Dear Younger Me (Stand Firm)
Dear Younger Me,
Stand firm. Isn’t it just what the enemy wants when you’re spinning in your doubts and fears? Or when you can’t let go of the mistakes you’ve made and accept grace?
You’re too competitive for that, my dear. You let the enemy win way too many times, and that’s not God’s design for you or anyone. And knowing you and how you want to win, I hope you see that you don’t have to allow yourself to be defeated.
Don’t let the enemy have his way. I know there are times when standing firm seems like the hardest thing to do, but if you learn to recognize those moments, you’ll learn you need to hold up your shield. Take your thoughts captive. Insert truth. Stand firm. And do it again.
In Revelation 3:11-12, it says, ‘“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it…”’
Hold onto your crown, precious daughter of the King. As you do your best to stand firm now, remember that one day you’ll get to stand firm in the most beautiful place.
Love,
Megan
Dear Younger Me,
There’s a quote that says God’s not going to keep you from anything that will make you more like Jesus. So, when it’s so hard to see the good, and all you can see or think about is every failure and mistake, you have to know that your story is not over yet. He’s not going to stop until you’re all He has envisioned and planned for you to be. Trust that the God who loves you and created you is going to finish what He started in you, as it says in the Bible. It’s not going to be easy or painless, and it might not be quick, but as your story unfolds and you walk through seasons in which it’s so hard to hold your head up, God is working on you.
Hold to what is good. Believe that you will see God’s goodness after the battle. Believe that with God, you can endure and conquer the trial, knowing that you will be more refined as a result. Choose to believe that God, as your Father, delights in you, and while you may question why He would allow hurt and pain if He delights in you so much, understand that He can’t allow you to remain the same.
If your heart was pierced with a thousand thorns, and God removed them all at once, your heart wouldn’t be able to hold itself up because it would be weak from all the holes. But, as God removes the thorns, each one in its time, the holes can heal and strengthen, and, stronger because of it, you can be ready for the next one to be removed.
Hold on, okay? It hurts sometimes. But God’s got the arms of a Shepherd, and your Father loves it when you hold His hand.
Love,
Megan
Dear Younger Me,
You are stronger than you know. I know all you see is weakness right now and every single way that you fall short. I know you see every mistake and everything that isn’t right and every way you don’t measure up, but if you only knew what others see in you, you’d know you have a strength in you that you can’t see.
As you wrestle with yourself, your strength enables you to keep showing up. As you push forward in challenges that seem impossible, your strength and tenacity grow. As seasons of transition come and you’re not sure how to stand on your own, your strength will also begin to rise. And when you look back at your life, you’ll see the hard seasons did so much to teach you and grow you into someone who is strong. For example, all those sprints that are a part of your training for sports leave you feeling weak, right? In those moments, you don’t feel strong at all, but when you look back at the season and think about the strength you started with, you’ll realize all that sprinting and training grew you.
That hard season will test you but you will find yourself stronger and better for it. And at each step, it is my hope that you’ll hold on to these words from Psalm 59:17, “O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.” When you see no strength, remember Who is.
Love,
Megan
Shine.FM Concerts & Events Coordinator Kyla (also one of my best friends!) shares words for her younger self this week! Her advice is gold, and I’ve watched her live this out and change the world around her! -Megan
Dear Younger Me,
Hold strong. When the weight of the world and the pressures of a comparison-based culture become too heavy, cling to the one who is unchanging. As followers of Christ, we are called to be counter-cultural, but this is much easier said than done. When you are tempted to compromise who you were created to be (at the expense of what the world claims you should be), take heart in knowing that God created us for goodness and wholeness despite the brokenness of this world.
That said, simply show love. This world doesn’t need another judge or referee to declare what and who is right or wrong…this world simply needs a little more love. Embody love to the best of your ability – continue smiling at strangers in passing, holding doors open for others, offering hugs where words fail, being present and intentional with your peers, and offering a listening ear when possible.
My final advice to you is to strive to be a world changer, not a girl who lets the world change her. Judgment-free love, unabashed kindness, and Christ-like compassion are revolutionary concepts on this side of heaven, and are simple ways that you can take steps to be a world changer. Hold strong, my dear, you have been called and equipped for great things.
Love,
Kyla
Dear Younger Me,
Let your soul rest in God. He’s the Shepherd who can carry you in His arms (Psalm 28:9). He’s the One who says, “Come and talk with me” (Psalm 27:8). He’s the One who is for you. He’s the One who says that worrying can’t add a single hour to your life. He’s the One whispering, “Do you trust me?”
Your heart and your mind can so easily be consumed by fear, doubt, shame, and worry, but you don’t need to stay in that place when you’re invited to lay it all down at the feet of Jesus.
Psalm 62:1 says, “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.” Choose His rest. Allow yourself to embrace His truth and promise that He’s got you. Choose to see that even in the wind and the waves, His love is evident and rest can still be found in Him.
Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Come again, come again, come again to the One who gives rest.
Love,
Megan
Dear Younger Me,
When the lies invade your mind and heart, hold onto the words of God, and claim them for yourself.
Isaiah 62 will one day become one of your favorite passages because of the beautiful words God uses to describe His holy city and people. God uses phrases like “crown of splendor,” “the Lord will take delight in you,” “your God will rejoice over you,” and “Sought After.” What if you start choosing to believe that’s how He feels about you, too?
