Psalm 42:1 - "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God."

Psalm 42:2 - "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?"

Psalm 42:3 - "My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'"

Psalm 42:4 - "These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.  For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival."

Psalm 42:5 - "Why are you in despair, O my soul?  And why have you become disturbed within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence."

Psalm 42:6 - "O my God, my soul is in despair within me; therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar."

Psalm 42:7 - "Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me."

Psalm 42:8 - "The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; and His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life."

Psalm 42:9 - "I will say to God my rock, 'Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?'"

Psalm 42:10 - "As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, while they say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'"

Psalm 42:11 - "Why are you in despair, O my soul?  And why have you become disturbed within me?  Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God."

8.  Give - Love


Giving away your love is also very difficult.  I know you are probably thinking it is not difficult to give away your love.  That's only because you are not realizing what true love is.

1 Corinthians 13:4 - "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,"

The Bible teaches us what true love really is all about.  Even if you stick with this one verse and can accomplish what it says, you will be way ahead where I am or was at your age.

Love is patient.  I looked up the word "patient" and here is the definition I liked the most -- "bearing annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain with calm and without complain or anger."  What does it look like to love someone without ever losing patience with them?

I really don't know.  What I have learned is loving someone with patience is loving them despite their annoyances and/or your annoyance with them.  I have also learned it isn't about just accomplishing this one day.  It is about accomplishing this for a lifetime with everyone you love.  This is not about loving just your spouse.  This chapter of the Bible is frequently used in marriage ceremonies, but I believe Paul was writing this for everyone, not to just people who are married.

"Love is kind and is not jealous."  If you are secure with who you are, jealousy is not going to be an issue.  Being jealous says more about you than about the person you are jealous about.  And if you think being kind is fairly simple.  Try being kind to everyone you love for one whole day and see if it is easy.

"Love does not brag and is not arrogant."  When you truly love someone, there is very little need to brag about yourself.  You don't need to prove anything to them.  People brag about themselves to make themselves feel worthy.  They are afraid the other person won't love them back, so they need to brag about themselves to mask the pain of not feeling loved.  I think he put bragging and arrogance in the same sentence because they go hand in hand.  In order to brag about yourself, you are showing an arrogance which is not attractive.

The next time you find yourself in the presence of someone who brags, ask yourself if you would describe them as being arrogant.  Chances are, you will.  How many people want to be around someone who is arrogant?  Learn to control your bragging and you will find people will be more attracted to you.

If you love someone, there is no need to brag to get them to love you.  Just love them for who they are and don't have any expectations of them loving you in return.  I am not saying that is an easy thing to do.  It is not.  It is probably the hardest thing you will ever have to do.

It is natural to want something in return for what you gave.  If you can love freely and not expect their love in return, I promise you it will not go unnoticed.  I am not saying to be a doormat and let people walk all over you.  

I am saying, even if you have to love them from afar, you will not regret having those feelings.

7.  Give - Money


This is one of the hardest lessons you are going to have to learn.  No one likes to give money away.  We equate our self worth with how much money we have and how much money we make.

The last thing we want to do is give away our hard-earned money.  We feel like it is ours to keep, not give away.  

I want you to listen to why it is important you be a giving person.  I could list a bunch of verses about giving and you already know we are commanded to give to the poor and less fortunate.  But, the greatest benefit to giving money is how it makes you feel.  God's laws always work.  They are for our benefit.  He didn't tell us to give because He couldn't take care of the poor or because He somehow needs our money.  He tells us to give because of what it does to the inside of us.  

The more you give, the more you will give.  It is only hard to start being giving.  After you start, you will never go back.  Giving money has never been a struggle for me, even when I didn't have any.

One time I got a Christmas bonus I wasn't expecting my first year in Allentown.  I had already bought all of your Christmas presents, so it was just extra money.  Uncle Joe's car had broken down and Nana told me he couldn't afford to get it fixed.  I went to the dealership where it was getting repaired and paid for it anonymously with my Christmas bonus.  I didn't want Uncle Joe to think he owed me any money and I didn't want him to feel bad about me paying for it.

After  I walked out of that dealership, I felt so good to be able to have the extra money to do it.  I kept picturing the look on Uncle Joe's face when the dealership would call him to tell him he could pick up his car in time for Christmas.

Don't give money to get credit for it.  Do it so that only you know you've done it.  I hate watching celebrities give money and brag about how much they've given.  God doesn't care how much you give, just start doing it.

I promise you, the more money you give away, the more money you will want to keep giving away.

Psalm 41:1 - "How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble."

Psalm 41:2 - "The Lord will protect him and keep him alive, and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; and do not give him over to the desire of his enemies."

Psalm 41:3 - "The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed; in his illness, You restore him to health."

Psalm 41:4 - "As for me, I said, 'O Lord, be gracious to me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You."

Psalm 41:5 - "My enemies speak evil against me.  'When will he die, and his name perish?'"

Psalm 41:6 - "And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; when he goes outside, he tells it."

