With looming deadlines and constant activity it’s easy to drown out the loneliness. When the busyness subsides, it’s scary what we find. A recent injury drastically altered my summer plans and I immediately fell into a sort of zombie mode. I’ve always been the kind of person who likes to set goals and accomplish things — but I didn’t want to do anything. My to-do-list just sat there silently.

This kind of indifference terrifies me.

I checked Facebook more times a day than I would ever like to admit. Honestly, I was too embarrassed to count. Is reading a “friend’s” page really going to solve the aloneness? How ridiculous it is to think a tiny red box with a little number 1 or maybe even 2 would help. Not even a 7 or 14 could erase the problem. What do we think Facebook can give us anyway?

Some have deemed Facebook the best thing since who knows what. “It’s great. It connects you with old friends and helps you make new ones.” Others condemn it with a passion. “Facebook is the devil. It’s an enormous waste of time.” But what does Facebook teach us about humanity? There’s actually a lot we can learn about ourselves from observing the dynamics of this social network.

We are self-protective, lazy and afraid of commitment

We all hunger for relationships, but true relationship takes work. Real love costs us something. Getting to know people always involves an element of risk. We might get into a conflict. They might reject us. They might betray us or hurt us. Facebook seems to offer an alternative to the difficult path of sincere friendship. It promises relationships with no commitments or risk.

You log onto Facebook whenever it’s convenient for you. You choose who to friend request. You only talk to whomever you feel like talking to. If someone ignores your wall post, well, maybe they were busy with something else. If someone is angry, well, you can’t hear him or her through the letters in the chat box. All this makes it easy for us to interact with people without having to address our self-centered perspective.

We probably do want to know others. We might even want them to know we care deeply. Our selfishness keeps us from speaking to the core of somebody in person, but on Facebook it’s less awkward. We desire relationships that go beyond the superficial, but we also want our own space. Facebook allows for this paradoxical way of relating. We can control the distance between others and ourselves. It all seems less painful and so easy. You don’t have to go anywhere. You don’t even need to get dressed or brush your hair. No need to commit to being at a certain place by a certain time. If you need to leave, you just leave.

Can we really have genuine friendship with so little effort?

We are afraid, but we want to be known

Despite the layers of laziness and self-protection we can’t deny the deep desire to be known. We’re afraid, but we really do want to let people in. Even with all the hype about privacy settings, Facebook seems like the safest place. Some say it allows you to make yourself into whoever you want to be; that it helps you polish up your image for the world. Although Facebook does make it possible for you to do this, my observation is that people tend to go the opposite way. There are at least two major reasons why people are willing to put themselves out there on Facebook.

First of all, Facebook definitely corners you. If you’re keeping up different images for different circles of friends and acquaintances, Facebook forces you out. They’re all there. They can all read your page. Your family, your school, your church and your workplace are all one big mess on Facebook. You can’t keep up multiple images anymore. Now, the only reasonable person to be is yourself. Besides, the risk is lower and if we’re honest we’ll admit that we’re sick of all the masks. Maybe Facebook will show us who really loves us, and who only loves the mask we wear. We are hoping that it’s possible for someone to know us and still love us.

Secondly, the reaction time is delayed. It’s easier to expose yourself when no one can jump at you right away. If they do, you don’t even have to respond. We can open up on Facebook because we don’t have to face the person we are talking to. We have an emotional outlet but we don’t have to see the reaction. We can’t hear their voice or see their facial expressions. We don’t have to worry about our words getting jumbled up in our nervousness because they’re typed out and we can delete anything we don’t like. We feel in control.

We want to know we’re not the only ones

We all enjoy reading wall posts in order to learn all about the lives of other people. Who can resist the urge of looking at the pictures and reading all the comments? Nosiness is socially acceptable on Facebook. We can study people without them ever knowing it. Facebook just magnifies the spying tendency Ed Welch speaks about:

“Spying might reveal the vulnerability of others so that we can believe that they are no different from us (or even not as good as us). Disgrace wants company. On the other hand, it might reveal someone who is strong and can be our hero. With a hero we might feel less isolated because we can enter into a safe fantasy relationship.” – Ed Welch

Facebook makes fantasy relationships even better. We can use real facts. We can find out how someone is doing without ever having to ask. We can know our “friends’” favorite music and hobbies without ever speaking to them. We are even allowed to read other people’s conversations. Perhaps a dumb comment will prove that they aren’t any better than we are. Or maybe their large number of fans will indicate that they are someone we should admire.

