Have you ever chased happiness?

     We all have struggles we have to face. Some are bigger than others, but they are usually a learning factor in our life. God never promised us a perfect life; He just promised us a life with Him and a life of love. Every struggle, heartache or loss we have, God is right there with us. 

     From my seventh grade year to my freshmen year in high school, I wanted to fit in. I wanted to hang out with the cool kids, go to all the parties and disobey my parents for the satisfaction of getting a laugh out of it. During the winter of my first year in high school, I made a decision that hurt everyone around me, a decision I would regret. I went to my friend’s house, and had a party with a couple of other friends. I made choices most kids make. However, I didn’t want to be like other kids. For the next year, I felt like I’d let myself, my family and my Heavenly Father down. 

  The summer between my freshmen and sophomore years, I was invited to a Christ in Youth conference with my church! A lot of my friends were going and they wanted me to have the experience they did. I was very open-minded and knew that what was supposed to happen would. While there, I heard a couple voices. One was from God, and the other was from Satan. At first, I had a hard time distinguishing them, but once I figured it out, I knew my life would change! I got home and knew that all the temptations I had left with would come back if I allowed them to! At first I did, but I had a friend who pushed me to be a better person, and a friend who realizes what true happiness means. She is a friend who cares more about my eternal life than my earthly life. I never noticed love like that before, and I knew if I felt good about that love, then the love of Jesus Christ would surpass all understanding. 

  A year later, and I’m on the pursuit of happiness. I am living a life for Jesus. I’ve learned that it’s not my life, it’s His. It’s not my kingdom I’m furthering, it’s His. Reading the bible, going to church, and praying daily will strengthen your relationship with God, but once you realize it takes more than that to live a full Christ-centered life, you will be filled with more joy than you could imagine. You’ll have a happiness that surpasses all understanding -- the happiness of Jesus Christ. 
     You may have a horrible past, and you may have made a lot of decisions that weren’t pleasing, but Jesus says you’re never too late, I’ve always been here waiting for you with open arms.  You can change your life right now and experience the world in a whole different way. Once you take those steps to being a better person, you’ll realize how special and important you are in the King’s eyes.  “He must become greater I must become less." (John 3:30)

Discovering true strength

By Payson

Have you ever thought about how strong your bones are? Like really thought about it? 

How do those people who karate chop cement blocks not break their arms? Easy.Their bones are stronger than the cement. A few years ago when I realized this, I made a conclusion: Bones = Strength.

My hip bones jet out. Thats just how my body is. But when I wasn't eating you could really see them. Some poeple would hate that, but me? I loved it. That could have been the eating disorder talking; but I saw my hip bones, and I felt strong. Same with my collar bones and my wrist bones. Being able to see my bones was a reminder of how strong I was. I constantly rubbed them. It made me feel skinny. It made me feel strong.

When I really think about that now, it makes me sick. I allowed the media to brainwash me into thinking that having your bones visable is a good thing. It makes you "beautiful." But really, with the media being accesible as it is, how could anyone possibly get around it? Honestly, there are very few days when I feel good about my body. I feel like I should be as skinny as I used to be 50 pounds ago.

Back then I thought being 70 pounds and over 5 feet was normal. Take a look at the women in magazines and on TV. That seems normal. But go to the doctors. That's way underweight. That's unhealthy. 

About 5'3 and 120 pounds. That's healthy. That's normal.

Some days all I want to do is be skinny again. I want to be able to fit into my friends' clothes. I want to be able to see all the individual vertebrae of my back bone. I want to weight less than 100 pounds. I want to be society's screwed up version of beautiful.

But other days I can look at myself and be okay with it. I can look at myself and realize that being healthy is better than being skinny. I like the size of my clothes. I am happy with myself. I see myself as pretty. I am aware that being beautiful on the inside is better than being beautiful on the outside

So, when I think of strength do I think of body builders? Football players? Those guys who karate chop cement?

No. I think of the strength it takes to get through life with society's lies being pushed in your face. The strength it takes to be able to recover from eating disorders, self harm addictions, depression, anxiety -- all the things I have dealt with. The strength it takes to look in the mirror and be okay with what you see.

The strength that God has given me is unbelievable. I'm actually grateful for what I've been through. It's made me who I am. It's made me discover a new definition of strong.

You don't have to have giant muscles to be strong. If you can look at youself the way God sees you, then I consider you to be one of the strongest people on Earth. It's not an easy thing to do. I'm far from it, but I'm working on it. Gods making me stronger and stronger each day, and I can't thank him enough.

Overcoming change

     By Meg

     When you open your eyes in the morning and look out your window, what’s the first thing you see? For some it might be a city sidewalk. For others, it might be the neighbor’s house, or a bright green yard stretching to a cornfield. 

When I looked out my window in the morning, I saw mountains. 

You see, until I was 12, I lived in the small town of North Pole, Alaska. As you can probably imagine, mountains are all over the place in that northernmost state. When I was young I could never get enough of the mountains and spent most of my time enjoying their beauty in the cold, northern outdoors.

We never think about how closely attached we can become to our physical surroundings, and they’re often taken for granted. Our families and friends are always on our minds, but the outdoors? Not so much.

The summer before my seventh grade year, my parents decided to relocate to Athens, Illinois. Before this, I hadn’t truly realized how important Alaska was to me. But it was too late. Before I knew it, Alaska was out of sight. My friends were gone, my church was gone, and my mountains were gone.

