The Teen Yesteryear

If only I knew then, what I know now; I'm sure others can
relate to these words.
The sad thing is, we can't go back into the past and start over.
Once we move ahead into tomorrow, there's no turning back.
I wrongly thought I had all the time in the world.  Things went by
alot faster than it seemed.  Before I knew it, adulthood was upon me.
Finding myself no longer part of the teenage generation, made
me know I can no longer be a part of them; it was a sad disappointment.
How odd it is that when a teen, we're anxious to become adults.
And once there, it's much like wanting something, isn't the same as
actually having.

<>
The Glory Years

I was the kind of guy who use to sit in the classroom and daydream
about falling in love, with some girl.  I thought I had plenty of time
to make the love connection.  By the time, I decided to do
something about making my feelings known to the girl of my
dreams, I didn't realize I came in too late.  Even though what
she wrote in the yearbook was hopeful, the blonde guy she was
presently with- should of been a bad sign.   For when I had to
unexpectedly move away, into another state, he had the bad
advantage to convince her away from me.  The letter crushed
me deeply, that I never got over my loss of her.
Even though they say, time heals all things...
the scars remind with us still.


<>While At Home< style="text-decoration: underline;">

When I lived with my Dad, things were hectic because of my
Step-mother.  While my step-sister lived like royalty, my brother
and I were less, like Cinderella.  As if the Lord went through me,
I pointed unknowingly in an eastern direction and said, Oneday,
I'll be over there.  Sure enough I was correct; I ended up living
with my Grandparents, in another state.

<>Confrontation With Evil Forwarned

When I first went to live with my Grandparents, my Grandma
told me that the house she lives in, was once a Pastors home.
It was said that God and Satan were fighting over souls of
others there.  I didn't rule out what she said, but kept it in mind.

<>Meditating On The Word

I began to meditate on the Scriptures, from the Bible,
in my bedroom alot.  I found that the more I got into reading
the Word, the more things became crystal clear for me.
That I wondered why I stayed away from it so much.
The best way I can describe getting passed the I don't
understand it problem, is think of the Bible as like a
relationship; the more you get into reading it, the more
it begins to open up to you.  And much like a relationship,
take your time and try not to rush.  Before reading the
Bible, clear your thoughts of other things, so that you
can easily gain divine insight.
<>A Glimpse Taste Of Heaven

 Once I asked the Lord if He'd give me a taste of what it
would be like to be in Heaven.  The next thing I knew, I began to
experience a sensation that I never felt before.  It was like the
highest happiness one could ever experience.  It was a
blissful happiness.  A feeling that wouldn't ever leave you.
 Unlike the happiness experienced in life, which seems to drag,
<>as if running on batteries.  The happiness  I experienced for
a brief moment was something a person just couldn't get
over.  I believe such lasting sensation came from the
Holy Spirit.  All that mattered is getting caught up in the
presence of the Lord and wanting to keep Praising Him.
Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16  A joy that rejoices evermore
<>My Second Encounter With Satan

It seemed like no sooner that I got in bed and turned on the fan,
which was standing on a chair, on the left side of the bed, that I
noticed something odd.  The fan started running faster than the
fastest speed it was already set at.  The next thing I knew, I felt
this strong invisible force pushing my head back down onto the
pillow.  As I looked up, I saw a black bubbly cloud come down
over the front of my face, like a trap door on a floor closing.
There were objects in it that I couldn't quite make out, even
though I know things were there.  It was like there was a blind
side in seeing.  I figured it must of been somekind of
subliminal thing.  As soon as all this happen, I just took a
glimpse of whatever it was and then I rolled out of the bed, as
to escape whatever it was.
Much like when I first encountered Satan as a child, there
was this dead peace or stillness all around, in which no one
in the house could be aware of something going on.  I was
also sleeping upstairs in a bedroom all alone.  With no
nightlite or lamplight on.  The room was dark, with the outside
street lights being the only light source.


The next thing I knew, Satan darted out of the closest at the
right end of my bed.  Nobody could fit in that closest, because
when I checked it the next morning, I saw it had shelves
that were too close together and reached close up to the door,
that it would be impossible for anyone to fit in it.
Once Satan came out of the closest, I saw the same dark
silhouette of a man like I saw when I was a child.  He was so dark
that the darkest black person couldn't compare to this.  It was like
looking at a dark void, like nothing was there.  You couldn't make
out no features even.  Never saying
a word to me, he continued to go out of the room.  It seemed
like hoofs walking across the wooden floor.
At this point I was so terrified, that I felt like I could of died right
then from a heart attack.  I wanted to scream out for help, but
I lost my voice.  No matter how much I tried to speak,
nothing would come out.  With first sight of him, I grabbed my
white bed sheet cover, with both hands and pulled it up in front
of myself, like for protection.
I never saw Satan unlatch the door lock or grasp the door knob, in
opening the bedroom door.  It was like he defied everything.
I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night and became ever
watchful.
By the next morning, I told my grandma what happened.  She
thought I was  silly and were just dreaming.  My mother was
the only one I could turn to.  Since there were no experts
around to help me on this, all I could do is just tuck it under
my hat.
I believe I was at the very age (16 yrs.) in which Satan threaten to
have my soul.
<>Satan Got to Others

