Save Our Girls, with Liz Edrington

Topics: Depression & Suicide , Relationships, Friendships & Mentoring , Young Women

Anxiety. Depression. Gender confusion. Our high school girls are in crisis. Find ways to fight for the young women in your life during this episode of Grounded. Guest Liz Edrington offers practical advice to help you minister to your teens and young adults and shares how you can direct them to the source of help and hope they need more than anything else: Jesus.

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Episode Notes

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Erin Davis: The CDC reports a 60% increase …

Connect with Liz

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Episode Notes

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Erin Davis: The CDC reports a 60% increase in high school girls seriously considering or planning suicide. How's that for a headline to jolt you awake? It's Monday morning. I'm Erin Davis, and you are watching what is truly an urgent addition of Grounded.

Dannah Gresh: It truly is Erin. I'm Dannah Gresh. We are here every week to give you hope and perspective. And if there's a topic we need it on, it's the crisis of the up-and-coming youth – the next generation. So, Erin, I’ve got to ask. We hear stats all the time…

Erin: Yeah.

Dannah: What does it actually mean to us that there's been a 60% increase? That's really bad, and suicidal ideation. How do we interpret that?

Erin: Well, let's get practical. It means that one in three of our girls is in truly grave danger.

Dannah: Wow.

Erin: And I want you to hear me, the teens in your church, in your home, in your neighborhood – they're not immune.

Dannah: So true. I'm so thankful we're doing this episode. You know, my heart is for the next generation always has been. And what this episode really is, is it's an SOS from every granddaughter, every daughter to every aunt and mom and grandma listening.

And I've got to tell you, I've been ministering to tweens and teens for 20 years. My part time job is Grounded. But my full-time job is True Girl and ministering to seven- to twelve-year-old girls and also teenagers. And here's what I've noticed in 20 years, the problems are simply different. I mean, they’re night and day.

20 years ago, girls were coming up to me at events and they were really heartbroken about issues that matter to them. Like they might be experiencing a lot of shame about their braces, or the way they look, or their weight. Or they might be mad at their parents because they couldn't have a boyfriend yet or because they weren't allowed to see a certain movie or maybe they were struggling with boyfriend issues. And I don't want to trivialize those things. They matter. Those really do matter. But the problems today are so frighteningly different.

Erin: Yeah, those things almost seem silly and they're not silly. They matter to the girls that are failing them. Dannah, I remember an event you and I were teaching at for teen girls and this girl came to us just broken over her math grade. And I would love to be facing those problems with young women again, because now it's things like severe clinical anxiety. and depression, suicidal tendencies.

And I think we can, as adults be like, oh, they're just wanting attention or whatever. No, we're talking about real suicidal.

Dannah: This is real.

Erin: Gender confusion, which is of course, accompanied by a spectrum of emotional distress. So, let's be careful, Grounded sisters, not to poopoo any of the things that we're talking about here because the stakes are really, really high.

Dannah: Yeah, yeah, they say the average teens and tweens today struggle so much with anxiety, that on the scale of the spectrum of anxiety in the 1950s, they would have placed her in an inpatient treatment. That's how severe the average struggle is today.

This isn't like the anxiety that we knew when we were in high school. And here's the problem – so many of these young women are walking away from the one thing that most helps – Jesus. 70% of today's churchgoing teens are not going to stick their faith out according to statistics provided by our special guest today.

Erin: I wish I had some red alarm lights that I could cue now that could be like, because this, this is a big deal.

Here's the deal, Dannah and Portia and I, we don't have daughters in the age bracket that we're talking about today. But our hearts are still stirred to try and help young women live free from the bondage of depression from the bondage of anxiety from the bondage of suicide, even from the bondage of faithlessness. That's its own kind of bondage when we choose not to follow Jesus.

Dannah: Yeah, right.

Erin: And we hope that your heart is going to be stirred today as well.

We recognize this problem can feel overwhelming. But we also know that God loves young women, we always pray before every episode of Grounded. And that's how we prayed this morning, wasn't it, Dannah? We know God loves young women. Yeah. And we know he wants to see them flourishing.

So, we want to be a part of what He is doing that Grounded is all about partnering with the Lord, what He is doing in pushing back the darkness.