Psalm 41:7 - "All who hate me whisper together against me; against me they devise my hurt, saying,"

Psalm 41:8 - "A wicked thing is poured out upon him, that when he lies down, he will not rise up again."

Psalm 41:9 - "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."

Psalm 41:10 - "But You, O Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up, that I may repay them."

Psalm 41:11 - "By this I know that You are pleased with me, because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me."

Psalm 41:12 - "As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and You set me in Your presence forever."

Psalm 41:13 - "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.  Amen and amen."

Psalm 40:11 - "You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me."

Psalm 40:12 - "For evils beyond number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; they are more numerous than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed me."

Psalm 40:13 - "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; make haste, O Lord, to help me."

Psalm 40:14 - "Let those be ashamed and humiliated together who seek my life to destroy it; let those be turned back and dishonored who delight in my hurt."

Psalm 40:15 - "Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, 'Aha, aha!'"

Psalm 40:16 - "Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let those who love Your salvation say continually, 'The Lord be magnified!'"

Psalm 40:17 - "Since I am afflicted and needy, let the Lord be mindful of me.  You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God."

6. Have An Honest Interest In Everyone You Meet

Pay attention to every person you are in contact with.  Most people will respond back.  Don't be offended by the ones who don't.  They are having a bad day and it has nothing to do with you.

I have found that having an interest in people has made me a more compassionate person.  It has helped me be less judgmental.  When I know a person's story, I am able to see the world through their eyes. Everyone has a story.  Once I show an interest in someone, they usually will respond back by opening up to me.

I promise you will never regret getting to know all kinds of people.  Use Jesus as your example.  Jesus hung out with real people.  He didn't just hang out with people who He had a lot in common with.  He was compassionate to the people no one else was.  The thing that true people to Him was the fact that He paid attention to everyone, even children.  In those days, children were not addressed by adults other than their own parents.  Jesus paid attention.

What better lesson is there to learn on Easter than to be more like Jesus.

5.  Don't Have a Baby Until You Are Married

This probably seems a little hypocritical coming from me.  Just take it as a lesson learned.  I am the right person to tell you this one.  If you have a baby before you are married, you are complicating your life for not just you but for the baby too.

I know you could look at my story and think it all worked out ok.  But, the truth is that even if it looks good on the outside, I have had to go through a lot of unnecessary struggles because of the consequences of getting pregnant outside of marriage.

Even if you are living with the person when you either get pregnant or get her pregnant, it is very difficult to start out your life together with having a baby before you even get to decide if you are going to get married.  Having a baby requires you to leap from a life of total selfishness to one which is entirely wrapped around this little person who needs you for everything.

The perfect scenario is to get married, be married for a couple of years and then have children.  You need the time to be together to grow into being married before having children, because once you have children it will be a long time until you will get the chance to be just the two of you again.  Your lives become raising children for many, many years.

Psalm 40:1 - "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry."

Psalm 40:2 - "He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm."

Psalm 40:3 - "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord."

Psalm 40:4 - "How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood."

Psalm 40:5 - "Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; there is none to compare with You.  If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count."

Psalm 40:6 - "Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; my ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required."

Psalm 40:7 - "Then I said, 'Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me."

Psalm 40:8 - "I delight to do Your Will, O my God; Your law is within my heart."

Psalm 40:9 - "I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know."

Psalm 40:10 - "I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation."

4.  Stay in School.

I don't want you to stay in school because it will help you get a better job.  I want you to stay in school so you will always continue to learn.  The job part will come if you want it to.  People who go to school just to get a better job are not really enjoying the process.

Enjoy learning.  It is fun.  God gave us a brain to use and you will never know everything.  The minute you stop learning, you stop living. I wish I had gone to college when I had the chance.  I don't want you to look back at this time in your life and feel the same way.

I enjoy learning.  Homeschooling was easy for me because I wanted to learn right beside you guys.  Sometimes it was more about me.  I should have been teaching you how to enjoy it more.  I regret making it a chore.  

If you can't go to a classroom, take online classes.  It doesn't even matter about what.  Pick a topic that interests you and take a class.  The computer makes it so easy to do now. 

If you get married and start having babies first, it will be even harder to go back.  I wasted 4 years before I got married and had Keil when I could have been in school instead of working full-time.

Stay in school.

3.  Learn How to Let Go of People

Life is too short to invest your time and energy into anyone that is not going to bring you happiness.  There are so many people in this world who will want to be in your life.  If you come across someone who does not want to be, listen to your instincts early and let them go.

The problem I always had is holding onto people who really didn't want to bring me happiness.  If I found out someone didn't like me, I would try and get them to like me.  How stupid.  Such a waste of time.

If someone doesn't like you, you can't make them.  Trust me.  It has taken me a long time to figure it out.  And you want to know the really weird thing?  The less you try to get them to like you, the better chance you have of them liking you.

What I used to do is try to change who I am to be what I thought they wanted me to be.  I thought that would make them like me.  It doesn't work.  And, the thing is, if they like you for that person, it isn't really you anyway.

Would you rather they like you for who you really are or for the person you are pretending to be?