What’s the worst thing that could happen?

Everyone forgets your birthday and you wake up and go to school and nobody says “Happy Birthday”. You come back from school. Your parents have gone to town and they have forgotten to buy you a cake. You spend the whole day crying because no one wished you a happy birthday. You get angry. The next day, you don’t greet anyone and don’t talk to anyone. When they ask you what’s wrong you say, “You all forgot my birthday yesterday!” They start to realise that oh yes, you’re right! They tell you: “We are sorry child, our minds have been busy lately.”

“So you are telling me that if I hadn’t told you then you would not have remembered my birthday at all?” you ask them angrily.

“I am sure we would have,” they reply.

“But you didn’t!” you shout back at them. “So leave me alone!”

Imagine now that you are the parent. Your child gets angry and doesn’t speak to you for whole day and he/she refuses to eat. As a parent you repeat that you are sorry and you ask for forgiveness.

The best way to remember your child’s birthday is to look at the calendar and tick it off, and then to save money. Put a reminder on your phone for that day. Don’t forget, parents, that you can forget everything except presents.

Some matters are not for you to handle. If you see that you have a heavy load on your shoulder give it to Him, the Almighty.

Pray to him and say:

“Lord my God. Today I cry for help. Today I cry for help. Today I cry for help. Today I come to you, oh Lord, with a heavy load on my shoulder. Father, you said that we must give you our troubles so that you may sort them out, so that our hearts should not be troubled. Father, you are alpha and omega, the first and the last. Help me father, in the mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Love the Almighty. He is the best friend that you could ask for. He will keep you warm when you are cold, and give you food when you are hungry. He is the God that everyone wants to be friends with.

You know, stay away from bad friends. Find a new friend when you find yourself sitting alone at break time. There is nothing wrong with that. You will not be causing trouble for anyone. The Lord is your best friend. Read one page of the Bible at break time, or at any other time.

*****

Letting go of friends

Let me tell you something about friends. Friends are sometimes a bad influence in a person’s life. Friends can destroy a person’s life. Some friends influence each other to smoke, drink and do everything that’s bad. Friends sometimes destroy their lives together.

Friends can be undercover friends. A friend may secretly hate you but will be trying to be your friend in order to influence you. Backstabbers are also undercover friends. These are friends who will pretend to like you, when in fact they are jealous or hate you, maybe because you are clever or something!

Jealousy can break friends and families apart in the same way that money does. Love is what brings friends or families close together.

Sometimes we find “doghouse friends.” These are friends who put you in the doghouse if you don’t do what they want. These are friends who manipulate you into doing something you don’t want to do. Mostly, these are friends who manipulate you emotionally.

You know, whatever troubles or problems you are facing, I want you to know that the Lord Almighty is with you all the time. He said that He would never let us go or forsake us, no matter what happens. I want you to know that. I want you to think about our empty promises. The promises we make to the Lord and then drop at the last minute. Only you and the Lord know everything that happens in your life. Nobody else knows, unless you tell them. Matthew says: judge not, that you be not judged. With what judgement you judge, you shall be judged. Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.

Guess what? That piece of advice will help you in the long run, because the more you love your enemy, the more the Lord will bless you. Some people might think that you are crazy and stupid but you are doing the will of the Lord in order to restore peace in your life. Even your enemies might stop hating you because you show them mercy, even when they are wrong.

There are some people who can’t apologise. They hold a grudge against the whole world and want to show the world how much pain they have been through. Trust me, when the tables turn against them, they feel unloved. You can see that there is good in a person, and you want to give them the love and comfort they desire so much. Of course, you will end up crying.

I never for once thought that I would be guarding myself from the people I once trusted so much. There is a saying: “Love them all but trust no one”. I learned this the hard way, because I am a person who trusts easily. That all changed in a day, hour, minute, second. All of my trust went down the drain. Pain, tears and betrayal came into my heart. I was so full of hatred in my heart, but the pain healed the next day because I told myself that I am not going to allow him or her to rule my life or to make my life miserable.

Just let it be, as they have chosen their path. Now is the time for you to decide on your own path, for yourself. I decided to forget everything and to not be intimidated by them. I decided to just be me, to have fun, laugh and show my beautiful smile. It was not easy, but I managed to do it.

In the same way, you too can choose your path properly in the future. Who knows, maybe this is a challenge from God? Maybe this is an opportunity for you to prove how strong you are. You have passed it through tears and forgiveness because this is the way the Bible says it will be. Matthew says: love your enemies, and be holy because your Heavenly Father is holy.

Let everyone see you differently. Start by changing a person’s life.

Stay away from people who are having a negative impact in your life. The longer you stay, the more you will get hurt.

My head is spinning with questions about us humans. We hurt people’s feelings but yet we don’t want our feelings hurt. We do something to others but we don’t want the same thing done to us. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. We play cards with people’s feelings, shuffling them like cards but as we know, “karma” is a real thing. You know, sometimes the smallest things hurt. Even if it’s not an important thing, you still feel the pain of having been betrayed.

How many times have people trampled over me, played with my heart, toyed with my feelings and kindness? How many times have people lowered my self-esteem? We all know that “karma” takes place at the right time. We just have to wait and watch. Now do you think that staying with bad friends or bad people is good for your health? The answer is “no”, because they are lowering your self-esteem, and one day you will wake up feeling useless and unwanted, and this can lead to suicide. Teen, even when you are older you may sometimes feel unwanted for small reasons that don’t matter.

I see you, teenager, because you are acting like one, no matter how old you are. Matthew tells us: love your enemies. Psalms tell us: the Lord is my shepherd; I shall walk in the darkest valley because he is with me and he guides me.

I know a girl who is new at school. This is her story. Her name is Zuko. She is in our class, and in our class there is also Siyande. Zuko became friends with us, and Siyande was also our friend, so we all became friends. Siyande and Zuko then became close friends and stopped being friends with us. They ate and walked together, and sat together in some classes. Zuko has now been in this new school for four months.

Siyande then started teasing Zuko to make people laugh. She started to humiliate her in front of the class or lots of people. Think about it: you have not even been in your new school for a year, but already you are being teased. The amazing thing is that when Zuko is in trouble, Siyande is the first person to protect her every time, and Zuko does the same thing for her. Nonetheless, Siyande continues to humiliate Zuko. The teachers have told Zuko to stay away from Siyande, but Zuko loves her. Our teachers said to us: “Why stay in a relationship that you are not happy in instead of walking away? It’s unhealthy for a girl.”

I know, I can feel, that there is a girl who wants to change but is addicted to her friends, even though she does not want to be involved in all the activities they do. You know, my girl, you should stay away. Impressing them will only destroy your future. You will end up killing yourself and thinking that no one loves you. You will think bad thoughts that will make you feel angry all the time. All of those things will result in you killing yourself.

*****

My advice

You know, my teacher once told me that if you don’t like what your friends are doing you should just walk away. When you see that you don’t belong with a group just walk away. This will help you to recover, because pleasing friends will lead to being bullied or being teased by those same bad friends. When they say, “jump”, you say “how high?” Girls, be independent, strong, loving and kind. Be the kind of girl who doesn’t take any nonsense, a girl that people are scared of. Know how to say “no” to others. I need girls who stand up for themselves, protect themselves and are happy.

***

Tell us what you think: What do you think of the writer’s advice? What are you taking away with you?