So, before we go much further, we would invite you to join us in stopping and praying. Before we do, if you love a young woman ages 12 to 22 – we'll put a definition around it now. Now, maybe you love 11-year-old, maybe you love a 23 year old so you could take your pick. But if you love a young woman and we gave you that two decades span, we're gonna ask you to interact by dropping her name in the chat. You don't put her first and last name, you just put her first name. And we want you to do that right now because this crisis starts to hit home when we attach faces to it.

So, I'm gonna give you just a second. start dropping some names right there in the chat and Dannah as they're doing that. Would you just pray for this episode?

Dannah: I’d love to.

Lord Jesus, You love Your girls. You love them. They are fearfully and wonderfully made, but they are struggling to believe that. And they're struggling with how they look when they look in the mirror and they're struggling with their identity in it in a terrifyingly life changing way. Some of them are altering their identity because the pain is so severe, would you meet them in that pain? And Father, would our prayers be the very thing that ushers You into that need? Father, wake our hearts up, put them on alert and rescue Your girls in Jesus’ name, amen.

I love that.

Erin: And as you were praying, I was reminded that there's a Grounded Underground, a team of women who pray fervently for this broadcast and the women watching and I'm just going to say this on their behalf because I know they would affirm it. We're going to capture your list of names of girls that you drop in the chat during this episode, we're going to send them to that prayer team. So, they can be praying specifically for your daughters, your granddaughters, the girls you go to church with so go ahead if you haven't already dropped that answer

Dannah: Yeah. And if you know someone who has a teenager that is struggling, would you share this episode? Yeah, like they need this. Our guest today is really going to fill you with hope and perspective. It's Liz, I'm sorry, her name is Liz Edrington. And she's part of the ministry. I've been watching for a while. It's called Rooted. She's in the trenches fighting for the hearts and the minds of young women. And she's going to equip us to join the fight in just a moment. But first, I know you're going to want some good news to kind of bounce out all this bad news. So, I'm going to hand it over to our girl Portia.

Portia, you got some good news?

12:19 - Good News

Erin: Portia, I sure to hurt your feelings on a Monday morning, but Emmi is going to be in this age bracket. In no time at all.

Dannah: Tomorrow.

Portia Collins: I was thinking I was thinking this as you guys were talking. I was like, Yeah, I don't have you know, a daughter in the age bracket yet. But yeah, you know, Lord willing as she grows older, she will be and yeah, I need to be prepared and I need praying sisters like y'all.

So, yeah, yeah, this is timely. This is certainly timely.

Well, while it's true that many young women are struggling, it is also true that many are seeking to serve the Lord with their lives. Since the name of our ministry is Revive Our Hearts, you know that we love to tell stories of revival. And we've been reporting most recently on the revival that started at Asbury University. And it started with young people. Some of them are older teens, some of them just in their 20s. Remember back to that day in February?

That's just one snapshot of how God is moving to revive his people, starting with the up-and-coming generation.

And so, check out this picture and headline, it says since “Asbury: The Hunger Has Grown Even More. Louisiana Revival Heads into Nineteenth Week.” 19 weeks y’all. It all started with a planned event at Old Zion Baptist Church, now that sounds like a place for revival, in Independence, Louisiana. That's not too far for me here in Mississippi. And on the first night of that event, 125 people showed up, and 34 of them surrendered their lives to Christ. And people have continued to meet in that church week after week for over 20 weeks now, more than 30,000 have attended weekly services, and get this, more than 1,300 people have given their lives to Jesus.

Now, y'all already know that makes me want to take my shoe off and throw it! That is some good news. But check here, here's even more good news. We hope you come back week after week because guess what? God is working. God is wooing, God is winning. Okay? Don't let some of these headlines deter you from the fact that God is still on the throne. And guess what? That is some good news.

Dannah: That is some great news. I love it. Yeah, that headline that they were moving into their 19th week was about a week ago. So, they're now in their 20th week of just sitting in the presence of God and getting in His Word and worship Him, which is what we're going to do right now we're going to get into God's Word. As usual, each week on Grounded we open up our Bibles.

And today I'm going to open it up because I've got more good news. And it's good news that we need to hear before we hear really some practical wisdom from our special guest who has a desire to flip the stats concerning young people exiting the Church, she wants to see 70% of them stay instead of leave. And I say amen to that.

