Breaking Through Social Media

Breaking Through Social Media

By Kaitlyn F.

As we all know, the media is powerful in the world that we live in. With a click of a button, we can send a message for the whole world to see, whether it be a positive or a negative message. Now if we were able to categorize all the media into two categories, positive and negative, it would most defiantly seem that there would be a ton more negative than positive. On the news majority of the stories are negative, the stories that are found on social media are negative, the conversations on the radio can be negative, etc. It is very easily to get depressed because everything seems to be going wrong in the world because that is all we focus on. But we can change that. 

God called us to be the salt to the Earth and a light in the darkness. (Matthew 5:13-16) One way that we can do that is by infiltrating the media with positive messages, and positive stories. In my eyes the media is one big black whole, and we need to place little glimmers of light in it, to help people see that there is more to life than just all the bad that is happening. This could be as simple as putting an encouraging Bible verse up on social media, or writing encouraging words to a friend who may be going through a hard time. You can start a blog, or create a website that is uplifting just to name a few. There are so many things that we could do, and as being teens, we are the ones who are best equip with the ways to use social media that we can do more than an average adult could, and we can reach more people our age with encouragement. God gave each of us a set of gifts and resources and we can each use our special gifts to reach a multitude of people. 

So I challenge everyone who is reading this to change the things we put on social media to something that will bring light into the darkness, and give hope and encouragement to those on social media.

Hope vs. Fantasy

Hope vs. Fantasy

Kaitlyn F.

Many of us at some point in our lives have fantasied about what our future will be like. What car we will drive, who we will marry, how many kids we will have. But as we grow older, we convert our fantasies into what is actually real. We then end up gaining a pessimistic view on life, from the struggles and conflicts that fill our lives. 

The thing is that even as grow older, we may lose our fantasies but that doesn't mean we lose our hope. I was talking with a friend who is going through a tough time in life, and I emailed her, and I was so filled with hope for the situation. She responded "I don't live in a fantasy." It breaks my heart that as a whole we see hope as a fantasy, something that is our of reach, something that we can't have. God came to Earth to give us hope in the hopeless situations, and we don't have to earn this hope either. God offers it freely. Its not living in a fantasy if you are hopeful in a situation. There are days where it is that hope I have in the Lord that gets me though the day. I am hours away from home, in a new situation, not sure of my future, not knowing anyone coming in, but I still have hope that God has a plan for me here, and that he is there for me, and so far college has been amazing. Sure there are it's ups and downs, but I have learned so much already, and I hope that as I continue this new journey that I can continue to learn and continue to grow. Having hope is not the same as having a fantasy. 

If you are in a hopeless situation right now, below are some Bible verses for you to meditate on, with a specific goal to give you hope that can help get you through what may be going on in your life. 

 Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." 

 Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" 

 Philippians 4:13 "For I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."  

 Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

God Will be There Again

God Will be There Again

By Kaitlyn F.

So this summer I got a job working at a movie theater. Going into this job, I didn’t know anyone who worked there, and it wasn’t close to my school, so there wasn’t a big chance of knowing anybody who would also be getting a job there. I went in solo, but I did slowly make friends. Then Monday night, we all worked at the same time, so we hung around and talked while we cleaned theaters, and it was one of the best nights I had working there. And because we work at a movie theater, we can go as a group and watch free movies and get free popcorn, and just hang out with one another after work one day.

Now for college next year, I will be going to Iowa. I’m am going to a small school, where I don’t know anybody going in. For a while I was afraid that I won’t be able to make any friends while at college. God has shown me that he has helped me before make friends at the movie theater when I wasn’t trying to make friends, so why wouldn’t he help me again when I am trying to friends with the same interests and I can have a good time with. God has helped me before, so why wouldn’t he help me later.

We all encounter things in our lives, trials, challenges, troubles, and there is a good chance that we will encounter them again. The thing is that we serve a God who is constant. 

Hebrews 13:8 says,

 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” 

If he has helped you before in the past, he isn’t going to change his mind and not help you in the future. He may help you in a different way, depending in the situation, and what is best for you at the time, but he is still going to help you. I can walk confidently into college, knowing that God is there, and he wants to help me, so I don’t have to be afraid that I am going to be a loner all through college.

Grandma Lessons

Grandma Lessons

By Kaitlyn F.
A month ago was my graduation, and my grandparents came out for the weekend to go to graduation. I enjoyed having them over for the weekend because I don't often get to see them. One thing that I noticed was that my grandma was always happy. I believe one of the reasons is that she was always thankful. She would be in conversation with us, and we might say something negative, but she would interject saying something to be thankful in that situation. She always found something to be thankful for in any situation. We can all learn from her because we often don't look for things we can be thankful for in the situation we are in. This reminded me about 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that says, 

 "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 

My grandma embraces this verse because she was always saying things to be thankful for, and as a result she always had a smile on her face. 

I know that it isn't always easy to give thanks in every situation. Most of the time it would be easier to look at the things that are going wrong in our life. But when we take time to stop and think about what we can be thankful for, we tend to have a more cheerful outlook at life. And if we practice finding what we are thankful for, then it can be second nature, just like it was for my grandma. I am thankful that my grandparents were able to come out to celebrate with me this past weekend.  

Accepting the Brokenness

Accepting the Brokenness

By Kaitlyn F.

I want to start off with a simple question. How many of you have broken a bone? I personally have not, but I have a friend who has broken multiple bones in her body, and some part of her body is usually in a cast. When you break a bone, don’t you go to the doctor to have them work on healing it so that you won’t have a broken bone? Having a broken bone is painful, and you want it to be fixed rather fast to get rid of the pain, so you head to the doctor immediately. Now I have a different question. How many of you have had a broken spirit? All of us at some point in our lives have had a broken or crushed spirit. So the question is how do you heal a broken spirit. You can’t drive to your local doctor’s office and ask for them to put your spirit in a cast. So how do we heal a broken spirit?

Well I have good news. There is someone out there who can heal your spirit, and all your brokenness. His name is Jesus, and he came down to Earth to die for our sins, but also to be a doctor for the broken. There are a couple verses where it talks about Jesus being our doctor.

Mark 2:17 says, “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.’”

Matthew 9:12 says, “On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.’”

These two verses talk about how Jesus came for the broken and the sick not for the righteous. But there is another part to this. While Jesus is our doctor, you need to accept the fact that you are broken and that you need him. I feel that as a society, we hide our brokenness and imperfections from everyone even God. We walk around acting like we aren’t broken, but when we do that, we carry the pain that comes with the brokenness. If you had a broken leg, it would be extremely painful to walk on it, and that pain is something that we are trying to hide. But know that it is okay to be broken, to admit that you can’t do this on your own. Jesus said that he is here to be our doctor, but we first have to go and visit him for him to start healing us. Being broken is a good thing, for you are saying that you can’t do this on your own and that you need Jesus, the doctor, and when you lay your brokenness out, he can start fixing you, and do his works with in you.