Relationship Problems..

[Faithful4Christ]

Well first of all, I am 16 as well as my girlfriend. She grew up in a Catholic household and was forced to go to a Catholic middle school as well.. The nuns there, to say the least, were brutal from what I have heard. Although she has not told me that this is exactly the reason, she has definitely drifted far from Christ and it really hurts me to see her so far away from Him.

We began dating a month or so ago, and everything was good. However, some bad influences (her friends) have been affecting her lately and she told me that she was going to get drunk with them. I told her that I STRONGLY disagree with what she was doing, and that i might have trouble looking at her the same afterwords. Luckily, these words got to her and she only went with them and didnt drink (or so she tells me.. But i really do trust her; she hasnt lied to me in the past). I believe these bad influences are just going to affect her more and more and she will definitely start drinking. BTW, drinking is all she would do, she strongly disagrees with any other drug (which is fairly weird cuz alcohol is a drug, but she doesnt see it as bad i suppose..

I bring up Christ every once in a while, but she just changes the subject. So.. my question to my fellow christian teens is this:

How can i show her Christ like i see Him? I want to do this in a subtle way.. Not just flat out (although i fear i may have too). Also, have you guys had a similar situation and how did you get through it??

Thanks so much guys, it really does mean a lot. God Bless

 

[Nick]

Hmmm...

I think actions usually speak louder than words. However it sounds like she could be turning quite rebelious, and you may have to be more outgoing than just living a Christ-like life.

I've known my best friend for about 11 years, and he grew up in a kinda loose non-practising Christian household. He is quite liberal, basically socialist and used to avoid conversation about religion. "Each to his own" probably summed it up. Then me and a few friends started inviting him to our youth group late last year, and since the start of this year, he has been eagerly coming, and still comes. He calls himself a Christian by infant baptism, so I'm guessing the gospel still has yet to truely touch his heart, but in other ways it kinda has. He prays with us in Bible study and seems fairly enthuisastic and we talk about Christianity reguarly. He acts Christian, but I'm not completely sure. But only God knows what's in his heart. He is a bit of a private person in these areas.

So my point is invite this friend to church or youth group and show them how Christians live and how it's such a good life. At the very least she may lose some of her rebelious nature and adopt some 'Christian values'. When she is more accepting of Christianity, then God may open up her heart for the Gospel.

I'll try to remember to pray for her. I've got friends that have fallen away for alcohol and drugs and it's terrible watching them and thinking how good they used to be.



BTW, tell her alcohol is definately NOT all that it's cracked up to be. Trust me, apart from the intoxication, largely the taste is repulsive at first. Try a nice drink that doesn't change you, like Coke, coffee or even water.

 

[Pard]

To start... prayer.

They say marijuana is the gate-way drug to "hard" drugs (are not all drugs "hard"?). Well, trust me, for a teen alcohol is the gate-way drug to marijuana. I have seen friends go to parties and come home drunk. Few months later they were going to parties and coming home high...

How to bring her closer to Christ? Don't let her change the subject? Sometimes people avoid religious subjects because they are awkward. Break the barrier for her and she will start talking. Maybe introduce her to your friends and try to get her to hang out with them more.

I've never found someone I'd enjoy being with for longer than a few months, so I generally avoid dating. However, I have watched my friends and they can manage to completely change who their girlfriends or boyfriends hang out with.