So, let's grab our Bibles and open them to chapter 1 of the book of Daniel, a book where we meet some young men, and we're gonna get some hope from them. We're gonna read verses 3-7 to see a strategy of the enemy. It's a strategy the enemy is still using to pull our youth away from God. So listen closely as I read this, and see if you can see that strategy. Before I tell you what it is starting in verse three of Daniel one. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz – love those big words – Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

Do you see it there? Do you see the strategy? We see the enemy use it very subtly today, but it's not so subtle here. And it's an important thing to see if we want to save today's teens. You see, these four golden exiles had Hebrew names that identified them with God. Daniel's name meant “God is my judge.” Hananiah, “God is gracious.” Mishael meant “Who is like God”, and Azariah meant “God has helped.”

These young men – teen men – had an identity that was rooted in Yahweh by their very names. They were rooted in the God of the Israelites, the one true God identity. Yet what was the first thing that the king's eunuch did? Change their names. Belteshazzar, Daniels new name meant “Protector of the King” Shadrach, “Commander of the moon god”, Meshach meant “What a coup is” Abednego meant “Servant of Naboo” and these are the names of gods idols in Babylon.

These names were an attempt to root their identity in the many idols of the Chaldeans of the Babylonians. Why am I pointing this out? My friend, you and I are living in a proverbial Babylon. All the names of the gods are different, but be sure of this. The city that claimed Daniel and his friends captives is a word picture and a lesson for us today. We must be on alert. The enemy has a plan for the best of the youth in Babylon. It's not the struggling ones. It's not the ones that don't have promise. It's the best the enemy goes after to rename and claim an identity. And what is his plan? He wants to steal, destroy, and ultimately kill them. We see that lived out in the teens of today in our modern Babylon.

And it seems that the enemy's modus operandi is still to start with renaming. He's obsessed with changing our identity.

The enemy does not want us to just forget who God is. He seeks to create so much amnesia in the lives of young people that they aren't even sure who they are. You know, the next verse in Daniel, chapter 1, verse 8 reads, “But Daniel resolved…” Resolved means to stand decidedly firmly. What did Daniel resolve? What did he decide to stand firmly on? In this specific verse? It's not to eat the King's delicacies. Why is that? Because he identified with the people of the God of the universe, and God's people, and they had rules about food.

And I think Daniel and these young men, though they lived resolved in that moment when they stepped up to the kings table. Oh, can you imagine that delicious food, they were resolved there. But we see throughout the whole book of Daniel that they lived a life of resolve to be identified by, through, and for God. That's why we find them in the fiery furnace and in a lion's den, they did not give in to the identity lies of Babylon.

Listen, there are a lot of things we can do to help today's teens with anxiety, depression and suicide. Befriend a teen in your church, sit next to them, talk with them, hug them, visit with them every chance you get. Professional biblical care is sometimes really needed in some of these crisis cases. And sometimes you even need a doctor to provide medical care for anxiety and depression.

But the treatment we must apply to each and every one of them is ruining their identity in Jesus Christ. Because without that, none of the other things bring resolve. Erin.

22:05 - Grounded with God's People (Liz Edrington)

Erin: Huh, I will never look at those verses the same way again, that was so good. This really is an identity episode and we don't want to let our girls forget who they are. I have the right person to help us with that. She's going to teach us how to help teens be rooted. Her name is Liz Edrington. She serves as the fellowship groups and young adults director at North Shore Fellowship in Chattanooga, Tennessee, one of my favorite cities. She's on the leadership team for Rooted, which is a ministry dedicated to equipping and empowering churches and parents to faithfully disciple students toward lifelong, did you hear that? Not just during their teen years, then they go to college and lead lifelong faith in Jesus Christ. I'm eager to talk to her. Liz, welcome to Grounded.

Liz Edrington: Hello there. Thanks so much for having me.

Erin: We're thrilled. Liz, we open this episode with that CDC report of a 60% jump in girls considering or planning suicide, that same report found that 57% of high school girls feel hopeless. That makes sense. I mean, for a girl to get to the point of suicidal thoughts, there has to be some hopelessness. Another study found that a quarter of young women feel anxiety all the time. What in the world is going on with our girls? Liz?

Liz: That's such a great question. And one that I love you're asking, and also one for us to ask our kids. So, you know, we can conjecture. And there are some great articles that are out there discussing and they have some kind of interviews with students about what they see is going on. But I love that you've already hit on the importance of relationships and the need for connection with our students. And we see it especially with our girls, the stats are horrifying. And we are…

Erin: So much so that I think we can be a little numb. Right? Like, it's just like, what do we do with these numbers?

