This past Wednesday I was asked to sub for a teacher at church, and take over the 4th-6th grade girls class. I was super pumped! I love that age group and God has given me so much material for them already! I was planning on using a lesson I have already used in a similar situation but as we all know the Lord has different plans for us. So basically I just wanted to share with you what we did. If you are a teacher or an influence to young girls in any way then maybe this is something we all can use and work together on in being a constant reminder of God's love for them throughout their lives!
In my mind I was going to introduce a simple lesson of insecurity. What it is, what it looks like in our lives, who we allow to make us feel that way, and who we might be making feel that way as well. But the Lord turned it into so much more. He turned my whole simple insecurity lesson into a discussion about The Truth vs The Lie. He wanted those girls to recognize truth and recognize lies. He wanted them to start learning to hear HIS voice, over that of the Enemy. He wanted them to deal first hand with this idea of the good which is of God, and the bad which is of the Enemy. Remember, these are 4th through 6th grade girls, most of which this particular night were 4th and 5th graders. I was a little nervous about the idea of teaching them so early that we have an enemy who is out to kill, steal, and destroy. And that he starts while we are young, having us believe lies about ourselves and others, so that we might not only destroy ourselves in the fight for beauty and perfection but that we might also destroy those around us!
We did start the lesson with the definition of insecurity. We named examples of things we can be insecure about. Then we moved right into "what is truth?" and "what is a lie?" in which we discovered we have a God and we have the enemy of God. Then we specified that everything God says is truth and everything Satan does is lie. Then we played a game. Marked on slips of paper in a bag were things that were of God and things that were of the Enemy. Each girl pulled a slip of paper out and we got to discuss is this truth or is this a lie. For example, "Your freckles are so pretty"-Truth. "You need to lose some weight!"-of the enemy.
After this we read a love letter from our Prince, Jesus, so that we might see what He truly thinks about us. The Letter read:
"My Beautiful Bride,
You are so beautiful to Me. I wish for one moment that you could see what I see when I look at you. When I gaze at you, I see a treasure ready to be discovered, a princess ready to shine, a bride ready to be loved. When I look at you...I LOVE what I see! If you could grasp how beautiful you are in MY eyes, then you would never feel insecure again. The beauty I created you to be is a reflection of Me, My love. I created you in MY image, so never doubt again that your eternal beauty is a breath of Heaven!
Love,
Your adoring Prince"
After this we read Psalm 45:11
"For your Royal Husband delights in your Beauty. Honor Him, for He is your Lord."
It was interesting that even at a young age, this stirred something in the hearts of my girls. They picked out things that stood out to them and they were the same things that stood out to me and my 24 year old heart.
After the letter I passed out a worksheet God had me put together. On the first page were the statements:
1. I love my eyes because....
2. I love my ears because....
3. I love my mouth because....
4. I love my hands best when they are....
5. I love my feet best when they are....
In these exercise, the girls were to hold a mirror to themselves and really meditate and reflect on what they thing GOD is saying about each one of these things. And in the sentence, they were instructed to look past the physical and see what God might see. For example, "I love my eyes because they see the kids on the playground that nobody else will play with." Or, "I love my hands best when they are serving food to the homeless with my church." Things like that!
On the back page of the worksheet there was a list of people in their day to day life. They were to write down encouraging things that they might say to these people-in hopes of breaking the lies that Satan might be having them believe, and to instead, speak LIFE into them with words from the Lord.
The whole night with these precious girls was such a good reminder that we have got to start IMMEDIATELY speaking life into those around us, and helping those lost in the lies and bondage or the enemy to find their way to God's Truth and what He says and thinks about them. If this is not done in our daughters and sisters while they are young, then the enemy has the easiest time planting his own evil seeds in their heart and before you know it they are battling insecurity, body image problems, eating disorders, dysfunctional relationships with boys, drugs, premarital sex, and the list goes on and on. We, the women who have gone before, are in CHARGE of helping protect our little sisters in Christ. We are to educate them as well as pray for them and fight in the spiritual realm on their behalf. If we are not doing that Ladies of Christ, then we might as well hand them over to the Enemy on a silver platter.
In Him,
Meg
Meg
