With a new school year, a new start, but friends depart.

And we’ve led our whole lives together, but suddenly we’re taking different paths from each other.

And I realize, we’re all growing up and moving on, but some are being lured in by the secular world’s deceptive song.

See, I used to struggle, strive, and seek just to get a peak at having my own act together and being a part of the real world.

But then Jesus broke in and redefined me; brought me out of sin.

Now it hurts, that we don’t really relate because you’re too caught up with chasing after the bait.

You’re putting on a face just to keep up with the pace of this group of Christians who confess they’re living for HIM.

Don’t keep distorting the Church just to fit your little picture, ‘cause it’s more – a servant’s sacrifice – not just a weekly lecture.

Every time at youth group, you just nod and say amen! But then you go right on and sin again.

Without any conviction, you’re just living in fiction, you haven’t allowed the One, TRUE God to penetrate your heart and allow your whole LIFE to start!

It’s like you’re repeating history, but c’mon, it’s no big mystery that you’re choosing to live in sin and you just keep…giving…in.

It’s like my world is shattering all around me, and I keep cutting my feet on the glass; broken sheets.

Bottled up depression, I’m hiding it from my God though a threatening explosion could reveal my true struggle.

But then I discover that not only are friendships falling apart, but ugly, sinful patterns in their lives have begun to start. My world is whirling, doubts and fears my demons are hurling.

I didn’t realize it was this bad. I knew some had fallen away and strayed, but in my own defense, I shrunk away into a protective shell.

I tried to numb it with my own prescription, drowning out fear with dramatic description.

Eyes glaze over, I slowly lose perspective; blinding myself from the real world in view subjective.

Is this really happening?

These reoccurring trials, my soul are saddening. It’s like my name’s Aurora and I’ve been sleepin for a hundred years.

When I finally woke up, I expected everything to be the same, but instead I collapsed in tears.

Childhood friends, friends like family, family closer than any brother, have fallen deep into sin’s trap, caught and blinded just like I was. I have risen with Christ but failed to realize that some were stuck in vices.

My soul cries out, not a sound, but within a SHOUT! Like a tiny wooden wall retaining a whole ocean, my dam is so weak it threatens to release all my emotions.

And then this aching in my chest came when my faith was put to the test and I was swallowed up in sorrow, just praying for a better tomorrow. But when tomorrow became today, under waves of burdens my body still lay. I’m breathing, but I feel like a stack of bricks is on my chest; it’s like they’re insignificant, my efforts BEST.

As a deer pants for water, so my soul longs for you. But my soul, she lifted up in prayer, and grace and peace finally fell upon me in layers and I had hope again.

My burden was lifted, but I surely understood the Father’s heart.

Sin penetrates deeper than any bullet and when you place your finger on the trigger and pull it, it doesn’t just kick you back but the shrapnel hits my heart. It grieves Jesus to see His dear children rejecting Him and hurting themselves and others in the process. He sees your heart and your motives and your pain and the addictions that hold you captive. But He has already been wounded for every one of these and offers you a way out.

Ya know Jesus said, ‘Hey! You don’t have to be afraid ‘cause on that instrument of TORTURE, your punishment was paid for, and every single sin was laid and LIFE, new LIFE I gave. So don’t keep your head to the ground wondering where is your crowd, ‘cause you cannot be proud, for God gives, to the humble, the crowns.

I prayed for you. I prayed that the news, the message would get through. I told my Father I loved Him but loved you too and wondered how I could serve you. But He commanded me to feed His sheep. I know each and every one of you belong to Him, and are so precious. He will seek after just ONE SINGLE little lamb if you are lost and so He has recruited me to love you, no matter the cost.

I want you to see the gift of living in Jesus, living confident and free.

I want you to push past this superficiality and live the fullness of the Spirit in reality.

And don’t keep pushing for mediocrity and compliance, trying to rebel against your boundaries in defiance.

‘Cause you’re not doing anything new, just following wherever the crowd leads. Just nodding your head with whatever your friends say. But I desperately want you to see that there is ONE way, through Jesus, and He satisfies.

We’re just shadows of something beautiful, but we still shine brighter in Jesus than any spectacle.

You see, we need more truth Sayers and less truth slayers.

Step up, be different, be courageous because when you do that, He will make you victorious!

Speak out for those in need and don’t be so caught up in when you can go smoke some weed or try in any other way to live the high life.

It’s not worth it. It doesn’t last. Your life is not your own. You were made for a purpose. And believe me, when you start to live for someone other than that special girl or boy, you get such fullness of joy!

I know there will be a day when all the beloved are gathered, and amongst them will be some of my dear ones, now struggling and scattered, but then before Him shattered in their own weakness but whole in Jesus.
And my words are worthless; they’re just dust, made up. But I pray God will convict you of these things because He has a heart for you.