Liz: Yes, I think that's really well put, it's there's so much and that's, I think, a part of the issue, if we're honest, the way we're getting all of this data all the time from our devices that are telling us I mean, there's nothing wrong with our devices, but they are numbing us to the realities that are no longer impacting our hearts, and that we didn't, I think this is an interesting generational thing with IGen. So, the Gen Z’ers that are there right now, and younger, have grown up as digital natives.

So, they have always had this influx of both the bad and the good of what's going on globally, not even just in their communities and in their households. But they don't yet have the tools to discern fully, how to engage this stuff, and then we're numbed out so we have a responsibility to begin both helping discern how we're taking in this information. And then are we actually grieving and lamenting? Or are we just continuing to click or scroll?

And then when we begin to pay attention in our own lives to how we're taking in this data, I think we have something to offer our students and our kids also to say, hey, here's what I'm working on when I'm praying through and yeah, to help them kind of meet them where they are and help them learn to discern using their tools as well.

Erin: Yeah, I think I know how you're going to answer this, but I want to hear it from your own mouth. We want to imagine those numbers are for out there. Those are for non-Christian kids, kids who didn't grow up in the Church, that maybe as a way we protect ourselves from engaging but your boots on the ground in the Church. Are you seeing these warning signs among the girls, you disciple?

Liz: Absolutely. And you know, this is something actually asked to work with high schoolers, Sunday mornings and middle schoolers, Wednesdays and it asked them last week, give me a thumbs up, down or sideways what you think has happened in the last couple of years post pandemic on anxiety.

And like, if you think it's gone up, you think it's gone down or stay the same. And the 16 in there, every one of them with thumbs up with one that was like this [in the middle]. So certainly, with anxiety, there's an increase. And this makes me think of teaching on sexuality as well. Well, we all want to think it's not my kid, like my kids not dabbling in pornography, or, you know, that the stats, and the kids self-reporting would say, this is our kids.

So, we've got to take a moment, take a beat, take a breath and pray, what's my fear? What's my shame? What's hard for me about engaging in this conversation with my student?

If you're a parent, if you're someone like me, who's a youth leader, got a little more freedom, just be like, y'all tell me teach me teach me what it's like to be you know, but I think to first face our own difficulties, living in the light, being honest with like, this really could be my kid, but it is a very scary thing that's weighty.

So, there's compassion for that. There's, of course, it's scary. What does it mean to prayerfully move toward your, your kid in this to just say, What's it like to hear the stats yourself? What's it like to know? Like, do you have any friends that you've heard talk about this often talking about peers makes it a little safer to start the conversation? What are you noticing around you? And then if it's them, they might get there. But just say, like, teach me what it's like to be you show me you know.

Erin: Such a good tool, grab onto it Grounded sisters, I only have sons, but I have two teenage sons. And I will often print a headline or an article and write, “let's talk about this when you're ready” on it, put it on their beds, and then I'll remind them, but I do want to have a conversation because this is what I read in the headline. Now they can go into me and say, “Mom, I don't worry about that at all.” But usually, they say it does or “my friend worries about it.” So, you've been given some good tools already.

You've written a lot about loving students with anxiety or depression and everything I read would affirm the 16 thumbs up you just talked about as a parent that feels like the wild wild west to me. We just didn't grow up thinking about depression and anxiety. The same way that maybe our kids are so practically…give us some tools again, how do we disciple our depressed teen who maybe doesn't want to go to church and doesn't want to engage? How do we reach toward them?

Liz: That's a really great question. And it's one I wouldn't give a generalized answer to. I'd want to say maybe there are some categories to think about. And a first look at Jesus loves one of the things He does over and over if we slow down and zoom into the stories about Jesus, as He sees, so He's a God who sees us. Inconvenience Himself, wherever He's walking with the disciples. I mean, He sees, and then He has compassion. So, He lets His heart be moved.

So, what would even a first step be like to slow down and see prayerfully asking the Lord to show us and to then be moved, I think it's scary to let our hearts be impacted by especially if it's your own kid, kind of moving out of denial, even into like this could be significant and need more care than just going to school and coming home but potentially a therapist, pediatrician, group counseling, so I think I think of the incarnation and of seeing an empathy first.

