Send us a text

Last week, in part 1 of this two part series on the UncommonTEEN Podcast, we began talking about how to throw away anxiety, stress, overwhelm, and insecurities for good! 

 

God wants you walking in confidence, really embracing who it is that He created you to be! But how do we do that?

1.    It starts with truly understanding who it is that God says you are.

• John 3:16 says that you are so loved by God. 
• Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God makes everything beautiful in its time. You are beautiful! Just the way you are! 
• Jeremiah 1:5 says that before the world was even formed, God knew everything about you and approved of you as His chosen daughter. He set you apart for a purpose.
• Isaiah 43:4 says that you are precious to God, honored by God, and loved by God!
• Jeremiah 29:11 says that God has plans for your life that are good. Plans to give you a future and a hope.
• Luke 12:24 says that you are valuable to God.

But In order to truly understand who God says you are, you have to intentionally make the choice to believe it! 

2.    Rewrite the stories you’ve been telling yourself.

When you feel anxious, stressed, overwhelmed or not confident in who you are…when those feelings start to pull you down, I want you to stop and think about what you’re thinking about.

Ask yourself, do these thoughts or do these words that I’m telling myself or maybe someone else said about me…do they line up with what God says about me? Do those thoughts line up with what God says in His Word?

The first way you can tell if they do or if they don’t is, how are those thoughts making you feel? If they are making you feel anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, or insecure, the answer probably is no…they do not line up with what God says about you.  

3.    Change your words; change your life. 

Our circumstances that we are facing cause our thoughts. When we dwell on those thoughts, those thoughts cause the words we begin to speak. When we begin to speak those things over our lives, our words then cause the results that we see. 

Pick one verse and say it over and over again until those feelings of anxiety leave. “Thank You, Lord that in John 14:27, Jesus says He has given me His peace. I thank you that I have peace.” Then repeat over again over again until you feel that peace, 
Thank You, Lord for your peace. I have the peace of Jesus. I praise You God for giving me Your peace.” 

Sometimes you can speak those verses for a couple minutes and anxiety will leave, sometimes you may need to be speaking those verses over yourself for an hour or two, but continue to do it until that anxiety leaves. 

The Word of God is powerful and can and will destroy the weapons the enemy has used against you!  

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

Did you know that it is possible to not let anxiety, stress, overwhelm or insecurities rule your life?  Did you know that God actually doesn’t want you anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, and insecure? 

He actually wants you to walk in peace, enjoying life as you walk out confidently who He made you to be!

I remember my senior year of high school. I was so insecure…probably one of the most insecure people you would have ever met. I couldn’t even look people in the eye when talking to them. Every time I walked into a room and people were laughing, I immediately thought they were laughing about me, when in reality, I was probably the last person on their mind. 

To say that I was insecure was an understatement. It became a way of life for me to compare myself with everyone I encountered and falling short every time. I was a nobody. I hated everything about myself. This insecurity led to so much anxiety. 

Going back to my senior year, anxiety attacks became like a friend to me…not one that I cared for either…I always felt like a thousand pound elephant was sitting on my chest and it was so hard to breathe. 

Praise God, I found Jesus when I was a senior in high school, because this became my only hope that things could get better. I learned that I didn’t have to let anxiety, overwhelm, and insecurities run my life anymore. At that time, I couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like to be free…a life of joy and peace and confidence, but I clung tight to that hope. 

I am so thankful I did, because even on the hard days, I kept pushing through and I didn’t give up. It wasn’t an easy journey, but it was so worth it! At first, there were more bad days than good days. Then the good days started coming a little more. Then over time, the days of anxiety and overwhelm and insecurity were almost obsolete.

I would be lying if I said that the anxiety, the overwhelm and the insecurities never come back from time to time, because they do. However, when they do, I go back to these 3 steps that I’m going to share with you this week and next week and do them until those feelings are gone!

So how do we kick anxiety, stress, overwhelm, and insecurities to the curb? 

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

Why is it so hard to motivate ourselves to do what we know we are supposed to do? Especially when we don’t feel like it?  Lack of motivation….complacency…it’s all the same thing. 

Complacency is a weapon the enemy is using to get us to give up and not even try. When we live in a culture that is so based on our feelings, we don’t realize how much we are allowing our feelings to control our lives until we take a step back and look at it. When we don’t feel like doing that thing, we don’t do it. If we keep this mentatlity up, we will waste our lives and never truly find the purpose God called us to live out.

Yes, God gave us feelings. Feelings are meant to be felt. Feelings are meant to help us feel compassion and love toward others, but feelings were never meant to be what makes our decisions for us. 

However, if we’re not careful, we use our feelings to make excuses for us to do what we want to do or not to what we don’t want to do. 


