I love this time of year: there’s something really exciting about approaching a new school year. It feels new and clean and like anything could happen. There’s a feeling of possibility and hope that we don’t feel at any other time of the year.

I felt every single year of high school and college that if I was going to be a different person, then it would happen at the start of a new school year. Sure, I felt the anxiety of the unknown as well, but hope won out every time I woke up that first day of school.

I’m sure you know that a lot can change in just one school year. You can be a completely different person with completely different goals with completely different friends with completely different levels of spiritual strength from the start of a school year to the end of a school year. That can be good… and that can be bad.

The choice is yours. My hope and prayer for you, sweet girl, is that you will choose to become a better version of yourself than you start this year as.

But before you go into that new school year and before you start making the choices that will change who you are and what you love this year, you should know these four things:

1. Know that your spiritual strength is a choice. You are only as strong as the habits you make and habits only come by making daily choices. If you want to grow stronger in your faith, you need to make a choice every day that you want to be stronger. You’ll be given ample opportunities to let your spiritual growth go, but you have to make a deliberate, purposeful choice to prioritize your relationship with Jesus over every other small thing that comes your way. Your spiritual strength is your choice. God’s not up in Heaven looking for ways to catch us not reading His Word or not praying to Him before we start our day, but He is up there (and in us) hoping that we’ll choose Him first and that we’ll want our relationship with Him to get stronger. We know this is true because James tells us, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.”
2. Know that someone’s watching you. I recently heard a story told about a young Buddhist woman name Chloe who sat next to a girl named Sarah in math class. One day, she noticed that Sarah seemed different than she was a few days before — Sarah kind of had a glow about her and she seemed much happier than she had been before. Chloe asked Sarah if she got a boyfriend, but Sarah told her instead that she had received Jesus as her Saviour. Chloe scoffed, certain that her friend had her mind contorted or something to get caught up with Christians. Sarah assured Chloe that it was more about her new relationship with Christ than it was about just attending church services. Chloe watched Sarah for several weeks to see if Sarah would start acting like the other Christians in the school — the ones who went to church services on Sundays but then partied hard on Fridays and Saturdays. Sarah was different. So, Chloe finally asked Sarah to tell her how to become like her — she wanted to be happy. She wanted something different. The hypocrisy of the other Christians in Chloe & Sarah’s school kept Chloe for weeks from receiving Christ: the honest lifestyle of Sarah’s relationship with Christ convinced Chloe of the truth. If we want people to believe our truth, we have to live it out. James 1:22 tells us, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” You have to know that there are people at your school who are watching you live your life and make your choices: you are going to either drag this people to Hell with your hypocrisy or you are going to convince them of the truth of the Gospel.
3. Know that this year serves a purpose. You are going to face some really hard things this year, but if you know they’re coming, you can prepare for them. Everyone goes through tough days, but there’s a big difference between feeling alone while going through a pointless trial and feeling loved and strengthened by a God who walks with you through the hard things. If you find yourself facing an adversity or a heartbreak or a disappointment, please know that it serves a purpose in your direction and life. God is willing to redeem any hard thing you have and make it holy, any sad thing you have and make it joyful, any heartbreaking thing and make it healing. He’s here for you (and so are your spiritual leaders and family). Don’t allow yourself to waste your year wishing things could be different. Don’t allow yourself to waste your year regretting mistakes. Don’t allow yourself to waste your year angry at a choice someone else made. Know that this year serves a purpose for you.
4. Know that good friends make a big difference. When I first went away from home for college, I didn’t really try to make friends and I ended up really lonely for awhile. Eventually, a great group adopted me and I pulled out of my loneliness, but I wasted nearly three months feeling sorry for myself through all the hard things I faced because I didn’t have friends to face them with. If I had been willing to be more friendly or put my neck out there just a little bit, my first few months of that first school year could have been significantly easier and better. But I didn’t. Proverbs 12:25 tells us, “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.” Friends bring good words to make our hearts less heavy. Don’t make that mistake I did that year: know that your friends have a profound and lasting impact on your school year. If you don’t have a friend, be brave that first week (when a lot of other people are willing to be brave, too) and [make a friend]. Sit down with a stranger at lunch, talk to the girl who seems nice in math class, ask the really funny girl in PE if she wants to Netflix & chill at your house on Friday. Be brave. If you have friends but they’re not good ones, this is your time. New year, new you: branch out and get to know someone. There’s nothing wrong with leaving behind a friendship that’s not serving a positive purpose in your life. I’m going to say that again: there’s nothing wrong with leaving behind a friendship that’s not serving a positive purpose in your life. Friendship is supposed to make you a better person, not tie you down to people who aren’t kind or supportive.

This year will determine who you are and the direction your life will take: it counts. How it counts though is entirely up to what you do with what you know.

Father God, please bless the girl who is reading this devotional. Please lead her in Your ways and help her to honor You with her thoughts, choices, friendships, and desires this school year. Help her to become the better version of the woman You created her to become through Your power, Your Word, Your strength, and Your love. Help her to choose You above all else. Help her to know and apply the four truths we gave her today.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.