A blog for tween girls by a tween girl

For the past couple of months, my 11-year-old daughter, Lexi, and I have been talking about some writing projects we want to do together. One of the projects she’s been excited about is blogging. We decided 2021 is the year we kick off Girls with Grace!

Lexi is the mind and creativity behind Girls with Grace. In fact, she is the one who even came up with the name. For now, Girls with Grace will run new posts in a category all to itself on the Families with Grace blog. The posts will usually go live on Tuesdays.

Our plan is for her to have two to four new posts a month, because that seems manageable with her schoolwork and such she has going on.

To say that I’m proud of my kiddo is an understatement. She’s done some awesome things already in her 11 years. Working on Girls with Grace together has allowed me to get additional insight into her heart and mind that has been such a blessing. I know you’re going to be blessed by her heart and ministry as well!

Share Girls with Grace posts with the tween girls in your life and read them yourself. I let her take over today’s Families with Grace post to introduce her and let you hear what she has on her mind. This kiddo is wise beyond her years — and yes, I am totally partial!

Families with Grace: Why do you want to write a blog?

Lexi: I really enjoy writing and I enjoy God. I enjoy sharing. I enjoy blogs. I think it would be helpful.

I hope to help people who need it. I want to reach out to preteen and early teen girls. I want to help them in their walk with God by writing about it. There are lots of blogs saying to read your Bible and heres a schedule, but that feels like it’s too much. It doesn’t work well for everyone. I want to give practical tips for how to connect with God while still living your life.

FWG: What are some ways you’ve found to connect with God in the midst of schoolwork and friendships?

Lexi: I could talk forever about this! Every night when I can, if it’s not like 20-degrees or I’m not half asleep when I go up to my bedroom, I grab my Bible. Right now I’m reading Job. I didn’t go through the Bible in order. I found when I started doing that, some stories I already knew and some I wasn’t keen to re-read because I didn’t enjoy them very much.

I have a Bible where everything is split up into sections. I read one section a night for about five minutes. I meditate or pray. I get some fresh air and try to clear my mind and then go to bed. I’m finished with my homework and have no other distractions. I’m free and have time to just devote that time to God. It’s also incredibly quiet at night and easier to focus on the Bible and what I’m reading.

FWG: What advice so you have for other preteen girls who are working to find their place in the world and grow in their relationship with God?

Lexi: Don’t go searching for what your place is. It’s going to happen. You’re going to figure out what your place is with God. Go with what you think is right and what you think He would want you to do in your situation. You’re not going to just find your place in the world quickly and easily. You’ll find it eventually. It’s going to change, too. In different phases of life, your purpose can be different.

Naturally you will find what your supposed to be doing. Even if it seems like you figured it out to late, God knows when you need to know your purpose most because he knows what it going to happen the next day, and the next, and the next, and so on.

If you search for your purpose continuously, you aren’t going to have a nice childhood or great friendships. Live with and for god, but whilst you exist, you shouldn’t forget to live.

FWG: What is your favorite Bible verse? Why is that your favorite verse?

Lexi: I actually have a passage of verses that are my favorite.

“For no one is abandoned
    by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
    because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
For he does not enjoy hurting people
    or causing them sorrow.”

Lamentations 3:31-33 (NLT)

I was looking through my Bible. There was a wall I had dedicated to Bible verses. I had a hole and needed to find a new verse to go there. These verses really stood out to me. I think it sums up a good amount of the Bible really well. It reminds us that the Lord is always with us and even if things seem bad, He still loves us. He is always with us and it’s not going to be bad forever. God doesn’t enjoy our pain. That isn’t what He wants. He wants us to be happy. But sometimes to be happy, we have to get hurt first.

One of my favorite quotes that goes right along with this is, “It’s OK to be a glow stick; sometimes we have to break before we shine.”

Another one of my favorites is HOPE: Hold On Pain Ends.

FWG: Share a little bit about your faith journey. When do you first remember being aware of God on a personal level and not just someone your parents or Sunday School teacher talked about?

Lexi: One of the first things I really remember when I felt like God was in my life was when I was 4 or 5 and felt like I needed to start a food pantry ministry at my church to help a local food pantry.

We had donated to food pantries a couple of times. I used my giving money of my allowance to buy some food. We decided to go to a food pantry that was out of a local church that we hadn’t been to before. We learned they gave away food once a month and were dedicated to doing so, even when they didn’t have a huge amount of food.

They didn’t have the word about it out very well. I’m not sure what it was about this church that really spoke to me, but I knew I needed to do something about these people that couldn’t get their food. I didn’t have anything, but I started talking to my mom. We decided to do something at church. We can’t run our own food pantry, but we started a food collection at our church. We had bins and made an announcement. The food pantry collection is still going on now about seven years later.

Fun Fact: When I told my mother about the food pantry, I started with ” I have an idea…” which is the same exact way Girls with Grace came to life!

FWG: What is your faith history?

Lexi: I can’t remember a time I didn’t go to church. I can’t remember a time I wasn’t learning about God. I don’t think I can say there was something that stuck out to me without teachers.

I’ve been ministered very well from a young age. Since before I could walk or talk, I’ve learned about Jesus. I’ve read a children’s Bible and knew half of the stories of the Bible by heart by the time I was in kindergarten.

FWG: What have you done so far in your life that you’re most proud of?

Lexi: Last school year, I did a food drive in my grade for the food pantry. We were able to bring in a lot of non-perishable items for the food pantry.

FWG: What are you looking forward to about working on Girls with Grace?

Lexi: Honestly, I’m just excited to write. I’m excited to take these things that I’ve learned — because I’ve learned a lot — and write them down. I’m happy to explain my lessons so that you can learn from somebody else. Some of them were great things and then some of them weren’t so great things. I’ve dealt with anxiety during school years. I’ve learned from both the good stuff and the bad.

FWG: Do you have anything else to add?

Lexi: I could talk for years on making people happy. It doesn’t always go well, but it’s something I try to do. I don’t need to make people. It’s not something you should spend all your time trying to do or else you’ll make yourself miserable in the process. I have tried anyway and I’ve learned from it.