In terms of depression, if we're talking clinical depression, we really want to get them some care, some therapeutic care if possible. But to keep the conversation going, I say that too. And even maybe to tell a student this, we're not going to talk about this all the time. Sometimes they're just going to be camping, going outside taking a walk, so being with them in it, but having little pockets to say, hey, even might be asking your student what would it be like if I asked you twice a week, we can even plan when, if you want to talk about this? You can always tell me no, but creating little pockets and spaces, containers even to talk about this is a start. And if you're finding Hey, that's not quite, I'm not seeing a lift and not seeing things change for my teenager, then maybe I want to get some more care and even ask them Hey, what do you think about getting some more support? You know, you need some more support?

Empowering them. How can we empower them to share with us? Because a lot of the time they don't have words or categories for this, or the opposite now is with TikTok and with all the social media, they have way too many categories. So yeah, they've self-diagnosed. So, I'm hearing that a lot more. I'm a therapist, or my therapist, friends whose kids come in with diagnoses that may not even be accurate.

Erin: TikTok diagnoses, yeah. Wow.

Liz: And are living into it, we talked about names earlier, right. They're living into it as their name, partly from a sense of, it's freeing to know that there's a name to this, but also maybe there's some belonging, these kids are looking for identity, purpose and belonging, the big three, that can provide belonging, sometimes they need to hear it's okay. Not to be okay. And sometimes these kids need to hear it's okay to be okay. And that's a new thing, generationally.

So, meeting them where they are, and how are we equipping them with language and space and just this, like, I'm gonna love you, no matter whether you're not okay? Or you're okay. How do we create the spaces for our kids? kind of starts with us? Like, what's scary about that? What's hard? How will that take away my own time or cut from my own priorities? You know.

Erin: Yeah, my kids never have need when it's convenient, never have not since the day they were born. And as they're teenagers, it's late at night when I could barely think a coherent thought. But you're reminding me to be available to them.

I just add to everything you just gave, get them in a church with a Bible based youth group. I am fortunate that my church had that already. Or we would have moved to a different church because during those teen years, partner with your student minister, partner with the adults that volunteer there, they really can do so much for your teen.

Okay, I'm gonna say a word that is scary. Suicide. I think we're gonna be afraid to say that word. And you said there's a question that young people need us to ask. If we've discerned they may be contemplating suicide, and based on the numbers we just gave you, I would err on the side of being proactive here. What is that question we need to ask?

Liz: Yeah, thank you so much for bringing this to light. As a trained therapist, and someone who trains youth leaders and I teach at a college to us it's something I always teach those students. If you have any, any fear inkling, any hunch in your gut, and this is a gut thing, as someone is talking to you a teenager that says anything where you see that text or post on social media that says I don't want to be here, or I'm just thinking about the world might be better without me. Please, please please always ask directly asked directly if they are having suicidal thoughts.

And that question might feel uncomfortable, you might fear you're putting the thought into their minds. You are not, it is either there or it's not.

So, to ask directly, which, these are heavy words, but you can put it any way you want to put it – Are you thinking of taking your life? Are you thinking of harming yourself? Have you had suicidal thoughts? So just ask directly, don't beat around the bush, don't use confusing metaphors. Don't put it passively and say things like, “you're not thinking of taking your life are you?” Please ask open endedly and directly because that's gonna give you more data, how they respond.

You might see eyes shift away. You might see – I was asked this question myself in my 20s and I'm so grateful but because when it was asked because I actually felt a relief of being able to say,
“oh, I'm not.I'm not having that thought.”

So, to ask directly might even be helpful for them to clarify one way or the other. But it's such a big, it's such a big deal. And it's happening more and more, right. I have been to two funerals of suicides in the last three months of young adults. And I don't, I don't have words for it still, the Lord is active. And this is horrific. So, we've got to be moving toward these folks and helping provide care.

Erin: Yeah. I think I've spent the first 35 years of my life not connected to suicide personally at all. And they've spent about the past seven, connected to it, it is pervasive. We've taken the exact approach you just talked about in our home, which is that we tackle it directly, which can be uncomfortable, but it needs to be tackled.

I love something you wrote. You said, “One of the best resources we have in ministry is our gut instinct, fueled by the Holy Spirit.” And I do get those feelings sometimes of girls that I'm around. But I don't always have the relational equity built up to know how much I should say, or how aggressive for lack of a better word I should be. What's your advice, then when we discern there's a need, but we don't know if we have the relationship yet?