We don’t know who we are

We like to categorize ourselves. All the little quizzes that tell you what Disney princess you are or what celebrity you could date are pitiful expressions of a search for identity. We somehow think these absurdities will help us to discover ourselves. All we discover is that we don’t know who we are and we feel like we need others to tell us we’re okay.

“In my own life, I notice I validate people who like or validate me. When I say so-and-so is a nice person, what I really mean is so-and-so thinks I am a nice person.” – Don Miller

This is not love or friendship; it is a game of becoming someone. Facebook is just the Internet-documented version of this universal game. The nature of the game becomes blatantly obvious; the goal is to prove yourself. We are all vying for identity. We measure ourselves relative to other people. We want to know how others perceive us and compare that to how we perceive others and ourselves. It all becomes one big mess of “compare people.”

Somehow we think that others’ opinions have the power to shape us into who we are. Why else do we feel rejected when we are not on the top friends of someone we admire? Why else do we burn with curiosity when Facebook tells us “so and so answered a question about you”? We write on walls because we want everyone else to know that we’re cool enough to talk to certain people. When we broadcast our relationship status many times we are just saying, “Hey look, this guy or girl thinks I’m valuable. Now you really have to believe that I am somebody.” When we get one of those little notifications “so and so thinks you are hotter,” we wonder “Hotter than who?”

Why are we so obsessed with being better than the people around us? Why do these silly games threaten our identity to the point that we are willing to rank our friends? Ranking our friends in order to make sure we are liked is just plain cruel. We’re building our friends into a ladder for our own self-validation. We are using others to boost our image.This is clearly not the correct path to finding ourselves. When did we lose ourselves anyway? Is this search even justified?

The losing is the finding

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and I’m not sure I know who I am. This used to bother me enormously. The pressing need to be someone drove me to dangerous extremes. With this intense focus on finding myself, I ended up losing myself even further. So I’m starting to wonder if “finding ourselves” is even something we should pursue.

I’m starting to wonder if anyone ever finds out who they are.

It’s true that every human being is uniquely valuable. It’s true that we all have different personalities, talents, families and occupations. Even so, none of these things are secure enough to hold up our identity. Any one of them could disappear at any given time. Then who would you be?

I can already hear the believers reacting, “The problem is that we are looking in the wrong places. We can’t get our identity from people. We can’t get it from what we do. We must get it from God.” I do believe that. I do know who I am in Christ and I can’t help but notice that it’s the same as what every other believer is in Christ. Our identity in Christ doesn’t make us better than others. It doesn’t make us stand out in any self-glorifying way. I’m not saying that our identity in Christ is deficient; it just doesn’t exactly pump up our self-esteem.

We’re so dead that we need him to give us life. We’re so wretched we need Jesus’ righteousness to cover us up. We’re so weak that we need him to be our strength. This kind of sacrificial love completely blows apart the search for self. God doesn’t come to tell us how great we are. I think he comes to ask us why we are demanding the worship of our fellow creatures. He certainly doesn’t come to worship us. We are not God. He is. He is the only one who can rightfully demand worship and remain perfect in love.

Maybe finding out who you are is just getting comfortable with not knowing who you are. Lasting security comes when we forget about trying to figure out who we are and fall on our faces before a worthy God. It comes from losing ourselves in love for God and others. It’s what happens when you stop thinking about yourself and look at Jesus. Finding ourselves is really getting lost in something bigger than us. Maybe we aren’t anything and He is everything.

“I’ve been thinking ’bout everyone, everyone you look so lonely.
But when I look at the stars,
when I look at the stars,
when I look at the stars I see someone else
When I look at the stars,
the stars, I feel like myself.” – Switchfoot

A challenge

Facebook is a stage for human fallenness. It puts our selfishness and brokenness under a microscope. Perhaps the magnified view of the pieces will help us to make out what the whole picture should look like. The desire for relationship is not a bad thing. These problems arise out of a good thing that has been distorted. We were created for community, but we mustn’t turn relationships into a means of self-fulfillment. This destroys love. We can’t demand that others care about us, but we can and should love and appreciate others.

