Reverse the Curse

School is hard. Classes can be difficult, friendships are dramatic and inconsistent, and Jesus often feels a million miles away in an environment that refuses to accept that His ways are good and right. . . We know in our hearts that He is with us wherever we go, but it doesn't feel like enough when we're walking through halls filled with hurting kids and kids doing the hurting.

Some of you are standing in the middle, watching with a deep sense of sadness as the madness goes on around you. Others of you are actually on one side of that equation or the other. Maybe you feel unaccepted at school and discouraged by the words and actions of your classmates. Or maybe you and your friends are the ones who are assuring others that they are unaccepted and unworthy.

So how do you make it through every day with so much junk going on around you?

How do you keep your focus on God and your faith in Christ when darkness seems to be winning the battle?

I have three words for you girls:

Reverse the curse.

Let love win in your own life. That means extending it freely to people who don't deserve it. That means standing up for the hurting kids in the hallway and telling your friends to knock it off when they're doing the hurting.

It means giving respect to your teachers - even the ones who don't really seem to deserve it - because its the right thing to do.

Where there is unlove you walk in and fill the room with an undeniable fragrance of love and acceptance. Everywhere you go you replace sadness with joy, and hurt with hope.

It won't be easy, but it will be worth it. You won't regret one day of your life spent fighting for love and being the love that so many around you desperately need.

If you need a little inspiration or motivation for this challenge, I know someone whose life is a pretty fabulous example. Everywhere he went he loved the unlovable, encouraged the outcast, and gave hope to the faithful. He left a fragrance that made those who accepted him fall in love and those who denied him go mad. He made an eternal impact that brought light into darkness and forever changed the course of history.

His name is Jesus. He came to reverse the curse in our lives. Today, make it your goal to pay it forward and reverse the curse for someone in your corner of the world. . . You never know when your actions will make an eternal impact to bring light into darkness and forever change the course of history.