Dating
Jul 17, 2009 Category Error, Girls, Guys, dating, parents
The following post was written by a user of Teens Set Apart. This post may not necessarily reflect the views of T.S.A.
Selena sat in the corner of her bedroom, uncontrollable tears falling from her eyes. Her eye make-up was smeared all across her face, but for once, she didn’t care. She felt like the world had been shut off. It was just her and her loneliness, and there was no one else to turn to anymore. No one else cared about her.
Flashbacks from earlier the day played in her mind. Her boyfriend, the only one that had loved her for the past three years, dumped her for her best friend.
Replaying the scenes over in her mind, Selena reached in her purse and grabbed the pack of cigarettes she had for times of emergency—times like this, when the pain inside of her just wasn’t bearable. ‘No one loves me… the past three years have been wasted. There’s no reason to live anymore. At all…’
Relationships involve too many ups and downs; is better to not get so emotionally attached to someone for no reason at all. It’s wasteful. Wasteful dating. Let’s wait! Wait for the certain guy or girl that God has in store for you. And if you aren’t sure if you’ve found him/her yet—pray about it. God will give you a sign. He’ll show you if that person is meant for you or not. And pray for that person as well. Most importantly, pray for their salvation, their walk with God. You want someone who can lead you closer to God and give you spiritual advice when you need it. Remember, it’s easier for you to get pulled down than to pull someone up!
In High School, so many things may lead us into thinking nobody loves us, that there’s no point in living. When we give into these thoughts, we feel empty inside—whether we realize it or not. There are many things teenagers now use to distract themselves from this lonely feeling, and one of them is dating.
Think about it. Girls especially love to hear when a guy says he loves her, when he puts his arm around her and hugs her and says they’ll be together forever. We can get so emotionally attached to that person, but what we don’t realize is the truth behind it all. Do you really love him/her, or do you just say that so you can hear them say ‘I love you’ back? Do you mean it when you say to your boyfriend or girlfriend that you’ll be with him/her forever? And what if he or she breaks that promise, the promise of ‘forever’? What if they break your heart? All of that is erased, and you feel even more worthless than you did whenever you began the relationship.
Girls: God made us to be really sensitive, emotional, romantic—and face it, we love attention. We love when people tell us they love us, or when someone tells us we’re beautiful. But that’s the problem. We get so worked up into these relationships that we turn to the guy for everything—for him to “love” us, for him to compliment on our appearance.
Let’s take a reality check. If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, ask yourself this: Why am I dating him/her? Is it so I can get approval? Attention? Be loved? Cover up the pain?
Listen: You don’t have to turn relationships anymore for all of that! Turn to God! He says he will NEVER leave you, so you don’t have to worry about Him breaking that promise. You can trust him, and he says you are fearfully and wonderfully made! (Psalm 139:14)
Now, I’m not saying ditch the whole dating-in-high-school thing, many teenagers do however end up meeting their spouse in high school. Just don’t be a wasteful dater—someone who doesn’t care about meeting their future spouse, but just has to have a boyfriend/girlfriend all the time for the sense of approval. Us Christians don’t need a sense of approval though, that’s the good thing! We have God! And plus, it’s so much more fun to wait! God has someone out there for us, and if we save everything for that one person—our purity, first kiss, and even first dance—those moments will be so much more special with that one person, your future husband/wife. I’d much rather wait.
Tags: bf, boyfriend, dancing, dating, gf, girlfriend, Girls, kissing, romance
Teen Depression Linked to Bedtimes
Jun 14, 2009 depression, parents
Taken from The Rebelution.
We have never wanted to post anything on our blog that teens would be tempted to hide from their parents. Unfortunately, we are breaking that rule today. A new study featured by USA Today links teen depression to bedtimes — yet another reason why your parents are right when they tell you to get off Facebook and go to bed.
Study links teen depression to bedtimes
USATODAY.com – Gregg Toppo – 06/08/09Teens whose parents let them stay up after midnight on weeknights have a much higher chance of being depressed or suicidal than teens whose parents enforce an earlier bedtime, says research being presented today at a national sleep conference.
The findings are the first to examine bedtimes’ effects on kids’ mental health — and the results are noteworthy. Middle- and high-schoolers whose parents don’t require them to be in bed before midnight on school nights are 42% more likely to be depressed than teens whose parents require a 10 p.m. or earlier bedtime. And teens who are allowed to stay up late are 30% more likely to have had suicidal thoughts in the past year.
Obviously, sleep is important — whether or not you struggle with depression or suicidal thoughts. More importantly, the Bible teaches us that sleep is gift of God (Psalm 127:2) and a daily reminder of our dependence on Him. In a message entitled, “A Biblical Understanding of Sleep,” C.J. Mahaney points out that God could have made us with no need for sleep, but sleep reminds us that we are creatures, not the Creator, who “neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalm 121:3-4).
Tags: bedtimes, depression, parents
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