Standing up for yourself

Standing up for yourself is vitally important because when you do other people can stand up for themselves. If you are getting bullied you don't have to let them walk all over you. You can stand up to them and them to knock it off. You don't have to let them walk all over you and hurt your feelings. Stand up for you and for what you know to be right because you will feel better about yourself as well as being a role model for other people who are scared to do it themselves.

Standing up for yourself can feel scary or you don't think you are capable of telling someone off who might be bullying you or someone who is belittling something you like to do or even yourself, but when you overcome that fear you can do anything. It doesn't matter if you're a female or a male because everyone needs to be able to stand up for themselves no matter what. Anyone can be bullied or talked down to, but you don't have to allow that negativity in your life. Just stay true to yourself.

Doing what you love

 Doing what you love is important because everyone should have at least one thing that they love to do if it isn't going to harm other people. Like if you have a job that you love to do continue doing that job. If you have a certain hobby that you love doing continue doing that hobby. They're people who are probably against you doing whatever it is that you love to do, but don't listen to those people who are trying to make you stop doing that specific thing because it shouldn't matter what other people think it just matters what you think. They're people who are going to support that thing that you are doing or want to do and there will be those who won't support you. When people go against you just ignore them because it just matters if you love what you do. Stay positive and keep your head up because it will get better.

Be not Afraid

There is no need for us to be afraid of anything because God is with us. He won't let anything harm us because He will be there to protect us no matter what. It is hard to lose sight of that sometimes, but we have to learn to trust Him through the things we are going through and trust that He will take care of it. We can pray for Him to take away our fear, so that we can better serve Him and the kingdom. 

When we give our entire selves to Him and believe that He will work everything out is the moment when we shouldn't fear anything. Not even Satan himself because anything that he does or attempts to do WILL be thwarted by God because we would be so invested in Him that there would be nothing to be afraid of.

Encouragement

Its important to encourage one another at any point in time no matter what is happening. It is especially true right now during this crazy phase of life with the pandemic (Covid-19) and all the other stuff going on. Being able to encourage one another during hard times is equally important during all the other times. Listen everything will get better and things will start to die down eventually. We need to be lifting each other up not tearing each other down because a lot of people are probably scared right now and they have a right to be because it is scary what is happening. If you aren't afraid or discouraged right now in this present moment don't let other people's negativity bring you down. Its true that we don't know when all of this will go away, but if we learn to be encouraging and start to be positive when we talk to others then it will be easier to get through all this crazy.

Stay strong and keep your heads up because it will get better. Don't allow other people to bring you down if you're not worried about anything right now or you are deciding to stay positive because of what is going on in the world. Believe that things will turn around and keep praying for things to go back to normal....or as normal as life can get. Stay positive.

You are More

 

This is the chorus of a song called "You are More" by Tenth Avenue North and I find that its true. It doesn't matter what we have done in our past or even what we are doing now because we are more than any of it. We tend to focus on the bad things in our past instead of the good that is happening in the now. You might be feeling discouraged, alone, stuck, etc, but everyone feels that way at some point. You are not alone in your suffering because you do have people who care about you even if you don't feel like you do and a God who loves you very much. You are so much more than what you think you are and you have made it this far, so keep on pushing ahead.

I know its hard to stay positive when it seems like everything around us is falling apart, but we have woken up to a day filled with possibilities. We can always take a mental health day where we can stay inside and read a book or write something or do the thing that we have been meaning to do, but haven't gotten around to doing it because life has been hectic. I realize that a lot of us have jobs and have to do things to make it as adults, but if things start getting really overwhelming then we need to take a break to reset.

I know that feeling of feeling alone and in a place where it feels like certain things of my past have come to mess with me. I have that feeling of loneliness with God especially because it is so hard to feel His presence at times and it throws me off each time that it happens because honestly it hurts me when I don't know if He is with me or not (even though I know that He is no matter what). There are certain aspects of my past, like what happened with one of my old friends back in junior year of high school, or my dad's work accident, that tends to hit me out of nowhere. The thing with my friend is especially hard to deal with sometimes when it just comes on me out of no where.

I think it is because I might still have a feeling of guilt about the entire situation. Like it was my fault that it resorted to what it did (it wasn't my fault at all). I knew what was going on with her, but I just stood by and didn't do anything to not have it escalate like it did, so when it happened I felt really guilty. I know that it was a mistake to feel like that way, but I am more than what happened.

There is nothing that you have done in the past or the mistakes that you are making now that makes you any less of a person. I tell all my friends that if they need someone to talk to or just someone to listen to them I will be that person because I want to be there for them and let them know that there is at least one person who cares enough to listen to them. You most likely have someone like that who has been there for you through thick and thin and has said that you can talk to them, so go to them if you are feeling sad/depressed or anything negative about yourself that you are going through and talk to them about it.

For the full song:

Prayer

Prayer is something that we all should be doing because it helps with getting through our lives no matter the circumstances. God hears our prayers no matter what and just because He doesn't answer right away or in the way we want doesn't mean that He doesn't hear them. He listens to everything we say and will be there for us if we let Him. He is present no matter what even when it doesn't seem like He is. If we are struggling with something whether it be an addiction/sin or something else He is right there with us. It can feel like He isn't at times, but He is still there and will not give up on us.

To me that statement: that it can feel like He isn't there; is something I struggle with a lot. I can usually feel His presence and when I can't its a huge blow for me like I did something wrong or caused Him to be disappointed in me and I don't like that feeling at all. I know that He is always present and listening at all times, but when I can't feel Him at all is an issue for me. I love the fact that I'm a Christian and that God loves me no matter what, but I struggle/do things I shouldn't a lot (like all of us do), but I have to let all that go and pray about it.

Prayer is something I struggle with as well. I pray every night before I go to sleep, but it has gotten to the point where it is starting to be repetitive (in the sense that it is the same things being prayed about). Like it has gotten stale and I'm trying to change that, but its so hard for me to do and I don't know how to change my prayer habit. I want to be more "direct" in my prayer life. Like praying more on a daily basis and not being selfish when I pray. We need to give God the glory before we go into whatever we are praying for.

Prayer can be a lot of help if we just allow God to be fully invested in our lives. He is the only one that matters and we need to learn to be patient when we go to Him with a prayer request because sometimes He isn't going to answer at that exact moment and maybe that is because there will be a better time for it to be answered. He also might not answer it the way we want because that isn't how it works. If God gave us everything we wanted the way we wanted it would be utter chaos because we would be a mess. Just let God do His thing and be content in what He is going to do because in the end it is going to be good for us.