Satan didn't stop in what he just did in frightening the daylights out
of me.  Other things began to happen.  While my second oldest
sister was in the attic, checking out stuff stored in there, she
began to feel something that scared her right out of there.
When I asked her about it, she said that whatever it was,
wasn't good.  Like an invisible presence of someone.
This happened during the day.
But what my grandma experienced was during the night, when
everyone is asleep.  All except an elderly lady, that my
grandma was taking care of, who happen to be using the bedroom
bathroom at the time.  My grandma and mother was awaken
by what sounded like the elderly lady making deals with the
devil in getting more souls, of others.  When my grandma
verbally put a stop to it, they said you could hear the
Devil laughing.
In hanging around my friend one evening, near his former
residence, we both spotted something near a big tree.
It was located behind where he once lived, but close to
the left corner of the house.  I first thought it might be
a large black trash bag hanging from a limb.  Whatever it
was seemed odd or something not right.  As he started
 to go get a closer look, in moving slowly toward it, I
didn't like the feeling that it might be a hidden Satan trap.
It seem to look like a larger version of what hovered over
my face before Satan exited the closest.
So, before I had a chance to call him back away from it,
it was like his thoughts about it seemed as distrusting as mine.
After running back to where I was standing on the road,
he told me that he had encounter something like it years
ago.  I was told that oneday, while he was digging in the
ground with some shovel, he heard a voice that said, " Stop
picking at me, leave me alone."  I told him, I certainly wouldn't
of continued and would exited quickly, never to go back to
wherever it was again.  He replied back, letting me know
that's exactly what he did.
<>Other Satan Encounters

I had learned around when I was at the age of 12, that my
step-sister once had a slumber party and at bedtime hours,
in which her and her girl-friends were sleeping in one bed,
a dark silouette of a man stood at the very end of that bed.
Never saying a word it finally left.  My step-sister mistakened it
for one of the uncles she knew, as she was sure it was him.
I believe my brother once saw a dark silouette of a bird up
at the ceiling once, in his early adult life.
At one Pow Wow chat, I learned through conversing with another,
that the person knew someone who claimed to have seen Satan
  in the some woods.  All I found out was that Satan was as dark
as I experienced.
<>In Praying For Others

Near the end of my High School years, I was also going to
some Training School.  I didn't think that it would happen, but I
ended up witnessing something that made me see how easily
the Forces of Evil can stir things up, to go wrong.  That even the
very persons affected don't realize it.
With the teacher out of the room, I saw one student approach another
in wanting to be at something first.  It was about to turn into
a fight.  As the one, who was trying to force the other out, started to
double and raise his fist.  Right then, I felt suddenly  moved to go into the
storage room and pray about it.  As soon as I said the word Amen, I ran
out quickly to see how everything was.  Much to my surprise, the anger
 that was in both of them was suddenly gone.  One said to the other,
   "What were we doing?" And the other one replied back, saying,
 "I don't know, lets get back to work."
After that, I realized the importance of praying for things, right
when things are going wrong and not to wait til later.  For doing so later
would be too late, as the damage would already be done.
Pray can cover a great many things that goes wrong in life.
<>Praying When Trouble Knocks

While talking with a couple of girls at High School, one guy approached
me out of the blue, in a way I didn't expect.  He was mad at me, out of jealously,
because I had had no problem in talking with the opposite sex.  If only he knew,
it's so easily when being friendly than the object of ones heart.  Before
he could strike up a fight with me over such, I called up the Lord to
help me, in the quietness of my thoughts.  Whatever I was feeling
in my thoughts went blank.  I felt nothing emotionally too.  Then the
male student before had a sudden change come over him.  He became
in a happy way and he said "We're friends, aren't we?"  And I said
"Yes we are!"  We both then, walked to our classes like the best of
buddies.


  My Best Advice To Teens
 
Don't take things for granted;
your friends won't always be there.

When someone says they loves you, make sure they do.

Don't convince yourself into believing someone is for you,
just because you want so much for it to be so; you'll be in for
disappointment.

Don't force anyone to love you against their will, because
you'll find too late of why you should left the person alone;
For they won't be like what you expected.

If you love someone, set them free; if they come back to you,
they're yours and  if not, then it wasn't meant to be.

Christians shouldn't make the love connection with sinners
or unbelievers, because there'll be conflicts and eventual
splitting up of such a unity.  Even though it is quite rare,
don't assume that the sinner or unbeliever will ever convert;
you can be wasting your time, in waiting forever.
Much pain & regret, the Christian will endure.

Ask the Lord for a sign, in prayer, if someone is right for you.

The Lord will not make someone love you against their wishes.
Because everyone is born with a will of their own and freedom
of choice.  It wouldn't be right to expect anyone to be in a way
that is unlike themself or go against who they really are.  No one
should be like a living zombie.  Seeking to control others is another
form of abuse and is considered a sin according to the Scriptures.

Beauty can be deceptive; for what a person sees isn't always
what's underneath.  Unappealing personality and deceptive
intentions can exist.


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