Liz: That's such a great question. I love the respect for building relational trust, which I think is a really big deal. And these kids, because of the way they're connecting so often, social media wise, there's not often a lack of understanding of building trust, and hey, we don't share everything before we built trust with a safe person.

So, I would both say, if you have any gut instinct for there's the potential of suicidality there, I don't care if you are just a man on the street, you ask immediately and ask directly and then hey, who else do you know they might be close to you that could be a part of this conversation to care for you?

Erin: Yeah.

Liz: The ask directly is the most immediate like flag on the flagpole highest bid.

But then that next question, and even to maybe, I think, before I'd even say before you go to another youth leader, or parent or someone in the church that might be closer to ask, I'd say, you care really well and honor the person by hearing them and saying, Hey, you just said this. When I heard that, I thought, that made me really concerned. Can I just ask you, are you having any thoughts of taking your life?

So just move toward it directly, immediately? And then who else might be close to that? We could, would you be comfortable with bringing anyone else in this conversation? Because I was concerned. Signal court sort of ask get permission, maybe get the team around them after but especially suicidality asked directly? If it's other mental health questions. It might be voiced by the concern of what you've heard and then say, is there anyone else who might be comfortable bringing in this conversation, you know.

Erin: There are times we just need to circle the wagons. That's a right image of the wild, wild west, that Oregon Trail when there was a threat, and they would just circle those wagons for protection. There are times when our young people need that. What gives you hope, when you think about young Christian women? We've talked about a lot of concerns. But what gives you hope?

Liz: Man, it's meeting with them on Sunday mornings and hearing, I am continually getting to encounter Jesus in and with them and through them. They, their questions of faith and the things they are wrestling with. Both have this tent of like, hey, we've wrestled with these questions our whole lives, but there's a new spin to them, and new ways the Lord has meaning them in their wrestling. And they're really insightful. They have access to tools, even mental health wise, there's more language and emotion, emotional awareness. There's a little more awareness for the depths of how God can be working. But again, we're lacking that discernment and that kind of like you become a god in the sense of data and knowledge when you've got this thing and Google or Google telling you all the answers.

Erin: Yeah.

Liz: So to me, it's a good day to encounter Jesus with them and kind of be stung by like, whoa, you guys are so far ahead of where I was in high school, really like learning about relationships and dynamics and mental health. They're just a joy.

And they are really resilient in the sense of, they face so many more difficult and horrific things. Because of all that input all the time. You had a really creative and they're very active like these are the ones showing up at the courthouse to protest and want climate change to be addressed and that they're movers and shakers, and are really motivating, beautiful way.

So, my hope would be the Lord's work and then through that generation, like hey, to teach us help us to love well. They're a joy.

Erin: As you're talking I'm thinking, think about the Daniels and Danielle that the Lord is going to is already rising up out of this generation.

Liz: Yeah.

Erin: So, we can even talk about these hard things with a lot of hope you've written a lot of really great resources. We're going to LinkedIn to specifically So as you've been, as you've been listening Listen, if you've thought this is my girl, we want to put these tools in your tool belt one is The Question Teenagers with Suicidal Ideation Need You to Ask that asking directly piece but you'll get some good tools in that article. Another one is Loving Our Students with Depression: the God Who See. Liz, how do we learn more about Rooted?

Liz: Yeah, I'm gonna give you one more resource because I have a book coming out May 31. That is called Anxiety: Finding the Better Story.

Erin: Oh yay! Can you come back on Grounded when you get your book out? We'd love to have you back.

Liz: I would love that. Yes, it's called Anxiety: Finding the Better Story and it's the 31 day devotional for teenagers so that would hopefully meet them right where they are. And you could go through with them or use a devotional style. So, it could be groups, but yeah, May 31. You can Amazon that sucker right now. And yeah, so did you say tell me about Rooted?

Erin: Yeah, tell us where to find Rooted

Liz: Yes. So, if you go to RootedMinistry.com, you're going to have access to blogs and podcasts. And there's a yearly conference that we have that is helping equip anyone with a student be parents or be a youth worker, or pastor or head of a church who has no youth ministry, to love students to disciple them toward lifelong faith in Christ. And this is a passion project for more than a decade.

