Laci and I have been teaching a class to 9 teenager girls about sexual & emotional integrity. We've been using a book called Every Young Woman's Battle. Let me tell you, these girls have been open and eager to learn and to understand why we are made the way we are! They have been willing to ask questions (even embarrassing ones!) and have been just as willing to share struggles and issues they've had in their lives. I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned about myself from listening to them! They've taught me as much as I've taught them! They've told Laci & me several times that they think the boys should go thru the same type of class!
The one thing I have learned (or been reminded of) is how satan still uses the same lies and deceit on girls today that he used when I was a teenager. Satan uses a young girl's desire to be accepted and loved. He takes her insecurities about how she looks and fills her with lies about what she must do in order to be loved. These are the very same lies I heard in my head when I was a teenager. One thing is definitely different now...satan is running out of time and so he is working even harder nowadays than he did when I was young. Teenage girls today have SO MUCH MORE peer pressure and so many more "acceptable" lies to deal with than I did. What was considered immoral and wrong when I was a young girl is now totally the norm for girls today. It's hard enough just existing as a teenage girl without having all these thoughts running thru your head about what you have to do to be accepted!
All this to say, we are never to old to learn new things. The things our kids are dealing with today may be the "same" things we dealt with, but SO MUCH BIGGER than when we were there. So allow God to show you how to love your teenagers better by praying for them and truly listening to them when they need you to. Don't cast judgement and don't threaten to lock them up when they start telling you things that would make your ears want to burn off. Let them know that you can't believe what they have to deal with, but you know that our God is powerful enough to give strength to help them deal with it! PRAY FOR YOUR KIDS! If ever was a time for it, NOW is the time!
5 comments:
hey sheila. we live at 56363 holly kosove tampa fl 33620. hope yall are doing goo, we miss you too!
You know I sometimes wonder if I was too hard on Ashley. We just wanted to protect her from making the same mistakes I did. She called me a couple of months ago and said how much she loves me for doing what was so hard at the time. She didn't like it when we were grounding her, but she now sees that we were protecting her from making some serious mistakes that she would've made had we not. Ahh... a shocking moment in deed. We need to be on our knee's 24/7 for our children. There is so much for them to have thrown in their paths. But God is a Big God and he hears our cries for our children because they are HIS children and as much as we love them, He loves them more.
Jason did the same book for teen boys at Kings and it had a HUGE impact on Adam and the way he looks at girls. I think everyone should buy a copy for the sons to read. Adam still has his.
Thanx Jas!!
I'm hoping that Claude and another youth worker, Derick, will be willing to do the book with the boys at the beginning of the new year!
I love this post and I love our girl's and how great they have been through the whole thing. I really hope the boys do the study, too. It has been such a blessing to be a part of this group with you and the girls..I'm excited for whats still to come!!
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