Do you believe in angels? How about TEENAGE angels?

If you know me then hopefully you know that I love children.  Half of my life has been spent working with them either as my vocation outside my home or in my church and of course with the five that God has entrusted me with personally.  But what most people don't know is that while I love children, I am terrified of teenagers. Which can be a problem for me because ALL of those wonderful loving children that I grow to love so much eventually turn into teenagers and then what? :)

Well, a dear friend of mine, who happens to be a high school teacher needed someone to fill in for her a few weeks ago and she asked me if I would be willing.  Of course my first thought was "eeeekkkk teenagers?" but I wanted to help her and I could definitely use the money so I said yes.  Now don't be confused, I didn't teach her class, it was more like I was a babysitter/monitor for the day.  I could write several posts on the time I spent with them but I want to tell you about the "angel" who left a message behind for me in the form of a partially written report that no doubt was being written for an assignment that would be turned in for a grade.

It was about 3 pm and I was walking around trying to complete the end of the day to-do list that she had left for me and on the floor was a folded up piece of notebook paper with handwriting on it.  Because I had once been a teenager and could remember some of the private thoughts that I had shared in my notes back in the day I did experience an inner struggle as to whether or not I should read the note or throw it away or leave it for the janitor, etc...

Of course curiosity prevailed and so I began to read the "note".  After I read it and read it again, I sat right down in that classroom and cried and prayed for my son and my daughter, both seniors in high school, and both I'm a little scared of at times.  In that prayer I asked God to help me to always remember the content of the note and I humbly thanked Him for knowing me well enough to know that I needed to read this.

I don't feel at all guilty for sharing the content with you for two reasons.  The first one being there is no name on the note and so there is no way for you or me to know who left it behind and the most important is that I truly do believe that this was my Heavenly Father talking to me that day and I think parents of all teenagers should hear what He had to say.

The note is written by a girl and in the beginning she is explaining about how she had visited a behavior facility at a medical center for teenagers.  It doesn't say if she was a resident for a time or just a visitor but she explains that while she is there the other girls began to confide in her as to why they were there.  This is where I will pick up in her words......

    "Suicide is a big issue that really needs to be addressed.  I learned reasons why they do it and
     ways to help keep it from happening.  The name has been changed to hide the identity but
     here is one story:
           Michelle:
     Reason she was there was she overdosed on Zanex and cut herself trying to escape the pain.
     Her parents found her passed out and unresponsive.  She was brought to the center by
     ambulance.  Her "pain" in her life was that her parents wouldn't pay any attention to her.  They
     never asked her how her day was or even sat down as a family.  She felt ignored and not loved."

She went on to write:

     "Parents don't realize that they really do make an impact on their children's life.  You can have
      tons of friends who love you and support you but its a persons home life that really makes a
      difference!"

Wow!  I serve a living God that met me right there in the middle of a circumstance that He knew was way outside of my comfort zone and taught me, the "teacher" a lesson about love that I will never forget!  And now, whenever I get the privilege to be around teenagers I just think to myself, there's nothing to be scared of, in fact there may be angels among us and then I simply ask them about their day! :)