1 Timothy 4:12

This verse comes to my mind so very often as there are so many applications for it. It came to mind this morning as I was thinking about the church that we're now attending and the one we previously attended. When I began attending what I'm going to refer to as "the 1st church" (even though it technically isn't, but some people will know which church I'm talking about), it was shortly after Jesse and I began dating, so that made that transition difficult to begin with. I had only had one real year of youth group at WR before we changed churches, and I had been able to go on the Mission's trip. At the 1st church they had just begun a youth group and it was much smaller, as was the attendance at the church itself. It was such a big change and there were immediate difficulties between myself and the youth pastor and his wife. One of the main things was that they continuously said that "high school relationships don't work" which was contradictory to their own relationship. While they had not "dated" in high school, they were well aware of each other's feelings during that time. They also would speak often about the previous church and youth group that they came from and made it seem as though that was the greatest youth group ever. I will say that I've heard that this toned down and they rarely reference this youth group now, but I cannot speak about that, as that was not my experience. As this church was small, there was no college group or young marrieds class, so you went directly from the youth group into the adult Sunday school. When I began my senior year, Jesse was informed that he would not be able to continue to attend the youth group with me. He was the only college student attending this church at this time. (A main reason for this to be a "problem", is that when the youth pastor's wife's sister would come back from college, she would be allowed to sit in during our Sunday School time) Therefore, my senior year during youth group, we both sat in on Prayer Meeting on Wednesday nights. To say that I didn't learn anything during my time in Prayer Meeting would be a lie, but it was not ideal, as I wanted to participate in youth group, as I really believe in it. I would be remiss to mention that after Jesse and I got married, the rules apparently changed, as many of the college kids were able to hang out during youth group as well. Many of the issues that I have is just the lack of consistency with the rules especially when they applied to us.

After we got married, there was still no young married class. We used to skip SS and just go to church. When Olivia was born, there were only 3-4 other kids that were nursery age and we knew that when Olivia was old enough to go to SS we'd definitely need to start looking for another church. And we did.

The children's program's are the main reason that we are at WR right now. There are a lot of kids that are the same age as both of our kids and the program's in and of themselves are very good. While I'm content for the kid's sakes, I am not necessarily content for myself. I don't feel as though the SS class that we're in is where I really fit in. The young marrieds class that Pastor did for awhile wasn't the fit either, as only one other couple had children. I realize that being as young as we are and having kids might be part of the "problem". Keep in mind that it's not a problem for me, just maybe for other people. The SS class we're in now is very full of "cliques" and if you're not in one of them now, you won't be later either. This is not just my opinion either as I've heard it from others, and I realize that this might be controversial, and I'm okay with that. These are just my experiences. I know Olivia's happy in her class and that is what matters to me.

This also applies to many people who see me out in public with 1 or both of the kids, as I look 12. I know I look young and I'm aware that I am technically young, however, I'm much more mature than most people my age (as I've been told), but don't look at me and judge me because you think that I must be a single mother. That's just ridiculous. And that's happened. When I was at the doctor while pregnant with Olivia, one nurse looked down upon me because she thought I was young, single, and pregnant. I couldn't wear my wedding ring at that time, and when I mentioned "my husband", her whole demeanor towards me changed.

1 Timothy 4:12
"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."