I don't have to tell you that we are in different times than when our generation grew up.   I can tell you what a messed up teen I was, and the struggles I had to deal with included, sex, drugs, acceptance, abuse, bulleying, depresssion, lying, stealing and the list goes on.    I know this:  if God hadn't rescued me, I would not be here. There is an enemy out there, and he wants to destroy our future, our young people.  

The devil is real and his agenda is real too:

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

~1 Peter 5:8

I didn't know when I was growing up that there was an enemy that wanted to destroy me,  that this enemy wanted to steal my future.  More importantly,  I didn't know that there is was a God who loved me and understood my pain, who knew exactly where I was and how I got there.  That He wanted to help me out of my perdicament, and into the future He had originally for me, the one I missed; by my hurts, my habits and my hang-ups.

OUR FUTURE AT RISK

SUICIDE: 8.5% of students in grades 9-12 reported a suicide attempt in the past year.

BULLYING:  There are about 160,000 children that miss school every day out of fear of being bullied (2010 Statistic.)

PREGNANCY: 70 in every 1000 about 7%. Two-thirds of all U.S. teen pregnancies occur among 18–19-year-olds. The pregnancy rate for younger teens is almost 40 per 1,000 women aged 15–17, while the rate for teens aged 18–19 is nearly 120 per 1,000 women

DISJOINTED FAMILIES:  35% of all homes in the us are those being run by a single parent

DRUG DISTRUCTION:   A Columbia University report states that drug abuse amongst teens is the largest growing epidemic in America Study

BUT HOW DO WE AFFECT CHANGE?

We allow God to Heal us, to turn us around:

OUR PLAN:  

1.       Pray

2.       Take our burden and God's plan

3.       Invade our Schools

·         North Hollywood Highschool 

·         Ulysses S Grant Highschool

This sprint we plan present a panel to both of these schools and to propose that they allow us to bring an afterschool club called LHGH Life Hurts God Heals to the school.   We believe we can change our City, our Future we can change the face of these schools by bringing the best news I believe any hurting person could receive:  God Heals and He is willing to Heal you of your past and get you on to present and future victories.

LIFE HURTS, GOD HEALS

8 –Steps to Healing

8 Steps of Life Hurts God Heals that Could Change Your Life!

Step 1: Get Help

I admit that I am powerless and that I need help. Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor. (Matthew 5:3)

Step 2: Open Your Heart

I now know that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He is the only One who has the power to heal my pain. Happy are those who mourn. God will comfort them. (Matthew 5:4)

Step 3: Depend on Christ

I realize that I need to turn my life over to Christ. I need to depend on Him in all reas of my life, including all that I say, think and do. Happy are the humble. (Matthew 5:5)

Step 4: Hear and Speak

I agree to evaluate my life and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone whom I trust. Happy are the pure in heart. (Matthew 5:8)

Step 5: Embrace God's Way

I will stop doing things my way and put my life on the path that leads toward God's way. Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires. (Matthew 5:6)

Step 6: Ask for Forgiveness

I will offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me, and I will ask for forgiveness for any wrong I've done to others. Happy are the merciful. Happy are the peacemakers. (Matthew 5:7,9)

Step 7: Live for God

I will set aside some time for God each day to examine my life, read my Bible, and pray so that I have the power to live God's way. Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor. (Matthew 5:3)

Step 8: Share with Others

I will take the message that God heals to others in need and share it by my words and actions. Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires. (Matthew 5:10)

 Videos LHGH Check these out:

I beleieve its so easy to get off course in this life, we  have this inate ability to take life into our own hands rather than looking to our maker for purpose and direction.  What is interesting, we  often find ourselves complaining about the condition of our lives, the mess we are in, all without looking at how we got here.  

I know for me the how I get there often has been a process of taking the wheel from God and wanting to do it my way, you know,  living for my purposes, my plans which in itself would not be bad,  if I would invite God into all of them.   The Bible says that I should live life intentionally with a due sense of responsibility, as one with purpose:

Know the truth—let your life show it!

Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. ~ Ephesians 5:15

I think Paul found the answer:

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly  body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  ~Galatians 2:20

What a great verse, so what Paul is saying is this:   The life I lived before Christ, the one that wasn't working, is dead and the life I am supposed to live, the one in Christ has begun.   I have been enabled, empowered and enriched in this new life by my trusting in Christ.  And the power I  received, it came when He died for me and was resurrected to the right hand of God.   It’s that power which is at work in me to destroy the things of the old life.  That power that has the ability to help me overcome the plans and  schemes of the devil and to succeed in this present life. 

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.~ 1 John 5:5

This is a continual process, we need to do it daily 

Via, Veritas, Vita  (Jesus, the way, the truth, the life)   Live Life Intentionally -- Find Your Purpose In Christ

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Dear God, 

I have been in a big storm lately and it becomes easy to focus on the exterior things, when I look from the outside; often, the only thing I can see  is the wind, the rain and the waves crashing over me.  But it is then that this still small voice that whispers, "I am here, I am with you, I am in your boat."  Your words resonate in my mind " I will never leave nor forsake you;" and I find comfort in the words that you gave me below, on a most difficult day.   I use them to remind me that you are in my boat, that you have "good"  plans for me and my life, plans for a better life, better than the one I could plan for myself, that you see my tears, my struggles and my heart and not one misses your eye.                                                                      

Thank you for reminding me when you are in the boat there are certainties...

When the waters rise..
- and they will!
When the storms rage...
- and they will!
When there doesn't seem to be a way out..
- and there is!!!!

Just look for Jesus in your boat and know that where He is, there is an abundance of certainties.

Certain that you will get to your destination!
Certain that you will get there in one piece
Certain that you will get there stronger and better than when you began your journey

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. ~Isaiah 26:3

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