It's November. You guys know what that means, right?

It means I should be writing and I'm not. Well, I'm writing this blog post, but that doesn't count. I hope you people feel very honored that I took time out of my hectic writing/college/Facebook life to write to you.

Just kidding, I'm not that important of a person, but I do have a thought.

You guys all know that I'm a kinda religious person. Well, let's say it like it is, I can be kind of a Jesus Freak and I'm not ashamed about it. It's not a religion to me, it's a relationship between myself and the Creator of all things.

Now, I'm just kind of guessing here, but some of you are probably Christians yourself. Or you're Jewish. Or Catholic. Or maybe you don't even believe in God.

To any atheists, I ain't judging you, I promise. I respect that you haven't had the same kind of experience with God that I have had, and this post isn't really even about God.

It's about you. You, reading this right now. Yeah. What kind of image do you have?

It's kind of interesting if you think about it. Who are your friends? Who are the people who look at you every day? Who do you think you are? What kind of person are you? What kind of character do you have?

What is your image?

Everybody's got one, whether they think so or not. When you're different, people watch you.
For me, they stare at my skirt, they stare at my long hair, they see something different in me than they do the rest of the world.

And then there's that scary moment of realization that you are someone else's role model, or that other people look to you.

And trust me, someone is looking at you right now, and the choices you make can change their life.

I've recently been feeling kind of frustrated about some stuff. Mainly about me being scolded for stuff, remembering how someone talked to me about something, but then when someone else does the same thing that I did and that same person who talked to me is just like, "Meh, whatever."

Feels pretty annoying, right? I'm not the only who's ever had that, right? I'm not the only one who wonders, 'why me and not them?' right? Why am I the one who gets busted/talked to about this and not them?

I said this wasn't really about God, but I'm homeschooled. I learn Bible verses as part of my schoolwork. There's a verse in the book of Proverbs that says, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction." And then the next verse says, "For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." (Prov. 3:11-12, KJV)

Okay, so for all of the normal people who don't have to decode King James as a part of their schoolwork, this is what it basically says: "Dude, don't get so bent outta shape when you get corrected or disciplined by God, because God disciplines and corrects the people He loves, just like a dad disciplines and corrects his kid."

Make any sense?

Some of us are held to a higher standard because, whether we know it or not, we're actually leaders. It's our generation, not our parents' generation, who're one day gonna be ruling the world, making the next biggest scientific breakthroughs, becoming the next great missionaries, being the next greatest explorers.

We're all dreamers. Even you crazy-amazing, down to earth, practical people, you're dreamers too.

We can envision things, and we have the motivation and the resources to actually make those things happen.

You're more powerful than you think. You can accomplish whatever you set out to do, if you don't give up.

That's why the people who're in authority over you are either extremely restrictive or constantly scolding you. Because they know, they see that you're gonna exceed them, and if they're dumb then they might try to stifle you, but if they're wise they'll try to shape you into something amazing.

Don't resist the chastening and correction of the Lord, 'cuz He's trying to shape you into who you were created to be. Don't resist your teachers and parents and the others, try to learn from what they're telling you.

Even if you don't use what they teach you, you've learned how to submit.

This post is getting pretty long, but one last thing: Submission doesn't mean getting walked all over and doing everything someone is telling you to do. It's not blind or grudging obedience.

When you submit something to someone/thing/place, you're asking them to consider something.

When you submit to a person in authority over you, you're showing them that you value their opinion and that you think that they have the power to change something, and you let them speak into your life. (If you think I'm wrong, I will meet you in the comments section haha)

Anyways. Like I said earlier: It's November. I gotta go write my story.

'Til next time, guys. :)

--Sonya