A Proud Sister

My sister just turned 18 years old last week and I am constantly amazed at her maturity. She has recently started a blog and her latest post is fantastic! Here's an excerpt of it below and you can click on to read the rest of it at her blog.

Dr. Matt's sermon on Sunday (Mother's Day) was all about influence. I was paying attention (nice, right?) and began really thinking on the subject. Here come the thoughts...

In Servant 45 at church, the fourth and fifth graders memorize and recite 1 Timothy 4:12.

"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." (NIV)

But what does that really mean? Think about it. Being an example. Setting an example. Why me? I'm just a kid. Well...now I'm an adult, but my girls are still just kids. My sweet little seventh grade girls. How can they be living examples of Christ in their daily lives and ultimately set examples? Answer: The same way I live as an example for them.

I'm not sure if you girls have ever thought about it... but I literally think of you every. single. day. A couple of weeks ago one of you asked in group if I've ever been tempted. Well, duh! I'm a teenager, of course I have! And with that... yeah, it's hard. But do you know what keeps me going, what keeps me from making awful choices every day of my life? You guys. It's easy to say no to the big stuff like sex and drugs.. but what about the little things. Cheating...lying to my parents... stuff that "everyone does." Why can't I just go do that stuff like all the "normal" high schoolers do? Because I'm not normal. I have you girls. I have young Christians who look up to me. And that changes EVERYTHING.

Read the rest here.

This blog post is a perfect example of why my sister will be an amazing middle school language arts teacher (which is what she wants and that's amazing to me, too, because that takes such heart and strength). She has continued to lead a group of middle school girls from our church that we co-led last year and I'm so grateful that she's the one they get to see weekly.  :)



Yep, folks, I'd get super mad at anyone who said something bad about my sister because I love her THAT much!