AO Teens

  Hello everyone! All of our current contributors made this collection of our favorite Bible verses. We are very excited to be able to share these treasures of God's Word with you. Thank you for reading and enjoy!!  Margaret’s: “He made Him Who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” --1 Corinthians 5:21 Isabella’s:  “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” --John 16:33   Dom's: “In peace I will lie down and sleep.” --Psalm 4:8 Lily’s: “Some put their trust in horses and some in chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”  --Psalm 20:6 Caleb’s: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” --James 1:2...

Romans 8:18-39  Hello everyone! We wanted to share this passage in Romans 8 with you because it has been very encouraging to us. Romans 8 is one of the most encouraging passages that you can find in your Bible, and a lot of it is very relatable to this whole pandemic. Most notably, verse 18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Paul could almost have time traveled to 2020 and then gone back and written that.  Verse 28, one of the most famous and most quoted passages in scripture, says “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” COVID is scary and sin is very real, but we know that all things--even this virus-- will work together for good.   “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all t...

  Hello! We’ve been wanting to do a post on frequently asked foster care questions for a while. We’ve both noticed that people often don’t know much about the system, and we want to help change that!   After asking around, 10 people had various questions that we did our best to answer. If you’re one of these people, thank you so much for asking them! They’re all really good questions, and some of them were hard to answer. We’re so sorry if they aren’t answered exactly the way you were picturing. With this topic, it’s often hard to answer straight-forwardly. If anyone has more questions for us, we’d be happy to answer them in a future post! Just leave them in the comments. We’d love to hear them! Thanks for reading!  Lily: Hello everyone! We’re so excited that we get to answer all of these amazing questions! Here’s a bit of background about my foster care experience before we begin. I told a lot about this in my Finding Joy in Grief testimony, which is a separate post tha...

  Hope through suffering Lamentations 1 Hey! Welcome to the first post talking about the book of the Bible Lamentations! We’re going to try to go through the whole book across the next few months, and we’re excited to have you join us. Lamentations was written after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians around 590 BC. The book is the prophet Jeremiah’s reflection on the destruction written in verse. There are 5 poems, each given one chapter.  Read Lamentations 1 then read the following :) Lamentations is possibly the most neglected book in the Old Testament. Most people avoid it because they think it’s depressing, or that there’s no hope in it, at all. But, if you take the time to read through it carefully, you’ll find that Lamentations is filled with hope. It’s also very easy to relate to, and apply to the times we live in today. Look at Lamentations 1:1a: “How lonely sits the city that was full of people!” This verse alone paints a picture that easil...

     1. Get your work done early. This is something that although it doesn’t seem necessary, is a really good way to make sure that your school gets finished. If you wait until later in the day to get your school done, you’ll be less focused and more prone to distraction.     2. A second vital thing is to find a place to do your school where you can be free from distractions. This can be accomplished many ways, but one good way to do it is negotiate with your siblings and work out an arrangement that lets them make noise and you do your school without much trouble     3. Sleeping well is an excellent way to make sure you are able to do your schoolwork well and efficiently. In order to accomplish this you’ll want to make a firm, solid, sleep schedule so that you can have a plan to sleep. If you can do this, you’ll find that you have a much easier time doing your work     4. On top of getting all your work done early, you’ll als...

"My Battle Cry" by Isabella Cole Sometimes I look at the world, and I wish I could get away. Wars are waged in the street, even inside the people I love. Children starving, people silenced, tortured for Christ. So many ignore it, some say it’s fine, but I refuse to make myself blind. This is my song, this is my battle cry: I refuse to leave hope behind. Sometimes I look at my country, and see how far we’ve come. But I also see something else: How much further we have to go. We shout the names of some causes, while others suffer alone. So many see it, others refuse. But I won’t stand by. This is my song, this is my battle cry: I refuse to leave hope behind. Sometimes I look at my town, and I hurt inside. People divided, suffering, not even a mile from me. I see their faces every day. Some smile in passing, but I can do more. So many forget, some say it’s not there, but I refuse to let the darkness win. This is my song, this is my battle cry: I refuse to leave hope behind. Some...

Hi everyone! I just wanted to mention that over the past month we've had four new contributors join this wonderful blog group!! Please welcome: ALAYNA CALEB CLARISSA and KARISSA! If you want to learn about our new contributors, please go to the About/Intros page at the top of the main screen. All four have added bios! We're all excited to see how God will work through them in this blog.  ~All sixteen contributors: Alayna, Bibba, Bella, Caleb, Charity, Clarissa, Dom, Hannah, Karissa, Layla, Lily, Mara, Margaret, Micah, Nate, and Randy 

    Hello everyone! During this time of distress and worry, prayer is an essential tool that we should be using daily. Prayer is not just folding our hands and closing our eyes; it’s talking with God. He is the one who is guiding you and protecting you, so he should be the one that you look to for help in your anxiety, not friends or family!  “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family on heaven and on earth derives its name.” ~Ephesians 3:14-15 Prayer is an amazing privilege that we often take for granted. When we pray, we are communicating with the God of creation who made the universe and who made us. He has given us free access to Himself and talking to Him should not be taken lightly. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ.” ~1 Thessalonians 5:17 On the flip side, God has called us His children. We can come to Him and tell Him anything and everything- He is our daddy...