What would happen if we turned the selfishness upside-down? What if we embraced commitment? What if we invested our time in other people instead of crying for attention? What if we showed interest in knowing another person instead of wondering why no one cares enough to ask us how we’re doing? What if we were willing to get messy with our friends that are hurting instead of bemoaning the fact that we are the only ones? What if we looked for ways to serve others instead of using them? What would happen if we quit stalking people and started loving them? Lets do it!

Some ideas:

• Ask yourself: “Are there any people I interact with on Facebook but not in person? Why? Are these reasons legitimate?
• Follow up meaningful online conversations in person. Bring up the topic instead of resorting to the typical superficial mode.
• If you find out something significant about someone’s life from your news feed, ask him or her about it in person.
• Call your friends when you need to talk to them. Even if they’re online.
• Use email instead of broadcasting your conversation to the whole world.
• Have a reason. Don’t log on to Facebook without a specific purpose. Don’t get sidetracked by clicking everything in the news feed. If you’re just checking for notifications, close it as soon as you’re done.
• Set a limit to your Facebook time.
• Talk to the people that are already around you. Do something with your family.
• Set up a time to meet with a friend. Be there.
• Send somebody a snail mail. The time and effort it takes, proves that the other person is worth it.
• When you ask someone how they are doing, don’t settle for “alright.” Probe a little further. Ask hard questions. Remember, they want to be known too.
• Be vulnerable. You shouldn’t be allowed to see someone else’s flaws if you aren’t willing to expose your own.
• Do something practical for someone else.
• Love somebody who can’t love you back.
• Be bold. Take risks!

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.” – C.S. Lewis

Note: This article was written when Ana was 17-years-old. It was originally published as a note on Facebook.

Imagine you are blind person who loves baseball. Too bad, huh? You can’t even watch a baseball game, let alone enjoy playing the sport yourself. Might as well give up on baseball. Right?

Meet the Long Island Bombers — a dedicated group of baseball enthusiasts and athletes who just happen to be blind and visually impaired. The Bombers play beep baseball, a modified version of traditional baseball that uses a beeping ball and buzzing bases to guide the players to score a run.

As you watch the video, consider the obstacles The Bombers have faced and overcome to play the game they love — then take that same mindset and apply it to the obstacles in your life.

Is that dream of yours really unreachable, or does it just require that you face your fears, reject low expectations, and dive blindly towards your goal? Do like The Bombers. Do Hard Things.

Question: Did the Bombers inspire you? What obstacles are you facing? Sound off in the comment section. There are currently __ Comments.

Teens United Live was created when two 14-year-old students from Crossroads School in Santa Monica heard that the funding for a local school’s music program had been cut.

Bella Porter and Sol Was felt they could use their own musical talents to raise money for their peers. They gathered their musical friends and curated a benefit called Teens United Live.

The benefit was held at The Roxy, and to their surprise, the show sold out. The event raised nearly $20,000 for The Foshay Learning Center’s music program, showcasing over 35 teens who played a revue of great classic songs.

Teens United Live has a mission — to bring together the myriad of talented teen musicians from private schools in Los Angeles to stage musical events for their peers. Bella and Sol believe music should not be sacrificed due to financial hardship.

This year the concert is supporting The Harmony Project. Harmony Project does wonderful work in urban inner city areas, putting kids in orchestras and jazz bands and teaching them to play music. They support these kids as long as they stay in school. The music not only enables the students to stay off the streets and thrive, but the whole community is elevated.

Teens from Crossroads, Harvard-Westlake, SOCES, LACHSA, Hamilton High, Colburn and others are on the bill, which includes the most outstanding musical talent in Los Angeles, in styles from pop to jazz.

When asked about the difficulty and logistics of mounting a concert of this size, Bella Porter said, “We know so many talented musicians from all over Los Angeles and they are excited to join us and perform for a great cause.”

Adds Sol Was, “We appreciate how fortunate we are to have our own instruments and private lessons and it feels good to give back … anyway, musicians need to play!”

Question: What do you think of Teens United Live? Sound off in the comment section. There are currently __ Comments.

One random act of kindness doesn’t make that big a difference — or does it? This creative video shows how one small decision can have big repercussions. Like a small stone sending ripples across the entire pond, our actions have consequences we never see.

