a teenage testimony

Sisters are fun.
With them, the adventures never cease.
Perhaps I could rephrase the "sister" part for those of you with brothers and say "siblings are fun. With them, the adventures never cease."

The Lord has greatly blessed me with two distinctly different sisters. They're both so different, and so very alike. I love it. I've been thinking a lot lately about my youngest sister Jess and how she just turned the big 1-3. She's no longer a pre-teen, but a teenager, through and through. Her eyes have been unveiled to the site of "cute boys" and she spends countless time prettying herself to go out of the house. Now to anyone who knows Jess, this is very strange behavior for her, because for the last few years, she's been a proud tom-boy through and through. Her thoughts of showering, smelling nice and wearing jewelry were fun, but not necessary, so long as she could still win arm wrestling matches in homeroom with the boys or kick a soccer ball and leave a mark. Jess is cute. She is loving and has a huge heart for people. As the days press on I've noticed her becoming a beautiful young lady, more and more. Showers are a must, and she's experimenting with makeup...all sorts of fun stuff.

Well most of those things I just mentioned are materialistic, and I by no means am I believing that makeup and showering make someone beautiful (they do help though), I'm just relating Jessica's character and actions in a short summary. So, this evening my little #1 goalie for CMS waltzed into the house with a giant grin on her face.Muddy from practice, clad in her rainbow jersey, I told her she should shower and get ready quickly, so I could bring her to youth group. (a surprise, because she wouldn't have been able to go, but during the course of the day, the Lord changed my heart and I decided to head into PI for the evening to catch a soccer match, ma favorite!) She looked at me and jumped up and down saying, "I prayed! I prayed! I prayed for a way to go to youth tonight and God heard me and wow, that's two prayers today! I prayed!"

This made me chuckle at her excitement and blessed to hear her little heart had been blessed by this chance to go to church tonight. She continued to tell me a story about soccer practice and a certain challenge that arose. She decided she was practically incapable, like everyone else to be successful, however, because she chose to put her hope in Christ, she prayed, for strength and the ability to perform the task at hand. She wasn't looking for glory or cheers from teammates, she just wanted to accomplish the hard task. ( a bonus was no more running at practice). Closing her eyes, she prayed, kicked the ball, turned around and waited. Screams errupted from her squawl of teamates and she turned around smiling. When her friends asked her what she was doing closing her eyes, she replied
"Praying. I knew if I prayed I could do it."

Hooray! I was so very thankful to both hear and be a part of a little girl's prayer request. Though her resquests could be considered silly or minor, I saw them as wonderful opportunities for her to see the God of wonders perform small wonders in her life, now, at this vulnerable and very influencial age, 13. I got a chance to share with her about Christ's blessings and the power of prayer. :) I loved her excitement that God had really answered her prayers, in two different circumstances. He is good. Yahweh is unfailingly good.