“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” -Jeremiah 17:7
My freshman year of high school, I had a terrifying experience: A foreign exchange student approached me for a dance. Laugh all you want but as the resident shy girl, all I could think was, he’s going to read into this. (Which is funny because I was reading into it.) After an awkward… Read More »Approachable & Authentic: How to Talk to Guys Without Fear
A version of this article first appeared in the April-May 2025 issue of Brio Magazine for teen girls. Rejection bites. Amiright, ladies? When Kia found herself growing closer to a guy she’d known most of her life, the feeling seemed mutual. Students at the same school, they spent nearly all… Read More »He Said What? How to Handle Rejection From a Guy
When was the last time you made a mistake? I can think of three or four I made in the last hour, though they’re not ones I will remember for years to come. But I can think of five or ten right now that I made years ago and can’t… Read More »Bad Landings: How to Move On After a Mistake
As a writer, I have no problem filling a page with words. And as a blogger for Christian teens, I have no problem turning those words into advice. But sometimes more words aren’t needed. For example, when it comes to standing up to peer pressure, the Bible already speaks volumes.… Read More »Stand Firm: Pummel Peer Pressure With These Bible Verses
Everybody’s doing it. I don’t want to be the oddball. You might not admit it out loud, but it’s in the back of your mind whenever you encounter pressure to do something. And it doesn’t even have to be something sinful. Everybody’s dating…going on the school ski trip…signing up for basketball…getting… Read More »The Truth About The Lie Behind Peer Pressure
I still remember the day when performance anxiety became a thing for me. I’d been playing piano for a decade, having stunned judges at a fifth-grade talent show and wowed my peers with a Brahms rhapsody at the National Honor Society banquet. Then came college. It was my freshman year,… Read More »Faith Over Stage Fright: How to Beat Performance Anxiety
If you had a choice between great wealth or genuine confidence…which would you choose? I won’t make assumptions about anyone who’s reading this, but I would give up a lot for a lifetime supply of genuine, irrepressible confidence. Imagine what a person not lacking in confidence can face! Even the… Read More »What is Genuine Confidence—And Where Can I Get Some?
What comes to mind when someone asks you to visualize a tough person? Someone with lots of muscles, right? Like the guy who can beat anybody in arm-wrestling, or the football player who can take any hit and give it right back. Or maybe you envision toughness as hardness of… Read More »Real Toughness Redefined: How to Develop a Strong Mind