At what time in your life do you go through the most challenges and make the most decisions? If you answered during the teenage years, then you are right. From age 13 to 19, you the childhood era and enter into a period of life when you have to make major decisions on your own. Since you have very little experience, this can really be stressful.

You start asking yourself questions that never concerned you before. Questions like who am I, why am I here, what is life all about, how do I respond to these strange emotions that I feel, …, …? These questions may appear simple and reasonable, but when it is all new to you, and so many people are saying so many different things, then these simple questions seem impossible to answer.

I have spent many years observing teens (I have several of the strange creatures living in my home). One thing I’ve noticed is that they tend to be either way up high or super low. They have trouble finding that place of balance where they can truly say, "This is me, take it or leave it."

Let’s say you make a wrong decision that makes you feel really dumb. You feel like it’s the end. But going in a shell is not going to help anything. You may find this hard to believe, but I make bad decisions sometimes myself. I may feel bad for a second or two, but I never crash and burn over it.

You see, the only difference between me and you is that I have been around long enough to know that lows don’t last forever. If you just hang in there long enough, things will work out. Since you haven’t been through many experiences, you tend to hurt deeper when you make mistakes. But if you patiently wait and pray, God will help you feel better. He is just waiting on you to allow Him to help you make right decision, yet He will never turn His back on you if you mess things up.

Maybe you are angry with your parents or a friend. Before you say or do something crazy, close your eyes and quietly whisper a prayer. Jesus didn’t come to give you misery, but life more abundantly (see John 10:10). He doesn’t want you broken and desponded. He alone can fill the missing pieces in your life. Give Jesus a chance to assist you through the low times, and help you learn through your mistakes.

By: Edmund Brown