Though we have no reason to assume the producers of the video are Christians, their “advertisement” for kindness has pretty solid biblical support. Consider the following verses:

“A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.” — Proverbs 11:17

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” — Proverbs 19:17

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” — Galatians 6:9-10

This short video, produced by a small New York City non-profit called Life Vest Inside, was released in 2011, but has found new life online this past week. Take five minutes to be inspired (or re-inspired). And don’t forget to admire the cinematography. The entire scene is shot in one take.

No matter how many clothes I have, I consistently am deceived to think that I literally have nothing to wear. It’s like a mental block. I can look at my clothes, see them, and somehow come up with a reason why every piece of clothing is unacceptable. It becomes a chronic problem at times, and it’s times like these when I just need to sit down and rethink my priorities. I am not defined by what I wear. God does not see me or define me by the clothes I wear. Sure, I need to be modest. But I need to remember that I am not called to be trendy. I am called to be a woman of love, kindness, and a gentle spirit.

“Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

For me, self-image and fashion becomes an idol. There is a fine line between enjoying fashion as a hobby and idolizing it. There is also a fine line between noticing imperfections in my body and lifestyle in order to flip those habits to healthy ones and obsessing over details that make me unique, that God designed. In addition, it is important to define health the way that the Bible defines it.

1. I need to take care of myself

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

“You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:28

2. Health is not defined by outward appearance.

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Proverbs 16:24

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

3. My earthly body does not last for eternity.

“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:7-8

4. God will provide for my needs.

“And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” Genesis 1:29

“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” Genesis 9:3

God calls me to not focus on my appearance, but to be healthy in things that matter, things that will last for eternity. I do have something to wear. I can adorn myself with the hidden person of my heart — my Jesus whom I love and adore will shine brightly through me all the days of my life.

Question: Did you need this reminder today? Do have something else to add? Share your thoughts below. There are currently clicking here.

Recently the Lord laid it on my heart how important prayer is. He showed me how it is His desire for this generation to become one of prayer.

He also showed me how broken this generation has become. Alcohol, drugs, depression, homosexuality, STDs, and teen pregnancies run rampant.

But there’s something we can do. Pray.

After my eyes were opened to what’s happening, I knew I had to do something about it. So I started a prayer group. I’m asking for people to take a specific hour each day to pray for this generation. That way there are people praying 24/7 around the world with the sole intention of seeing change and restoration brought to this generation.

We’re calling it, “The Few” from Matthew 9:37-38.

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

We are The Few. The Few who desperately pursue God as far as humanly possible. The Few who pray without ceasing. The Few who glorify the Lord in all that they do. The Few who boldly proclaim the name of Jesus wherever they go. Are you the many or the few?

Here’s how you can get involved:

Volunteer to pray! Leave a comment below letting Josh know what hour of the day you can pray and what time zone you’re in. There can be more than one person praying each hour.

Help spread the word! Share this post on Facebook and Twitter, and invite your friends and family to join you in prayer for our generation. The more people praying the better.

Offer your skills! Josh is working on a website, so if you have gifts in graphic design, web design, or writing, let him know using the comment section below.

AOL Jobs • May 14, 2013 • Claire Gordon

You might think that kids today are entitled and self-absorbed, too busy watering their virtual tomatoes and tweeting their breakfast to know the meaning of hard work. But every now and again a story comes out that seems to bust this myth. The latest comes from Arizona, where a police officer pulled over a teenager who was walking down the street late at night.

Phoenix Police Sgt. Natalie Simonick, 46, spotted a young man walking alone through a desolate neighborhood at 11 p.m. When she asked him what he was doing, Christian Felix, 18, replied that he’d missed the bus, so he was walking the nine miles home from his job at McDonald’s, reports local station KNXV.

Simonick offered him a ride, and while talking to Felix became increasingly impressed. Felix didn’t drink or smoke, and had never been in trouble with the police. She asked why he didn’t ride a bike home, and when he replied that he didn’t own a bike, and had never learned to ride one, Simonick decided to give him her spare. And she arranged for her employer, the Phoenix Police Department, to give him a bike-riding lesson.

“It’s really something when someone comes off on the street and offers to do a kindness for you,” Felix told KNXV. “These days you don’t see anything like that.”

