Will you dare to be different?

Why are teens today allowed to be so immature? Are we expected to be irresponsible? Are we supposed to accept this as normal? I believe that teenagers today have become complacent and many of us are okay with it, but that's not how it should be. 1 Timothy 4:12 says, "Let no man despise your youth: instead be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." God's plan for young people is not for us to sit around, but to step up and set an example.
Before the 1800's, there were only three categories of age: childhood, adulthood, and old age. The word teenager wasn't even mentioned until 1941 in a Reader's digest Magazine. So now we have adolescents that are no longer children, but they aren't permitted by law to assume normal responsibilities due to the labor and school reform laws. It hasn't always been this way, and it doesn't have to stay like this.

David Farragut, the U.S. Navy's first Admiral, became a midshipmen at age ten. By the age of twelve, he was in command of his first ship. George Washington mastered Geometry, trigonometry and surveying at what would be our fifth or sixth grade in our day. He ended his formal education at fourteen and at sixteen he became the official surveyor for Culpepper County, Virginia, were he earned $100,000 dollars a year. By twenty-one he bought 2,300 acres of rich Virginia Land. Clara Barton was eleven years old when her brother David fell from the roof of the barn and was seriously injured . Clara had the ability of an experienced nurse and little by little the doctor gave her the full responsibility of nursing her brother. At fourteen, Clara became the nurse for a man who had small pox and then her patient list grew as the disease spread through the Massachusettes village where she lived. By the age of seventeen, Clara was a successful teacher of 40 students, some older then she. It may be hard to excel like them, but you don't have to become just one more average teenager, you can accomplish great things!(Do Hard Things pages 31-33)

You should begin this by rebeling against what is considered normal in our society and setting a new standard. Don't just realize that there is a problem and then ignor it, do something about it! Mark Brown said "The Challenge is to live a life beyond what you think is possible, into the realm of what God thinks you are capable of." If more people lived life in God's power and not their own, so much more could be accomplished because in God's strength anything is possible. Isaiah 40: 28-31 says, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. He gives strength to the weary, and young men stumble  and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint." So in God's strength you can overcome what may seem difficult. In God's strength we can do hard things. In God's strength we can move out of our comfort zone and into amazing things because that is what he wants us to do and what he has called us to do.  He has already made a way, we just have to trust him.

So what are we waiting for? Step up and be the leader God has called you to be! Go against what is normal and be the next great David, George or Clara!


~ These are not my original thoughts but a challenge that was put before me upon reading Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.
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Sources:
rebelution.com
"Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris

God's Perfect Plans

Sometimes we doubt God's leadership because we don't see how something good can come from something as bad as the circumstances we are in, but God sees the bigger picture and he knows how it will all turn out.

God punished Adam and Eve for eating the apple. They were scared to even come and see God because they knew they had messed up, but being disciplined is a good thing because if we weren't disciplined we could do whatever we want and get involved in things that are really bad for us. Discipline sets and enforces boundaries for our own protection.

God also shows his protection for those who obey. With Noah and the ark, God was going to flood the whole earth, but he allowed Noah and his family to be saved by giving them the protection of the ark. In Joshua's life, he was in the middle of a big battle, and he was probably really scared because he didn't have control over the outcome. He prayed and in one battle God caused stones to fall from the sky onto the enemy. In another battle, Joshua prayed for God to hold the sun and the moon in their place, and they didn't move at all until the war was won.

God still does this in our lives today. He uses those times in life when we can't do anything to help ourselves, then he is able to come in and defeat our sins and fears and bring glory to himself. There was a while in my life where a lot of my friends were losing people they loved. I was wondering why God would take those people away and cause such hurt to all of my friends, but God showed me that more people have been changed as a result of their deaths and their lives have touched more people now then they would have while they were alive. God also used those times to bring my friends, their families, and me closer to himself. Even in confusion and sorrow, God shows himself to be strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9- "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me."