Benjamin E Mays, a pastor who actually mentored Martin Luther King Jr said is so wisely. He said, “The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency; not in our doing too much, but rather in our doing too little; not in our living above our ability, but rather in our living below our capacities."

Complacency or lack of motivation is one of the biggest enemies to Christians and if I can be honest, when I look at a lot of the Christian teens today, this is the number one enemy I see invading their lives. 

Complacency isn’t just not doing anything, though, complacency or a lack of motivation also occurs when we do the same thing over and over again and get into a “check it off the list” mentality. 

How do we move from complacency or a lack of motivation to pushing past those feelings? Honestly, it starts with discovering you do have a purpose, right now, as a teen! There’s a quote that says, “motivation is found when purpose is discovered” and it is so true! 

How do we overcome a lack of motivation? How do we overcome complacency?

1.  It starts with understanding how much God loves you!
2. Develop a real, living relationship with Jesus instead of just checking God off a list.
3. Do your first 15 (spending the first 15 minutes of your day with God)
   • Spend 5 minutes in the Word
   • 5 minutes in prayer
   • 5 minutes in worship.
4. Serve others.
5. Share Jesus with those around you!
6. Discipleship, mentorship and coaching!

Ladies, let’s not make anymore excuses, but let’s get out there and live our life with purpose! Just like that quote I shared earlier, “Motivation is found when purpose is discovered.”

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

Your words are powerful. Proverbs 18:20 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Whatever you speak you will eventually see in your life. But just like the words that you speak are powerful…the words that you tell yourself internally are just as powerful.

When you’re asked to do something big and new, do you instantly jump in and think to yourself, “oh yeah! I’ve got this!” or do you ever say to yourself, “who am I to do that?” 

Or have you ever told yourself, “Nobody likes me. Why do I have to be like this?” Or maybe you have told yourself, “I’ not smart. Why should I even try to study for that test. I’m just going to fail anyway.” Or maybe when you look in the mirror and you tell yourself how ugly you think you are and then begin to criticize everything about yourself. 

Many times, when we’re talking to ourselves negatively, we are taking something that is not true and believing it as if it was true. The worst part is, when we talk negatively to ourselves, it leads us to feel worse about ourselves. The worse we feel about ourselves, the more negatively we talk to ourselves. It’s a vicious cycle. 

If you find that you have a hard time being happy, or that you are constantly fighting feeling down, depressed, angry, anxious or any other negative feeling, stop and think about what you’ve been telling yourself. What have you been thinking about and dwelling on? Almost every time, if not every time, it’s something that’s negative that we are choosing to believe. 

If you find yourself in that situation…feeling down…telling yourself negative things about yourself, I want to encourage you to ask yourself these questions. Write them down and put them on the wall in your room or in your bathroom. Put them on your phone so you can easily look at them…wherever you find yourself dwelling on those negative thoughts the most. 

The first question I encourage you to ask yourself is:

1. Is what I’m telling myself true? Is it what God would say about me?
2. What Truth from God’s Word confirms that what I’m saying is true?
3. What’s the worst thing that could happen?
4. What will most likely happen?
5. Are there other ways that I can look at this situation?
6. Is this really a bad as I’m making it out to be?
7. Is speaking to myself this way making me feel better or worse?
8. How can I change my thinking in order to find the good news?

Then when you’ve assessed the situation, find what God’ Word says about the situation and begin to speak that over our life. John 8:31-32 tell us and this is Jesus speaking, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” If you have been struggling with negative self-talk, the only way to overcome it is with the Word of God. 

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

I remember when I first made Jesus the Lord of my life, I was on fire for God. Nobody was going to stop me from going all in. However, I had a problem. I didn’t know what it looked like to actually go all in with God. Nobody showed me how to practically live out the transformation God had performed in my life as a 17 year old. 

I would see other teens my age who were Christians, but most if not all of them were lacking that spark…that fire for the Lord. I even tried going to a youth ministry my senior year of high school, but it almost seemed like a joke. I couldn’t quite understand why it seemed like these Christians didn’t even care. The youth pastor would start to teach on a topic, but the message would be overrun by teens making a joke out of it….the youth pastor did nothing but play along. Needless to say, I didn’t go back to that youth ministry often. 

I didn’t quite understand how I was supposed to practically walk out my Christian life when I didn’t even see other Christian teens walking it out. Was I supposed to just pretend this life change with Jesus didn’t happen…because it did and it was very real. 

So, how do we put God first in our life. Practically, what does that look like? 

1.   Put God first in your day. Create the first bit of the morning to spend with God. If you have been struggling with reading the Bible every day, with spending time in prayer every day, with taking time to worship every day, I encourage you to do the First 15. 


What does 5 minutes in the Bible look like? 