In February, another hard-working teenager’s chance meeting made news. Jhaqueil Reagan, also 18, and from Indiana, was hiking the 10 miles through an ice storm to interview for a minimum wage job at a thrift store, when he stopped to ask a man for directions. He confessed to the stranger that he couldn’t afford the bus; his mother had died two years before, and since then he’d been staying home to care for his siblings.

Keep Reading →

Question: Do you have a job this summer? Tell us about it in the comment section. There are currently __ Comments.

Associated Press • May 13, 2013 • Morgan True

Nashua, N.H. — Nashua teenager Jennie Lamere recently took home the top prize at a Boston computer programming competition, beating out competitors in the almost entirely male field, which included professionals from companies like ESPN and Klout.

Many who bemoan the gender disparity in the tech industry see a great deal of promise in Lemere’s victory, and in the weeks following the competition, the Internet buzzed with praise for her work. A recent story posted to Mother Jones’ website proclaimed, “Internet: Meet the reason we need more women in tech.”

Lamere was one of four female competitors out of 80 participants at the TVnext Hack Event and the only one to present a completed project, said Mike Proulx, one of the organizers. At 17 during the April contest, she was also the youngest. She turned 18 on Friday, her last day of high school at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham, Mass.

“The tech industry would benefit from greater female participation because women think holistically and systemically and are naturally collaborative and all about community,” said Karen Kaplan, president of the advertising company Hill Holliday, which sponsored the event.

According to figures from Girls Who Code, an organization seeking to increase the number of females in computer science, women account for half the U.S. workforce but only 25 percent of those in technical and computing fields, and despite earning 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees, they earn only 12 percent of computer science degrees.

“It’s cool to set an example for other girls who might be thinking of going into computer science,” Lamere said.

Lamere added that she doesn’t feel like a typical programmer — not because she’s a girl but because she’s outdoorsy and athletic, captaining her high school swim team and spending lots of time hiking in New Hampshire’s White Mountain region.

That’s actually how she got interested in programming. Hiking with her father, Paul Lamere, a developer for tech company the Echo Nest, she would listen to stories about his projects, which she found intriguing.

“I started tagging along with my dad at a couple events and began learning little by little,” she said.

Keep Reading –>

In April of 2011 my family heard, “Your mom has advanced stage cancer and one year to live.”

Those are words you never want to hear, words you want to block out, acting like you never heard them! They clanged so loudly in my head, jarring my peaceful world…. they couldn’t be true!

My mom was my rock who I ran to when I was confused. She always knew what the right thing was and could always sort out my problems and mess of emotions. I thought surely God would realize that and wouldn’t actually take her. I thought to myself, He probably just wants to teach us some lessons through her being sick. And besides, God had a whole year to do a miracle and heal her and we had a whole year to pray that He would do it!

But that little ‘But what if he doesn’t’ kept gnawing at me every day! I took more walks than I could count on a peaceful country road near us. I would pour out my confused, hurting, and torn heart to God, the Creator of the universe. I fasted a day every week and prayed like I’d never prayed before. I begged God. I screamed, I cried over and over until I had no more tears left to cry.

I was so confused and torn, but God’s voice kept coming to me and saying, Just trust Me.

I wondered why God who had all power to heal wasn’t choosing to heal my mom. Minutes, hours, days, and months were slipping away so quick! Mom was getting worse. Some days I could feel her slipping… slipping away from being my capable mom. Instead she was weakly lying in bed and I was taking care of her. Time seemed like a terrible enemy… relentless in its pursuit of taking my mother away from me.

One day I was walking And pouring my confused heart out to God who felt so very far away from me and like He had forgotten me and all my prayers and all my fasting. Then suddenly He spoke almost clearer than anything I’d ever hear Him speak before. He asked me, Will you still love me if I take your mom?

I answered as honestly as I could: I can’t in my flesh but if you give me the grace I will do my best.

Then He said, “I will take your pain and make it beautiful!”

I didn’t know exactly what to think but I held that promise like a drowning man would cling to a life raft!

Months ticked by and we spent every moment possible with out dear Momma. I tried to memorize how awesome her hugs felt and savored every single one. For those few seconds when her arms were wrapped tight around me, I felt that nothing bad could touch me and that everything would be ok. I never wanted to forget them or how they made me feel!

