Triumph: week two

welcome back to triumph: week two! if you missed last week or want more info on what this is click here to see triumph: week one. to submit YOUR story to be featured fill out the link here!

this week is all about friendships and there is some serious wisdom in here. give it a read below:

lindsey

false label: you are alone

Jesus label: the Lord is always with you

Throughout a big part of my high school career I have felt a weight of loneliness. Friendships and relationships have failed and ended leaving me with with a broken heart and a mindset that I was completely alone and wanted by no one. The Lord, however, thinks differently. Through a long journey of basically three years, the Lord has taught me to be strong in the struggle and know that even in the darkness moments, He is always near. His presence is unending. By the end of my junior year, the Lord took that loneliness and turned it into something beautiful. He taught me to confident on my own and taught me the freedom of indepency and individuality. It’s help shaped me to be who I am today and has
also taught me to treat people with care and appreciate the friends who have always been there and will always be there. quality over quantity. Jesus is grand.

elizabeth

false label: overbearing

Jesus label: caring

one way through this time of feeling “overbearing” was through the people around me, mostly children. i have been drawn to working with kids for years (because truly i am a kid at heart) and i love how radiant and untouchable they are to the labels that are used. even when someone says something mean to them they don’t hold onto for very long. i envy youth, i would love to be at that place again where what people said didn’t ruin my day.
when working with children, they are dependent on you and for the most part, they love being loved on by you. i was able to mask the feeling of being “overbearing” by truly seeing how kids responded to who i am.
i also recently spent the summer at a church camp where we center our identity, our identity in Christ, and being able to see ourselves that way. that was really when the weight feeling “overbearing” was lifted off of my shoulders. God really does work unbelievable wonders.

catherine

false label: Fear that I can not be enough for that friendship, or fearing that those friendships would somehow be taken away, whether they abandon me or get annoyed of me or somehow end up hating me.

Jesus label: That relationships are important but none of the friendships will ever compare or fulfill you like Jesus will. God shows his love in much mightier ways then human relationships and friendships are so much stronger when God is the center.

I went through a time of life last year where I lost a lot of friends. It was for many reasons, but mostly just for standing up in what I believe in. It was hard to think that something so hard and painful could come from something that I thought was right. God showed me through that time of life that there will always be disappointments in friendships, relationships and so much more so if we have those “Worldly” things as our foundations our whole life will crumble from relying on unreliable things. God taught me to always have him and only him as my foundation & to build things in life from him and if those things don’t go my way I can always depend on Christ to be there because he can never be taken away from us.

caroline

false label: that i was not a good friend and that people didn’t want to be my friend and that i was selfish

Jesus label: i am a good friend and god put me in peoples lives for a reasons and i am portraying gods love in all that i do

i had some friend issues at the beginning of high school and me and a friend really drifted apart and had a big falling out my best friend and i stopped being friends i really second guess who i was and why i couldn’t be her friend and then i was being left out by 3 other girls who i thought were my best friends i took some time for myself and just really reflected and told myself that i was good enough my 3 friends and i become best friends againa and after a few years my other friend and i become friends again we actually have become pretty good friends now! i still struggle with feeling loved by friends and being accepted but i’ve learned that in those times i really need to lean on the lord and especially with my acl tear i felt unloved and that my friends weren’t suppprting me but i realized that the lord was supporting me and it happens for a reason and all i needed was to communicate to my friends how i was feeling and it has gotten a little better i still struggle with feeling alone sometimes but i have this one friend that is in another grade that had really been a huge encourager in my life and it has been such a blessing and i know god put her in my life for a reasons!! if this makes no sense lol just text me:) also just wanted to say that your awesome and so encouraging and my sister has loved getting to know you this year.

abby

false label: second best

Jesus label: chosen

In middle school God changed my outlook on life. Up until middle school I’d had a lot of friends, but things changed and everyone ended up spreading out to different schools. At the same time I started dealing with anxiety/ anxiety attacks, and I felt like a lot of people saw me as “second-best”. If none of their other friends were there then they would hang with me. I didn’t fully realized how much that lie was ingrained into me until this past year (I’m a senior so yeah it took me forever to realize this) and it shocked me. I held onto friendships too tightly and it was so hard for me to let go of friendships even if they were toxic because friendships were a large part of my worth. I want to feel wanted by people and I have tried to put my identity in that for so many years. People will never fill you up, even if they are super strong Christians. God has been showing me over the past year through different circumstances with friends, that he is the one who will ALWAYS choose me. He loves us beyond what we could imagine, and we are his beloved. He will never fail me, and to him, I will never be second best.

mason

false label: “He’s not popular or cool “

Jesus label: I am pretty cool and I don’t care about popularity

I try my best not to worry about what other people say about me. I just do me and continue being as happy as I can. When people socially shut me out I just smile and keep doin me cause that’s what makes me happy.

kaylyn

false label: too much, and not enough at the same time

Jesus label: perfect exactly how god made me

as a high school student, especially a girl, i feel like there’s a pressure to have a large friend group + a boyfriend. i go to a really small school (120 in the whole high school), + my options are limited for people to hang out with. all my friends go to a different school or are a grade above me. when i do spend time with the people at school, i feel like i don’t fit in. i’m too independent, too strong, too “christian”. or i feel the complete opposite, like i’m not funny enough, not pretty enough. i overthink everything and end up making myself feel unloved.

but lately god has really been speaking to me, through my lovely best friend + my devos. he has shown me that i don’t have to be good enough for those people, or really anyone else for that matter. i am perfect to the creator of the universe, + that is all that i need to be. i may not be enough, but jesus has filled me up in a way that makes me whole. he’s also shown me that this is not it, this is not everything god has in store for me. there is so much time to form relationships that will last + so many opportunities that i will get. not everything has to be perfect in high school.