School is Tough

School has just started and I’m about to enter high school. I am a girl torn between wanting to be popular and a desire to keep high moral standards. I’m in public school which is very hard as a Christian. My friends are good people, but they don’t have the same standards I have. I find myself being pulled directions I don’t want to take, but it’s awful to be a wallflower every day. I’m scared of what might happen.

Dear Pulled,

School is tough and it is more so now than it has ever been. You have said you WANT to keep high moral standards which is the first important step towards that goal. You have to keep that decision in front of you! Every morning before you leave for school, take time to read your Bible and pray. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. Taking a stand on morality and not allowing others to pull you down shows great strength. Others will see that strength in you and it will help them also to stand against peer pressure.

Can you do this on your own? NO! A child of God always has the Lord’s help if they want it. Call on the promises found in the Bible: “Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!” (Psalm 38:22) Process in your mind what popularity is and who you want to be popular with. You can do that by thinking about what you want to do with your life and knowing you have a God who has great plans for you. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

What kind of friend are you? Are you a friend who wants others to do what you say and think or do you want others to be the best they can be? How you answer that is the kind of friend you should want around you and the people you want to be popular with! Think of morality and immorality and what each means for you. Choose to be a person of integrity and keep yourself pure for your husband. What greater gift could you give him?!

You will become who you run with so think about whom you want to be popular with and why. Ask the Holy Spirit what “being popular” really means. In the Kingdom of God the person who has high moral standard is very popular and highly favored!

Keep reading your word and praying! Stay close to the Lord and He will bring you fullness of joy as you maintain high moral standards. Remember too, high school might seem like forever right now, but it is a short time compared to the years you will likely live. Don’t mess up the rest of your life by your desire to be popular now! As a child of God, you are in the world but not of the world. God will send you the right friends and help when you ask.

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