I encourage you to start in the book of John. In most versions of the Bible, you will notice that the chapters are split up into sections. For example, with the New King James version of the Bible, John 1 is split up into seven sections. The first section’s title is called, “The Eternal Word" and it’s 5 verses long. 


Read through the whole section one time through, go back through it a second time and right down or underline anything that stands out to you. Then ask God, “Lord, what do you want me to know about this passage? What do you want me to do?” Write it down and take action. 

Next is 5 minutes in prayer. Take time to talk to God, just like you would your best friend, about what’s coming up that day. Ask Him for wisdom to get through whatever it is you have going on. He so loves you and cares about even the smallest of details. 

Then the last 5 minutes is spent in worship. Worship is a response to God’s goodness. Take 5 minutes and thank God for the good things He’s doing in your life. 

2.    Write out the key areas of your life and ask God, “Lord, will you show me how to put you first in every area of my life. Some key areas would include:

1. Friends
2. Guys
3. School
4. Work
5. Sports/Activities

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

Today's Ask Me Anything question comes from Ellie. she says, "Sometimes I do feel uncommon as a believer, but your positive words help me get through tough situations. My parents are strong Christian believers who are both teachers. They are very knowledgeable about the world we are living in as teens. Through this, they are opposed to the idea of social media and the possible negative effects. I have recently moved school and feel like the odd one out that doesn’t have a social account. I understand that my parents want what’s best for me,  but I just want to feel included in some way. 

 

I’m sure a lot of teen girls have this same question, one because I know several teen girls who don’t have social media. I also know several other girls who have created social media accounts without their parent’s knowledge. Please don't do this! What this does, is it breaks down your relationship with your parents, because all relationships thrive off of trust. If there is no trust, there is no relationship. Parents have their boundaries because they have your best interest in mind. 

You also said, “Sometimes I do feel uncommon as a believer.” Being uncommon isn’t a bad thing, it’s actually a pretty great thing! God needs you to be uncommon! If you were like everyone around you, nobody would ever see Jesus in you. What does it mean to be uncommon? It means not common, rare, above the ordinary, exceptional, and remarkable! Acts 4:13 is the verse that is the verse God gave me for UncommonTEEN. It says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and untrained in the schools (they were common men with no educational advantages), they marveled; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” What made them uncommon was their relationship with Jesus, but just like with the disciples, the crowd looked at them and noticed that there was something different about them. That opened the door for them to share the Gospel with them, resulting in people getting saved. 

When you are uncommon, people look at you and ask, “why are you so nice? Why are you full of peace when everyone else is going crazy? Why are you happy all the time?” That, just like with the disciples opens the door for you to share Jesus with them. It’s okay to be different. It’s okay not to have social media even if everyone else does. They may make fun of you but embrace that you are different and be confident in who you are in Christ. 

Check out this week's episode to learn more about what you can do when your parents oppose social media, but you feel like the odd one out. 

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

On this week’s AMA episode, we answer, "

Hi Jamie, lately I've been feeling like I'm disappointing everyone around me in my life. My parents with not being athletic enough (even though I work out), my entire family went to college for athletics, and I only play one sport and I'm only ok at that. I'm also not popular at school and not really that talkative. I feel like I'm also disappointing God by not being a good enough Christian. I really try to ignore the lies the enemy has been telling me continuously but honestly, I can't stop thinking about how I'm talentless and not good at anything. I also have anxiety, and it really hurts me when I start to believe this. How can I make these feelings and thoughts stop?

First of all, I want you to know that you are not alone in this. I have heard from several teen girls lately who have been telling me similar things. It hurts my heart that this is a struggle that you’re having, because you were made so beautifully by God.


You are enough…because God sees you as enough! He loves you. You are worthy….you are valuable, because God sees you as valuable. 

Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that before we were even formed in the womb, God knew us. 


He knew every little detail about us…He intentionally thought out everything that makes up who you are, and He was pleased with it. 


I know it’s hard, because everyone in your family is really athletic, but God created you just the way you are on purpose. He doesn’t want you to gain your identity from that. He wants you to gain your identity from Him. Now, I’m not saying quit working out or playing sports. Do your best, but then be satisfied because you did the best that you can do. If your parents are truly disappointed in you because you aren’t athletic, I encourage you to pray for them that they see you through the eyes of how God created you…that they see your true identity through Christ. 

You were not placed on this earth an accident. God deliberately thought about every detail about you before the world was even formed! When you truly understand how much God loves you, you understand that you have so much value! That you are not a disappointment to God. That you have so much purpose! That you are God’s joy! You are a beautiful daughter of the most high King! 

