Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, Ecclesiastes 12:1
King Solomon's heart has a grand place for anyone who is young and vigorously alive! He directs young people to honor God throughout their youth. Be firm in your resolve to please God in your youth for it is through God you will find your life's purpose. God's purpose for your life will then be anointed by Christ Jesus when you give your life to Him.
For through Christ Jesus you will receive His protection and your core values will hold firm as an adult. After giving your life to Jesus then Jesus Christ will teach you what true love is. The most important aspect of true love is forgiveness and that comes from mercy. Jesus' middle name is mercy because our Heavenly Father is merciful.
I've known many many youth who gave their lives to Jesus, honored God, and whose hearts were protected throughout their lives. Earl Young was such a man. He spent his youth in California in a Methodist youth group. As a youth he was a gifted artist/illustrator. Now, once he gave his life to Jesus, he became so in love with taking orders from Jesus that his years as a youth were great.
In his late teens he went into the Navy and they sailed to Hawaii-- a place he had always dreamed to seeing! And while his mammoth ship was docked in Oahu, Hawaii, and he was on the painting crew one day, bombs dropped unexpectedly onto the ship next to his and he was thrown/blown into the water. Gasoline spillage in the ocean water lit on fire, his ship started up and drove out to sea. Churning propeller water sucked him under, he drowned, then he was resuscitated.
He awakened back in San Diego, California, and along with many other service men, fought deep depression from what he saw in Pearl Harbor and what he experienced there. Lord Jesus had protected his heart and over the months the Lord healed his mind. Now out of the Navy he looked for work as an artist.
One man who needed illustrators for his ideas offered him a job. The man was Walt Disney. Walt was not famous yet and Earl Young went home to his wife Ruth and together they prayed about whether or not Earl should take the job. Through prayer they both heard Jesus speak into their hearts to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Earl was to start a business painting houses.
I met Earl in his late 70's. I pastored his Church. He introduced himself to me by telling me about his youth (how he gave his life to Christ Jesus) and the Pearl Harbor experience he had had. He was dying of Parkinson's Disease and 4 years later I would officiate his funeral. His youth had been faith's bright clear years and when troubles came he continued to be firm in his resolve to please God and do as Christ directed him.
Time and time again Earl stressed to my daughter and I that Christ teaches us what true love is because He is alive with us throughout our lives. We give our lives to Him in our youth and lasting faith continues. Even though Earl had gone through some tough times off and on throughout his life, when it came time for Earl to breath his last breath here his youthful faith saw him through. His gravestone became his stepping stone into Heaven because of Jesus.
So for right now if things are getting harder for you then believe and have faith. Jesus is with you every step of the way. He'll see you through each trouble. Remember that purpose which He has called you to, told you about in your youth, it is still anointed by Him. Don't let your troubles get in the way. Keep hoping and believing. Have faith. Jesus is with you.
