Pure Heart Girls & a freebie!!

If there is ANYONE on this planet who feels more unequipped to lead a bunch of teenage girls.... let me just be the first to tell you....  IT IS ME!!  I teach 7th grade reading, and with that being said, you are correct in assuming that I feel comfortable around those strange creatures known as pre-teens...  tweens if you will.  But being comfortable around a mixed group of 11-13 year olds in a classroom, where I am required to talk about things like theme, and setting, and summary, or main idea, or why Katniss volunteered for tribute is easy.  Leading teenagers to Christ?  My knees start to buckle.

So, back in August, I was approached at the beginning of the year by a precious sweet girl.  She came in with a flock of friends and asked if The Pure Heart Girls could meet in my classroom after school a few times a month.   Before I could even think.... I heard the word "SURE!" come out of my mouth.  I then immediately thought..... what have I gotten myself into????  So I tried to find something age appropriate for our first meeting. 

How do you minister to tween girls... in a public school???  I wasn't sure of my boundaries.  I didn't have any good devotionals or studies we could follow so I turned to an unequipped girls best friend.... google.... um, after praying, of course.

This is one of the first things I found.  I must have watched it 5 times before I saved the link to show the girls.  It is such a powerful message.

We watched this video the very first meeting that we had.  If you have daughters, I would encourage you to watch it.  I beg you to watch it... "more than the price tag on their clothes ... or the followers they have on twitter ... regardless of who they think they are ... whether they are on the hot list or the not list ... the reality is that they are powerful, and strong, and capable."  When I'm having a really bad hair day, I need to remember to come back and watch this again!

I also had remembered reading about a young group of girls who met at someone's house, and I could not for the LIFE of me remember the website or what they called the girls.  And just as I sat down to start searching appropriate devotions... to the glory of God wouldn't you know it... the name just popped in my head.  The Balcony Girls!  Isn't that awesome how God works like that!  It was just another reminder that I had made the right decision to be a part of these sweet young ladies' lives.  And I am really so deeply humbled and honored that God chose me to whisper His truth into their hearts.  So I used a lot of what The Balcony Girls do to talk about virtues, and girl-type relationship issues for our first few meetings, and it has proven to be a huge hit!  I will more than likely buy their e-books... and I will keep blogging about our meetings!

There's always lots of giggling and laughter and games and red punch and oreos and chips and dip and fellowship and it is ALWAYS amazing.  They are UUUUUhhhhhh-mazing.  We meet for about an hour and talk about what it means to be "A Pure Heart Girl"... saving yourself for your husband, for marriage and I muddle my way through the awkward conversations and gently remind them for the REALLY tough questions that they should probably ask their parents.

We watched the video above, and they sat mesmorized.  The next meeting, as the girls came in, they all wrote down questions that they had about God, about The Bible... and for a solid hour, we talked about salvation, people in the bible, families, and hard situations, and before leaving we joined hands in a circle and prayed.  Yall.  It moved me tears to listen to these girls pray for each other, and our school, and our teachers, and future relationships, and for healing, and a whole array of social issues that flowed out of their hearts to the cross of Jesus. 

Just a few of The Pure Heart Girls who collected toiletries for a local women's shelter.

So I really want to do something special for these girls.  When I look over all of my regrets in my life, I think that the times that I veered off course is partly due to not having God's word tucked away in my heart.  I really want to have The Full Armor of God so that I can take a stand... but more than anything, I want to teach them the importance of knowing God's word.  I want for them to be so overwhelmed by God's love for them, that they will know in their darkest hours that he is light.  I want them know that when they are stressed out and unsure and pressured, that they can lean on Christ.  I never want them to doubt that whatever happens, they can draw from the well of mercy and grace. 

Starting this spring semester, The Pure Heart Girls will be creating journals.  Not just ordinary journals, but journals where they will hopefully find the beauty of God's word (thank you Ann Voskamp for the mighty inspiration).  A journal to keep memory scriptures, and favorite verses, and maybe a few notes from The Balcony Girls Books.  I picked out ten scriptures that we are going to memorize.  Each week  when we meet, we will paste God's word into our journal and have a small devotion about it!  I want God's word to be beautiful to these girls... and me.  I want them to believe God's word...  "What is beautiful in our lives is what actually becomes the most useful in our lives. We are drawn to beauty and Jesus is the Most Beautiful — so hang up His words as art."  Ann Voskamp

So by the end of the school year, we will have {hopefully} memorized ten of the most beautiful scriptures in God's Words.  Would you like to join us?  I'm including the ten verses below as we are using them.

.... I will keep adding these as I make them!  Feel free to share them, print them, hang them wherever you need a reminder of the beauty of God's word!