Have you ever had someone be rude to you? Hi, my name is Brandy and I am co-founder of GC3. Ten years ago, my bestie and I were leading youth group and noticed the "mean girl syndrome." Know what I am talking about, girls? Girls being mean to other girls. It happens ALL THE TIME. And, it's happened for years. It happened to me.
Let me tell you about a story of when I was in school. I had a group of "friends" who told me that they knew a guy who thought I was just beautiful and wanted to be my boyfriend. Well, girls, I didn't have much self esteem so I thought that was the greatest thing ever. Some guy actually NOTICED ME!
I told my "friends" that he could call me. This was way back before cell phones and social media. If you wanted to call someone, it had to be from a phone connected to what they call a "jack" in the wall. If you were lucky enough, you got a cordless!
Well, the day came and I received a call from this "guy." We talked for hours. After several of those calls, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes. WHAT WAS I THINKING? I had never even met the guy! Boy, I had a lot to learn. But, I trusted my "friends." I mean after all, If I couldn't trust my friends, who could I trust?
There were many late night phone conversations. We didn't have snapchat, Instagram, or even Facebook! We talked to each other on a phone in our home. He told me a time or two he saw me playing softball. I would get excited but wonder why he never came up to me. Yet, I continued on because it felt good to have that attention.
And then it happened. One day my sister came up to me and told me that she had something to tell me. She apologized and went on to tell me that my "boyfriend" wasn't even a person. That my "friends" had made it up and disguised their voice on the phone so I would think I was talking to a guy. I was beyond humiliated. I don't know if I was more hurt that this "boyfriend" I had come to like wasn't even real or that my friends had developed this mean idea and hurt me.
And that is it; I was hurt. I was embarrassed because I actually believed them and fell for their nasty trick. After that, a wall gradually formed around my heart of trust. I was no longer able to believe anything my "friends" said. And, that wall wasn't just for those "friends," it blocked everyone. I had issues with trust for years.
Not being able to trust caused a lot of issues in my life. I wasn't able to fully appreciate a friend and when I had a boyfriend, it wasn't real. My inability to trust caused problems within our relationship. This went on for years, girls. Years that I cannot get back.
I was involved in church but It wasn't until I actually sought a relationship with Christ that I began to heal. When you are that hurt by your friends, unfortunately pretty much everyone pays for it. As I started searching verses in the Bible for promises of God, my hurt began to heal. I started putting my trust in God and not people. Not that you can't trust people, but your faith in God has to be strong enough to hold you up when someone does break your trust. That way you have something to lean on; something to remind you that no matter what people say or do to you, your identity lies in Christ.
God loves you so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus. Jesus loves you so much that instead of calling thousands of angels to come rescue Him from the cross, He chose to die so you can live.
There is enough hurt in this world without us hurting one another. Life is hard, girls. Don't make it harder. Be kind to each other.