But on August 21st, she slipped away to be with Jesus. Her body had become so weak and full of intense pain but now she was in perfect bliss in Heaven. And on August 21st I became one of those motherless teenagers. Something I thought couldn’t actually happen to me, because it only happened to strong kids that could take it and were prepared for it.

On that day God put me on a journey, a journey I never ever wanted to walk. A painful journey He had entrusted to me and I had no choice but to walk it!

The beginning of the journey was hard and I cried buckets of tears but the deep pain of living without mom everyday really hadn’t set in. There were more people than could have ever imagined helping my family in whatever way they could, and prayers for us were poured out like a flood!

But as the journey continued, other people resumed their normal lives. I wanted to, but I couldn’t — my life was changed forever and nothing would never be normal again. My rock that I leaned so heavily on was gone!

And that’s when it really started to sink in: she was gone and NEVER coming back and I would live the rest of my life without a mother to be there for me. Those thoughts were like someone stamping on the already shattered pieces of my heart. Pain hit me like a giant wave and just as I would catch a breath a new wave of pain would wash over me. I was unraveling at the seams and I was falling apart inside.

I was trying to cling desperately to God and the people around me. God began to show me HE is the only one I could cling to that would never ever fail me. Even though I knew it before in my head, I really believed it now.

All the pain was so intense, the struggles were so hard I wondered how I would ever make it through them. I would lay on my bed by myself and just sob and shake till I was so exhausted I would fall asleep, or go out in the woods and just scream. I wanted so bad to be numb and not feel all the pain anymore, I wanted it to just go away!

I had had my fill of pain and didn’t want anymore! I thought surely a person could only take so much pain and then they just had to go numb. But then I realized it was God’s goodness and mercy that let me feel the searing, gut wrenching pain so real and intense and not get bitter and block it out.

But that same pain that I wanted to get rid of so bad and be numb to, was the same pain that was driving me to God and making me cling to Him with a white-knuckled grasp. Because I knew that I, Joanna Ueland, could not make it through losing my mom without totally falling apart, but God could give me HIS strength!

Losing Mom and all the grief and pain that came along with it was nothing like what I had expected and people had told me to expect. They said you grieve in stages like stair steps. But I think I heard a much better comparison from someone. Grief is like a giant pool of grief you are swimming around in, one side is very very deep and one side is shallow. Some days you’re on the shallow side and your struggles are small and quite easily won. But other days you’re in the deep side, struggling just to keep from drowning in pain so severe you feel like a knife is being twisted in your heart!

Its been tough — so hard that sometimes I wonder how I’ve made it this far — but God is keeping His promise and showing me slowly how He is making my pain beautiful. Because this deep, searing gut wrenching pain that shattered my heart and rubs the wound open everyday, is the same pain that is making me see God like I’ve never seen Him before! It’s making me grab a hold of Him in desperation and not let Him go no matter what.

His plan is very painful but he’s making it beautiful!

I can write about my deep pain of losing my mom so young and I can write about how faithful God is and the incredible peace God gives. And both are true and walk hand in hand. It’s peace and pain, tears and trust all mixed together.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: Job 13:15

Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; Psalms 33:18

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

I know my Journey is far from over but my wonderful, trustworthy God, the Creator of the universe is walking with me every single step of the way. He works everything in our lives for good even when we don’t always understand and takes our pain and makes it beautiful.

Question: Can you relate to Joanna’s story? Have you lost someone close to you? Leave a comment or tribute below. There are currently __ Comments.

PolicyMic • May 9, 2013 • T. Chase Meacham (Photo Credit: YouTube)

A new video released last month by the Christian youth group “Reach America” calls for teens to join a “Christ-centered counter-culture,” or “C4.”

They claim their traditional opinions on abortion and gay rights have put them at odds in an increasingly secular and accepting society, resulting in anti-Christian bullying in schools and persecution because of their religious beliefs.

“The Thaw,” which went viral on Monday jumping from a few hundred views to almost 50,000, begins with a montage of Christian teens bemoaning a series of questions: “Why can’t I pray in school? Why do I have to check my religion at the door?

“Why am I called names because I believe in marriage the way God designed it?”

Keep Reading –>

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Question: What do you think of the video? Do you agree with its message and tone? Share your thoughts below. There are already __ Comments.