Elizabeth George - A Young Woman Who Reflects the Heart of Jesus

This book belongs to

____________________________

a young woman who wants to follow Jesus

Elizabeth George

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

Cover photos Jeanne Hatch, Rouven Maccario / Fotolia

A YOUNG WOMAN WHO REFLECTS THE HEART OF JESUS

Copyright 2011 by Elizabeth George

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

George, Elizabeth, 1944

A young woman who reflects the heart of Jesus / Elizabeth George.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7369-3042-0 (pbk.)

1. Teenage girlsReligious life. 2. Christian teenagers. I. Title.

BV4551.3.G463 2011

248.833dc22

2010050121

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 / VP-NI / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dear Friend,

If you are even holding this book in your hands, I already know you are special! Thats because you must be interested in Jesus. Maybe, like me, you want with all your heart to become more and more like Him. Well, good news! This book is packed with information and help that will show you how to move further down the path toward growing more like Jesus. As we walk that path together, here are a few things that will make the journey even sweeter.

Open your bookand enjoy it! Its just a book. And I wrote it so you can carry it with you and learn more about your Savior in little bits here and there. So put it in your backpack by day, and on your nightstand when you get home. If youre going on a trip, take it along. You dont need your Bible because Ive included plenty of verses right in the book to help you know more about Jesus. And you dont need to answer any questions if youre not able to or dont want to while you are reading. Just read it like you would any other book and let the truths about Jesus do their transforming work as they flood into your heart.

Open your heartto your friends. Encourage them to get books too. Then you will each be growing, which means your friendships will grow in the right directionin the things of the Lord. So invite others to join you. I can only imagine the great talks youll have about Jesus!

Open your heartand look around. Are there any girls you dont know very wellat school, in your neighborhood, or even in your youth group at churchwho you can invite to join you in your study? Girls who need the Savior? Who need guidelines and role models like Jesus for their lives? Who need a friendlike you and Jesus? Whisper a prayer to God and be bold. Reach out and invite someone to get together with you, someone you would like to know betterand someone you would like to help know Jesus better.

Open your heartto the Savior. Let Him show you the way to live, how to treat people, how to love others, how to be a great daughter and sister, and how to grow into a godly young woman. Let Him tell you what a wonderful creation you are because you know Him!

Open your heartthrough prayer to the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to make His Word clear. Ask Him to help you understand your relationship with Jesus and the importance of following Him with all your heart.

Open your heartand dream! Dream of the woman you yearn to bea woman who reflects the character of Jesus.

And now lets put feet on those dreams! It is the prayer of my heart that the contents of this book about Jesus, the most special Person who ever lived, will encourage you, special book will excite you, instruct you, and inspire you to love Him even more passionately.

In His great and amazing love,
Your friend and sister in Christ,

Elizabeth George

Jessicas confidence (which wasnt very high to begin with!) was slipping even further down the scale toward rock bottom. She hadnt always been so fearful. It all started last month when she had to give a report after her American history class had taken a field trip to the state capital. She had frozen during her speech, forgotten most of what she was supposed to say, and made a complete fool of herself as she stumbled through her report. (Never mind that she had slapped her report together during study hall and hadnt even glanced at it before giving her speech!)

Then there was the incident near her locker, when she tried to defend another girl from some hateful comments made by a mean-girl group that was bullying the poor girl because of the clothes she was wearing. (True, they were a little odd, but they were nothing that deserved the treatment this gang of girls dished out.) Boy, Jessica thought afterward, did they ever let me have it for interfering! Now Im on their mean list for sure, and thats not a list I wanted to be on!

And Jessica still regretted her run-in with Tiffany, one of the cool girls, who asked her face-to-face, Are you one of those Christian goodie-two-shoes? Knowing full well it would be the end of her chance for a cool social life, Jessica had said yes. (She wasnt so sure about the goodie part of the accusation, but she was a Christian and didnt want to lie about it.)

Its no wonder Jessica decided, Nope, Im never going to speak up in class again. Its not worth the embarrassment! With great resolve she added, And when it comes to speaking up when I see or hear something thats wrong, Ill be minding my own business from now on. Then Jessica concluded with equal firmness, And for sure when it comes to my Christian faith, Im gonna keep a low profile. Then maybe no one will ask me about it and ask me questions I cant really answer.