Teen-Fortress.com

I've had some issues with my oldest sister (who i'll call Becky) because it felt like she abandoned my family when we needed as much help as we could get. It was when my mom got really sick all of a sudden -- in about three weeks she went from being completely fine to being bed ridden -- that she left. But not only did she leave us, she barely ever called, wouldn't let us know what was going on, turn her back on God, got into ALOT of bad stuff, etc. I don't mean to point out all her "evil" mistakes; i have my own junk as well, but I'll get to that later. Well, Christmas of 2009 she overdosed. She was in the I.C.U for two or three days, i think. Ever since then, i've been really struggling with anger . . .

Why couldn't she just come to us and ask for help? She used to be able to do that. Why didn't she love us enough to stay? And now, why does she keep breaking promises?

She's promised things. Now she's breaking those promises. It hurts so much. I've never been one to trust. Ever. So I don't know why this is such a big deal, you know? Why is this time any different than the others? Why can't I let go like everyone else? I have alot more junk than she does; drinking, smoking, eating disorder, etc . . I'm severely messed up, so what gives me the right to even think about staying angry with my sister? I want to let it go and I know God wants me too, but I've been having doubts with God -- I know He exists. No sane person could dismiss the fact that God is real. -- I've just been doubting whether or not He truly loves us, and if He does, why didn't just keep everything from happening? I mean, if God had intervened when Satan was tempting Eve, He wouldn't have had to die and go through hell to make a bridge for us. He could've just kept it  ALL from happening. I don't know . . . 

Emotional/Spiritually/Morally my sister is leaving us . . . ... . ... and it's hurting more than i thought it would.

So, just pray i guess.

Hey Members

Long time no see, huh? Yes, yes, I know. For the last several months I've kinda been neglecting this site... quite severely, actually. So to my trusty, active members, I sincerely apologize for that. 

As you guys know, things here were just getting so static, most of the members were very/completely inactive and the members who were the most enthusiastic and active here, were too busy to spend much time here at all either. And on top of that (and this made the situation feel so hopeless) I wasn't getting any new members at all! So, as I didn't know what to do, I kinda gave up for a bit.

Still, I knew I'd be back someday and I really hoped and prayed for that day to come soon, because I felt really lame knowing that my site, which was supposed to be a fun, active community site for teens, was just sitting there "gathering dust".

So eventually, God helped me to realize that I'd have to take this more seriously and really make some "investments". Of course, I'm just a kid, and I actually don't have any income of my own, not even allowance. So I struggled to find someone or some way that I could earn a steady income that I could use to pay for some kind of advertisement for the site. 

Little did I know, the answer was right under my nose... or in literal terms, right in my house.

You see, I didn't want to ask my parents for the money, because I knew that they were going through tough times financially, just like any other parents. But one day, in a fit of frustration over this whole thing, I spilled the beans about what was bothering me, and that I needed money.

I didn't want to ask her for much, so when she asked how much I needed, I just told her $10 per month would be enough. I'm so thankful that she was kind enough to offer me $20 per month, because I doubt that 10 bucks a month would have been enough to make much of a difference.

So that's what I'm working with right now, a simple $20 every month. But it goes a long way.

And you know, a couple days after my mom offered me the money, I ended up seeing this video of this guy who was talking about the work he'd been doing for God for some years. He was giving a testimony. And really, the amounts that he was talking about really make my $20 look like a grain of sand in an ocean or something.

But what I took away from his testimony, which was actually not so different to mine (except for the huge difference in the amounts), was this:

God has money. He has houses, He has cars, He has everything! And when He asks us to do something for Him, whether it's a simple website like this one, or a multi-billion-dollar project to save Africa, He will make a way if we just believe and have faith that He will.

PS. Look out for some small changes in the upcoming days. Of course the biggest change will be that from now on I'll be spending much more time here working towards a bigger, better site and community!