard and cherish it. As a daughter of the Most High King, I consider my conduct because I want people to see Him when they look at me.

Remember, God sees our hearts, but man sees our outward appearance. What does my outward appearance say about me? What does it say about Him? We must be mindful of these things as we make our wardrobe selections. We should avoid clothes that are too tight and revealing, shirts that compromise our modesty at the neckline or when we bend over and shorts, skirts and dresses that are too short and rise up when we sit down.

We are royalty, girls, we should dress the part.

To Teach

the Younger Women . . .

Interview with Becky Robinson Interview by Abby

Please welcome Becky Robinson.

She is an wonderful Christian woman and a role model to me. She was my Sunday school teacher for 2 years while I was in Jr. high and taught me and the other girls a lot about serving God and growing in Him. Becky is a mom of three, twin college girls(Holly and Hayley) and a high school boy(Christian), she is also the wife of our amazing youth pastor, Toby. Both have been major role models and are second parents to many of the kids in our youth group. Becky is a teacher’s aide in a Special Ed. class in Elementary school. Her hobbies are, singing, reading, and drawing. She loves the outdoors and especially mountains as she grew up on them. She was saved and baptized as a child and has served God faithfully through the good times and the hard times.

How do you deal with distractions that pulled you away from God? I really pray about them and ask God to make Him my focus again.

He always lets me know I have placed something or someone above Him. The Holy Spirit is the only way I can keep other distractions from pulling me away from Him. What are your viewpoints on modesty? How would you define modesty?

To me modesty is more than dress. It’s in actions and words and in dress. It’s simple to me, when I put something on I look in the mirror and ask “Would I be embarrassed if God was picking me up?” It works every time. It is the same with my words or actions. If I am uncomfortable in it, or saying it or doing it then I know it does not please the Lord. Even at my age I go with this. Modesty is your own conviction through the Holy Spirit. I cannot expect a non Christian to dress modest, they do not have the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them. But you have to be willing to listen to Him. How much of yourself should you really invest in a boyfriend as a teenager?

I have trouble with teenagers having serious boyfriends. I do believe that a teenager can be in love of what they think love is. It took me until my 20’s to understand that love is not about “me”. It is about the relationship and the other person. Love is not just about feelings. Most days you don’t feel like loving them, you CHOOSE to love them. Love is a choice you have to make every day. So investing yourself in a boy as a teenager can bring a lot of heart ache with it because it’s mostly about feelings. I think you should start making friends, group date, hang out with each other and get to know each other. Then if there is an attraction it is more grounded on other things than just feelings.

How should we as girls take our future husbands into consideration?

My dad told me not to date anyone that I would not consider marrying. I laughed when he first told me, but I did see the wisdom in it. I would tell all teenagers to make a list of what you are looking for in a future mate. Then you know what to look for when you are dating and having them ask you out. Being an active Christian is the utmost important and not backing down just to have a date. In truth, sometimes there is no controlling who you lose your heart to. It is not too early to pray for him and ask God to set him apart for His service. So I say, take your future husband into every consideration. It’s the second most important decision you will make. Salvation being your first.

Why is waiting for sex worth it?

To me this is very simple. God tells us to wait! When we do, He blesses it beyond anything you can imagine! No sneaking around, wondering if you will get caught. No shame. No guilt.

I could go on. Like everything else God created beautiful, He created sex to be beautiful between a husband and his wife.

There is freedom, peace, and an intimacy you can never have with another when you’ve done it the way God created it.

WOW! It’s worth it!

How do you deal with temptation?

I literally get out my study Bible and look up verses that I can memorize to help me get through them. Even the ones we would consider small ones. God has shown me through the years, if I don’t get ready to do battle with them, I will fall. And it is so much harder getting up from a fall than standing ground and deal right then and there with them. I used to try and face them on my own and God was my last resort for help. But I have really learned, “the hard way” that it is easier to go to Him first. It’s been a hard battle for me to get victory over and still struggle in some areas, but I have come a long way. To God is the glory!

What is your favorite Bible verse and how did/does it apply to your life?

Jude verses 24-25. God is strong and can help you not to fall. He can bring you before his glory without any wrong in you and can give you great joy. He is the only God, the One who saves us. To him be glory, greatness, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord for all time past, now, and forever.

Amen There have been so many times that I have failed Him and disappointed Him, and to know He is able to present me before the Holy God without fault. WOW! It is because of who He is that makes me who I am. That’s my life every day.

Is it a struggle for you to read your Bible everyday?

Even as an adult, I struggle to read it every day. Through the years, it does get easier, because I can tell a difference on the days I don’t spend the first of my day with Him. It doesn’t give me perfect days and I still have strug g les. But the mornings when I do open His Word and pray. There is such a

How often do you read the Bible, spend time with Him, and pray, etc.?

I do try and read it every day and in the morning. If I don’t read it that morning, I do try and do it that night. My car time is my biggest prayer time. I love having that time with Him too. Sometimes I play music and sometimes I go without.

What’s the most important thing you know about prayer?

It is my most important communications with my God. I am able to approach His holy throne through the intercession of the Holy Spirit and make my requests known. That is so awesome!

How have you seen the Holy Spirit work in your life?

I have to say every day. I know we receive the Holy Spirit when we are saved. But I ask the Holy Spirit to fill me every day to prepare me for the situations I

will be facing that day. My desire to pray, read my Bible, go to church, scripture memory. All those things are the works of the Holy Spirit What are some of the pressures and challenges you have faced and are f a c i n g ? W h e t h e r f ro m peers, school, work, or even your family? How did and do you deal with them?

My time management is one of my biggest challenges. Being the witness I need to be to my new coworkers is also another. I do spend a lot of time in prayer over both and then I try and be still and let God answer without me interrupting.

What’s the most important thing we as teenagers should be spending our time and focusing on, right now?

Your relationship with God. All the other things will be affected by that. When my relationship with God is right, my other relationships come together.

They will not be perfect, because we are human. But they will be a blessing to you when they are under Him. Then at the right time, God will send that special someone into your life.

What’s the most important thing to do as a teenager?

(Ex. Stay focused on God? Build godly friendships?

Pray every day?)

All those things are important. I think God put all those things in our life to give us well rounded lives. Relationships, friendships, and all the other things God uses in our life. If you live to please Him, He will be pleased.

Thank you so much Becky! I have been blessed by your answers and by learning from you.

Big thank you to Fonts for Peas used throughout this issue as well as

Dreamstime for graphics purchased within this issue .

In the meantime we hope to see you at our page on Facebook or following on Twitter.

Look for our Winter issue coming soon!