Psalm 139 can be a hard one for you to really appreciate, but when you start to really dig into the words, you’ll see that its truth is meant for you, too. Even when the mirror isn’t your friend, believe you are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” that God cares so much about you to know every single move you make and how many days you have and thinks countless thoughts about you. (The King of the world thinks about you – think about that!). From your very beginning in the womb, He watched over you – what a love!
Isaiah 43 can remind you of many other beautiful truths, like “you are mine,” “you are precious and honored in my sight,” “I love you,” and more.
These aren’t the only passages that can show you how God sees you as one of His people, but these are some I’ve come to appreciate very much. You’ll find more, I’m sure. My hope for you is that you would hold these words so close to your heart that there is no room for lies. Your heart is valuable to your Father, and He wants you to know how lovely you are.
Love,
Megan
Dear Younger Me,
I wish you would learn to breathe. You think you have to do all and be all and you run around from activity to activity and wonder why you have no time for the things that really matter to you. Let yourself slow down, okay?
As you get older, you’ll realize you don’t have to do all and be all; in fact, you’re going to realize you physically can’t. You’ll run yourself ragged trying to keep up to the point where you just feel like faceplanting right into the ground. While you might be able to boast about everything you can do on such little sleep, soon you’ll see how valuable sleep is, and more than that, how valuable life is. There is so much life outside of everything you think you need to accomplish. Go for a run (or a glorified jog), take a walk, sit by the water, make a bracelet, take a bath, and the list can go on and on.
Don’t lose sight of yourself in the rush of life. Take the time to pause and to breathe and to see yourself as God does. In Isaiah 42:5 it says, “…He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth.” How cool to think that God gives you your breath, and that means your breaths certainly matter. The words you speak matter, and what you do while you take those breaths matter, too. Let yourself slow down to appreciate the breaths God gives you.
Love,
Megan
Dear Younger Me,
In the 18 summers you get to spend at home with your family before college and work become a part of your life, make the most of them.
Get off the couch and set down the book you’re reading and go play with your sisters. Don’t get me wrong, the summer reading program is great and valuable, but when you keep reading and reading to try and win the top reader award for the most pages read during the summer, you’ll realize later in life it was not worth it to give all your time to that. You read more that summer than you’ve ever read in your life, and it’s neat to think that you read over 8,000 pages, and I don’t think there was anything wrong with seeing how far you could go, but where you missed the mark was realizing that there was life to be lived. You’ve forgotten most of those books you read, but there’s only so many times you’ll get to play three-way Battleship in your life with your sisters. Or do puzzle races.
There’s going to come a time when you reach high school that you’ll realize much of your summer will be devoted to sports, and you’ll have to decide how much you really want to do and if it will be worth it to spend mornings and nights all summer in the gym for two sports. You might question yourself for giving up a sport, but know I’m proud of your decision. Looking back, I can see how physically draining it would have been to do everything, and I can still say I wouldn’t have enjoyed giving my whole summer to being in that gym.
You have 18 summers with your family. Absolutely put value in grabbing hold of life-growing opportunities like reading and sports, but don’t let them consume you. Live life with your people, too!
Love,
Megan
Dear Younger Me,
Cling to faith. Keep holding on.
Remember the rope you had to climb in gym class, and how hard it was to make it to the top? You’d try and try and muster up all your effort to pull yourself up and you couldn’t get high enough to touch the beam (except for maybe once). You so badly wanted to get to the top in order to prove your ability, but you would find yourself stuck partway up the rope, losing your strength to go on, and worrying about letting go.
And that’s where you find yourself sometimes. Stuck. Losing the strength to go on. The beauty comes when you realize the only real “rope” to cling to is God. And when you feel like you can’t go on and have no strength to move forward, God’s still with you. In fact, His power is made perfect in weakness. And while admitting weakness is not your forte as you’re someone who tries to keep it all together, God knows you’re human.
There’s a quote from Max Lucado that says, ““Let God have you, and let God love you – and don’t be surprised if your heart begins to hear music you’ve never heard and your feet learn to dance as never before.” Embrace that and let God love you. And hold on to your faith, and let Him hold you back.
Love,
Megan
Dear Younger Me,
Fight like Jesus did. When your mind is overcome with doubt, shame, fear, and insert any other emotion here, do what Jesus did when He was led into the desert. When Satan challenged Jesus and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God…”, what if he was also making Jesus doubt who He was?
Yet, Jesus answered every challenge like this: “The Scriptures say…”
When the enemy comes to challenge you, remember to fight this way. There are several places in the Bible that command resisting the devil, being alert, and standing firm against his schemes. This is exactly what you should do, but sometimes trying to figure out how to resist and stand firm is exhausting and you end up at the point where you’re crying out to God, “I can’t think anymore – please just hold me now.”
But, Jesus’ way worked. He knew the Word, and He held to it in the trial. Not only did He hold to it, but He spoke it. So, fight like He did. Hold to the truth in God’s word and speak it!
When you’re insecure – The Scriptures say…I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
When you’re doubting – The Scriptures say…God will never fail you.
When you’re tired – The Scriptures say…God is your shelter and His promises protect you.
There’s no better way than to follow the example set by Jesus, and even more comforting to know that as you do what He did, you’re also speaking His word over you!
Love,
Megan