different

most people who know me, know i want to be a psychologist. it's small talk conversation, "so where do you want to go to school?" -Waterloo "what are you planning on taking there?" -psychology. but thought most people know what i want to do, very few know why. there's the surface stuff like, "oh i want to help people" or "i find it very interesting" or whatever other reason there may be. and then there's the real reason; the root of my life and identity. why do i really want to be youth counsellor? i guess you'll have to ask me to find out...
but i will say one thing- i DO want to help people. it weighs heavily on my heart to know that there are teens out there struggling with things like depression, eating disorders, suicide, drug addiction, and abuse. the reason i want to help people other than the obvious? because society (though it tries to portray itself as accepting) looks down on struggling teens and tells them that they don't have a chance. you can't make it.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." [1Corinthians 15:10]
Okay, somebody needs to sing along with Kermit, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Why is it we always compare ourselves to others? We look around our school and think, "She's a better athlete, he's a better student, she's prettier, he has more money." The we go to church and do the same thing. "She's holier than I am, he knows the Scripture better, she goes to Bible study more often than I do, he sings in the choir." But God doesn't make inferior products (i.e., you and me). God makes treasures. Of all that God created, he loves us the most. Every time you think you don't measure up you're telling him, "Sorry, God, You dropped the ball on this one." Is that something you want to say to the one who created the universe?
The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly inpertinent they are. "Oh, I shouldn't like to say I am sanctified; I'm not a saint." Say that before God; and it means -"No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are chances I have not had; so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn't possible." That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
Thank God for what he has made- YOU! Take a look at the flat-out blessing you are, and stand up and thanks God for you. You're worth it.

That's what i want to do. tell teens that they're worth it, that they aren't a screw up. one mistake shouldn't haunt you for a lifetime- i believe in second chances, and third and fourth, and hundredth. God does too. forgivness isn't something you measure out. forgivness is something you give without thinking of how much it will cost you. i think forgivness is a form of love. it takes love to forgive, it takes a love for other people and a willingness to let go of how badly they hurt you. why do i want to be a psychologist? so that when the world looks down on someone and tells them that they don't have a chance, i will look them in the eye and show them that they are loved. proving that to other people starts within yourself. God made you just the way he wanted to. God doen't make mistakes, or screw-ups, or losers. the world makes us that. but the thing is, God is bigger, stronger and more loving than the world- he created it didn't he? if people keep telling you that you can't do it you eventually start to believe it and that is where hope is lost. when other people give up on hope, we start to give up on ourselves. But we don't have to. a hundred people can tell you you can't make it, but it only takes one to tell you you can and have you believe it. I want to give people hope. maybe i can bring God into it, maybe i can't. but either way, i'll be helping people. don't let the world make you what it wants you to be, don't let it set you up to fail. but more than that, don't compare yourself to others. who wants to be the same? you are YOU. God made you that way, whether you believe it or not. we always look at other people and say "i wish i was more..." but we're not meant to be that. we are what we are for a reason. if we all had the same abilites then how could we help oneanother? if everyone was an amazing guitar player, there couldn't be any guitar teachers. of we were all amazing Christians, how could we have mentors? how could we grow and learn and discover?
sometimes (not all the time) our faults are what make us who we are. the hard times in life have shaped my identity. striving to become better (not like other people, but more like ME) has made me who i am today. my faults, the mistakes i've made and the hard times i've gone through make me ME. something that everyone else told me would bring me down, brought me up and helped me discover that i wanted to be a psychologist. my apparent flaws, have come to be the things i love the most. don't change for anyone else, change for God and for yourself. don't let other people tell you who to be, or how far you can go. there is no limit to what you can become.

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." ~Psalm 139:14
" I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Phillipians 4:13