When I first arrived at my house in Athens, I strongly disliked the view. No offense to Illinoisans, but the only thing I saw when I looked out my window was corn, and I considered that a downgrade from mountains. I found myself missing not only my Alaskan friends, but also my beloved home state. It’s amazing what tugs at your heart when you leave your home. Memories you’ve long forgotten reappear. You reach out for something steady, something in your life you can count on, but it seems like nothing can ease the hurt. 

I know how hard it is to transition from one place to another, and I'm here to tell you help is coming. God is directing your life, and He has it all planned out! He knows who you’re going to meet tomorrow, and who your next great friend is. He’s felt every fear you’re feeling, and been through every trial you’re facing. It’s hard to be the new girl, yes, but He’s placed people in your new home who will reach out to you and welcome you to this new place, as long as you are willing to be part of His plan. 

I pray that as I tell my story to you through this wonderful magazine, God can speak to you as He once spoke to me. You may not like the view right now, but God put you where you are for a reason. Believe me, He knows what He’s doing.  

Meg enjoying the view with family. 

Your prayer life is the sum of your investments

By Morgan Wells

“Basketball practice is going to be hard today!” 

Those are the words I heard from my peers at 3:08 p.m. one day during sophomore year. It was a routine for us. Getting yelled at and expecting a hard practice. 

My coach used to say, “What you put into it is what you’ll be sure to get out of it.” 

Those words have stuck with me since that day. Since then, I’ve grown and realized he wasn’t being mean at those hard practices, he was just showing us what hard work looked like and how it pays off when you play a good game. 

Everyday Monday-Friday, I get up, take a shower, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, and get ready for school. Most days, I wake up early and have time to kill. Could I watch music videos on TV, get on social networking sites, or fall asleep for a couple more minutes? All of those ideas sounded perfect to me until I heard a voice. A voice that most ignore, and I won’t lie,  I have my selfish moments where I listen to myself and the world around me instead of that important voice. 

This voice is easy to hear if you’ll listen closely, and really acknowledge the importance of it. The voice I heard on the morning of Sept. 4 changed my whole vision of the world around me. I felt comfortable with my relationship with God, until He said, “If you feel comfortable, you’re doing something wrong.” 

“I’m reading my bible, worshipping, and listening to a sermon every morning before school,” I told Him. “What else can I do?” 

“Morgan, you say you’re going to pray for that one person, but why aren’t you doing anything else about it?” 

I was always told that prayer was the only thing you could do for someone, but I realized this morning, prayer is the first step to everything. You pray before you go to bed, start your day, or even before a sporting event. 

I pray because I need God’s strength before I can do anything. I need God to give me a good night's rest, I need God to give me a good day, and I need God to give me the strength to conquer any game, test, or relationship. 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.(Proverbs 3:5-6)” 

I put all my trust in God when I was saved on Aug. 7, 2011, but I’m learning each day you may have doubts, you will think your falling, and you will blame God for things you can’t control. It’s not about how many times you think you will fall down, but rather how many times you trust God to have your back, and know that He will always catch you! 

Your heavenly Father loves you more than you’ll ever known. Whenever you’re willing to give your life to Him, you’ll realize He already gave His son’s life for you. 

My coach was right, what you put in to something is what you’re going to get out of it. 

Diving in...with faith

By Payson

Well.

I have absolutely NO idea where to start.

I guess I might as well introduce myself. I'm a girl. A teenage girl. But I guess that's obvious. Why else would i be blogging for Mighty Strong Girls? I'm your average teen. I sleep all day if i can help it; I hate doing chores; I love music; and I hate vegtables. Well, there's one thing that not many people know about me: I self-harm.

I've been cutting for a few years. In the middle of that I developed an eating disorder. I've been through a lot in my short life. All caused by poor self image. I never felt good enough. Society told me I had to look a certain way to be "beautiful." I couldn't be over 100 pounds. That was too fat. 

Growing up I looked up to so many actresses and singers. All of whom were beautiful and skinny. I wanted to be like them. That's what caused my eating disorder. I cut as a way to cope. I wanted to feel something other then sadness. It was my secret shame. I wanted to keep it that way.

But that didn't last. People found out. A lot of people found out, and after a year of hard work and many painful nights, here I am. Better then ever. No, I'm not healed. I still struggle everyday. Trust me, I'm nowhere near healed! But I've come a long way.

Recently, I went almost three months without harming myself. But then one day I stumbled. I hated myself for it. 

I went a water park with some friends a week after I cut, not realizing that I couldn't show my leg. I didn't get in the water the whole time. I had to lie to my friend's face about why I didn't want to swim. That made me hate myself even more.

God was with me through it all though. He put me through that little stumble to make me realize the fight isn't over. That even when I turn my back on him, He won't leave me. He loves me so much. It's insane.

When I look back on my life, I'm not upset with it. I've made some awful mistakes, but none were big enough for God to leave my side. 

I've often wondered why God would put me through this. A few weeks ago, He was speaking to me through His word, and I finally figured it out. God is going to use me to reach out to other girls with similar issues. That is His plan. At least for now. 

And I am going to dive in full-heartedly. I'm ready for what God has in store for me, and Mighty Strong Girls has already been a big part of my life, so I figured this would be a pretty good place to start.