A Devotional Book for Youths ~ Terry Overton

How I came to write a devotional book for youths

by Terry Overton

One day I was chatting with my granddaughter about a devotional book I was writing. She thought it was pretty cool, so I told her to send me topics and I would write devotionals for her. In a couple of days, my other grandkids joined in sending me all kinds of topics. Within a week, their friends began to send me texts of devotional topics. The texts became real time requests, with the teens asking for advice about dating, challenging people, participating in sports, peer pressure, bullying, and a host of other topics. After a couple of months, I collected the devotionals and found a publisher. 

The result was released in April: Devotionals for Youths: Growing up in Christ. This experience taught me something that parents may not know: kids think about God a lot! They want to know, from a Christian perspective, how to deal with day-to-day problems. I was surprised at the seriousness of some topics such as talking to friends about Christ, keeping steadfast in your faith, using kind words, and explaining the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For those who want to open a dialogue with their middle schooler or high schooler, this devotional can provide a conversation starter for hard topics. The English Standard Version is used for Scripture.

Below is an example of one devotional in the book.

Your Personal Faith

“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” 1 Peter 3:15

 

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6

Your mind and heart, or soul, are amazing. One study found that we have about 86 billion brain cells and that each one connects to as many as 10,000 others which gives us nearly 1000 trillion connections. Our physical brains are astonishing. But what is more important than the brain is the mind. The mind is your brain functioning as a thinking organ. This is where you understand everything that goes on and where you understand what you read and learn. Part of our brain also processes our feelings, and this is what we may call our soul or “heart” or where we feel things like emotions. This is where our thoughts and feelings about God are kept.

 

Having your own personal faith is a wonderful way to think about keeping Jesus in your life always. We are instructed to always honor Jesus in our hearts and by keeping Him there; we should be ready to tell others about Him and even defend our belief in Him for those who do not understand. Scripture also tells us that when we defend Jesus, we should do this with kindness. This reflects how Jesus wants us to treat all other people, with kindness.

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” Ephesians” 4:32

Know this: your own personal faith is something that is always in your heart just like the Holy Spirit. You use your personal faith and the Holy Spirit to understand Bible verses, to think about what Jesus wants you to do, and to pray. Prayer is something else that God believes is very personal. Jesus told us how to pray:

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” Matthew 6:6

Jesus wants us to live our lives with Him inside of our heart and mind. He says that we should use our personal faith every day as we interact with people. We should perform acts of kindness and not expect to receive any reward for doing so because We should not perform kind acts, so others will see us doing so. God knows when we are doing these kind acts. He is watching and will reward us in heaven. These acts of kindness need not be large or noticeable. It can be as simple as helping your parents or brother and sister. It can be as small as doing something for a teacher or friend that they may not notice until later or they may never know who did the kind act.

 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” Matthew 6:1

About Terry:

 Terry Overton is a retired university professor of educational and school psychology. She has an Ed.D. in special education and a Ph.D. in psychology. She has two children and six grandchildren.  Her writing and publication experiences include textbook and journal articles in the fields of special education and psychology. She seeks to answer God’s call to share the good news and grow the church by writing Christian books and devotionals. She and her husband live in the southern tip of Texas where they enjoy the semi-tropical weather and spending time with their friends and family.