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

When I think back to the life of King David as a young boy, I see someone whose circumstances weren’t the best. I see someone whose dad didn’t really even consider him as a son. He was forgotten about, made fun of by his brothers and other people. I see someone who could have been so insecure about who he was, because of the way he was treated by the people who were closest to him…his family. 

 
David’s own dad didn’t see anything special about David that he would even consider David his son. 

With how David’s dad treated him, we wouldn’t blame him if he was insecure about who he was. I’m sure his brothers were constantly making fun of him, as well, because when he was out with the sheep, he would often sit back and write poetry and play his harp. They didn’t see their brother as someone who could be king. They saw him as a nobody. 

But do you know something amazing about David? In spite of his circumstances, he wasn’t insecure. He was confident in who God created him to be. 


And so can you!

One thing I love about David is that he owned who he was. He didn’t ask himself, “God why did you create me to write poetry? Mighty warriors aren’t supposed to write poetry. God why did you create me to play music. Mighty warriors aren’t supposed to play music on the harp. I guess I’m a nobody.” 


No, he took those things that he was good at and He used them to glorify God. He used them in spite of what others thought about him. David owned who it is God created him to be. He owned his identity. He knew that he was a shepherd for the Lord. He knew that he was a poet for the Lord. He knew that he was a musician for the Lord. And he knew that is was a warrior and an anointed king for the Lord. 

And because he knew and owned who God created him to be, God was able to use David in a mighty way and the same is true for you! 

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

On this week's Ask Me Anything, episode, we are answering the question, "Could you talk about fear of the future on the UncommonTEEN Podcast? I'm really scared of everything going on in the world. I know I should give all my problems to God, but I'm still so scared and don't know what to do. I feel like God isn't listening to me and isn't helping at all.


On thing I have learned about fear is that it is meant to paralyze us. It's meant to make use doubt God, doubt ourselves and doubt others. It's meant to consume uses that the enemy can stop us in our tracks. 


Fear is something that I dealt with from a young age. On one hand, I lived my life in fear and on the other hand I was addicted to it--drawn to it. 


I didn't give my life to the Lord until I was 17, but even so, I was still addicted to fear. I couldn't wait for the next horror movie to come out. I remember the last horror movie I ever saw. I was in college and a bunch of my friends from the Christian organization on campus and I went to go watch it. There was one girl in our group who wasn't used to watching horror movies and it scared her pretty badly. While we were on our way back to our dorm rooms, one of the guys in our group went ahead of us and pulled a prank on that girl...something to do with the movie, scaring her more. She just laughed it off and so did we...not thinking any more about it. 


The next day, I was talking to a guy (who is now my husband), telling him about what happened the night before, thinking it was funny and he looked at me and said something I will never forget. He said, "Why would you intentionally invite fear into your life when God so clearly says in His Word not to fear?" Ouch! 


You may be thinking, "I'm not intentionally inviting fear into my life, it just happens. I can't help it, but see it when I look around me." And you're right. We live in a fallen world and just looking out there it's crazy! However, we aren't the first generation to face pretty crazy things. It's happened to every generation up to this point. 


The question we need to ask is: why are some people not affected by the craziness going on around us...meaning they aren't in fear...while others fall prey to it? 


The answer, it's what we focus on. If we focus on our circumstances more than we focus on God, we will step into fear. However, if we focus on our God more than we focus on our circumstances, it will produce peace. 


Think about the Israelite army when they were up against the Philistines. The Israelites were hiding in terror. They were focused on the big problem in front of them...Goliath. However, when David saw Goliath, he wasn't afraid at all. He was focused on how big His God was and knew that together they could take down Goliath! The same is true for you!

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com

Send us a text

AMA: Hannah-Does Evolution Fit with the Bible?

On this week’s AMA episode, Hannah says, “Recently I’ve been thinking about evolution. When I was talking to my friends about Jesus and God one of them asked me “so you don’t believe in evolution?” That question has stuck with me as currently we’re learning about evolution in science and we’re about to do a test on it. But I guess my question is this: is evolution real? And how does evolution fit into what we know happened in Genesis with the creation of humans?”

I love this question, because as Christians, this is something that is extremely important to know. We can actually help lead others to Jesus when we know the answers ourselves.

Ladies, check your emails this week for updates on the New UncommonTEEN App!!

To ask your Ask Me Anything Questions or if you need prayer, head on over to UncommonTEEN.com.

For the Ask Me Anything Questions, click on the RED BUTTON at the top of the screen. These questions may used on a future episode of the UncommonTEEN Podcast!

For any prayer requests or more personal questions, click on the YELLOW CHAT TAB at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These will not be used on the podcast unless you say you would like it to be used.

Connect with Us!
Website: UncommonTEEN.com
Instagram: @uncommon.teen
UncommonTEEN Live Conference: UncommonTEENlive.com