~ * My Teenager .. * ~

A special place had been placed in my heart by the Lord for teenagers. I have taught them and ministered to them.

DURING my children's teen years, Christ was my Handkerchief and my Hope. I use the word handkerchief because if you have had teenagers - and if you are perfectly honest - then you remember times when you cried with them or for them. The Scriptures tell us that Christ cried, and I knew that if, with my small amount of human love, I could cry for my teenager, Christ would know how I felt. BUT more than that, He was my Handkerchief and dried my tears. I could take any problem to Him.

Christ was my help when grades were bad. He was there when we wondered where our children were, why they had not come home as they had been instructed, what they were doing and if they were all right.

Christ was and is my Hope. I learned something as a mother of teenagers. I could love them and still want them even when they were so rebellious that I thought, I cannot tolerate you right now; I wish you didn't live here. But I never ever reached the point where I did not love my children or not want them, and I still feel the same way. My hopes for them never died, even through the rebellious times.

If, in my small way of loving, I could hold onto hope for my teenagers and love them no matter what they did, imagine how Christ can love me. Just as teenagers who are trying hard to grow up make many mistakes and can struggle with authority, we as Christians also sometimes fail. But Christ never ever quits loving us. He will be our Hope in this life and our Eternal Joy ( ** ROMANS 10: 9-13)!

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure (HEBREWS 6:19).

SANDRA MINTER