So, I'm so excited to put rooted in the hands of, of anyone and everyone was started by a bunch of youth workers just in our spare time saying we want to help other people think biblically and theologically about loving and caring for their students and equip them to disciple well, so check out RootedMinistry.com. Shoot us questions if you have any. There's also curriculum now, this video curriculum and hardcopy curriculum that mainly just go look for the free resources of blogs about mental health and about and everything from mission trips to teaching to discipleship. Yes, let Rooted and serve you, we’d be so happy.

Erin: Okay, Mama's grandmama's run. Don't walk to that URL that she just gave us, Liz. Let me just say thank you for loving young women. Well, thank you for awakening us the Church, to the need to love young women. Well, it oozes out of you, your love for them, your care for them. So, thank you for that. Thanks for being a champion for them. And thanks for being on Grounded.

Liz: Thank you so much for having me. And for dignifying these women, I'd say it's every age, you have so much to offer the teenagers in this world, we all think like oh, I can't connect. At every life stage, you have something to offer the students in your church and in your home, or in your family. Thanks for loving them and encouraging folks to love them.

Erin: Amen. That's the perfect segue for you. Portia, you're going to point us to a place in scripture that talks about that exact principle. Liz didn't know that, but we just might need to recruit her as a Grounded host and take it away.

Portia: Yes, absolutely. I was just thinking that she said we all have something to offer. That is 100% true.

Here at Revive Our Hearts. We celebrate the discipleship model that is given to us in Titus 2 verses 3-5. That passage calls older women to invest in younger women, okay. And younger women are called to see the wisdom of older women. And so, today's Grounded episode is for you because you are older than someone Okay? May not be the oldest person in your church or your family, but you're older than someone and there's a lady, a young lady who needs your wisdom, your prayers and your example. So, we've got a short clip for you to listen to from Susan Hunt. And y'all know how much I love Susan. Susan, if you're watching hey. And she's gonna be sharing on the unstoppable power of women investing in other women. Check it out.

41:21 - Video Clip (Susan Hunt)

Susan Hunt: When Titus 2 discipleship begins, it is unstoppable. It will not be confined to assign groups. It becomes a way of life. It changes the culture of a church.

It makes church feel more like family. But some of you are saying well, I'm not an older woman yet. Last summer I did a Bible study on biblical womanhood for middle school girls. And at the end of our time together I asked them to write about a Titus 2 woman in their life. Kate, a 12-year-old who is our youngest grandchild, wrote about to 20 something year olds in her church. This is Kate’s story. “We're seeing two girls at my church who are making a huge impact in my life as they disciple me, Kristen and Autumn can give their time to us younger girls every Sunday to teach us about Jesus. During the week they text me and the other girls in our family group, Bible verses and wise advice to Help us make good choices as middle school students. We also share prayer requests. We have built such close relationships, that when girls have gone through tough situations, such as parents getting divorced, family members being diagnosed with cancer, or struggles at school, we can share with the group and no we will be prayed for. I'm so blessed to have Kristen and Autumn in my life, their life givers who teach me more and more about being a life giver.”

Dannah: I love that I love it when we start loving on our little girls, God's little women.

Now, I know we've been talking about teen girls a lot today. But you can see Susan was talking about those tween girls and I have a special invitation for you. If you have a girl in that age group, the ages of 7 to 12 if you have a daughter or granddaughter you want to be resolved to live for Jesus if you want her to see the world's lies and reject them because she's so rooted in truth. This is for you! Save the date: April 28. I'm appearing with my True Girl tour team in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area for one of the last True Girl pajama party tours. We're about to retire this curriculum. And you might say yeah, I don't live in the Harrisburg Pennsylvania area. That's okay. There's two ways you can join me.

You can come live in person and I would love to see you and hug your neck. Or you can join us online because we're live streaming this event. And we're hoping to have the world's largest pajama party. We're calling it True Girl Global, because we have girls joining us from all over the world we already have women signed up from South Africa, Scotland, Latin America, UK, Canada, we're going to worship together dig into God's word party in our PJs because that's what girls do. The curriculum is based on my best-selling book Lies Girls Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free.

During the night the girls are going to learn a three step process from the book to identify lies and replace them with truth. I have actually set up a special code just for my grounded sisters to say 50% off the livestream, the code is wait for it Grounded. You know that word? Go to MyTrueGirl.com Look under Events for true girl global and again the coupon code exclusively for my grounded listeners is Grounded and you will save 50% That means you can host your whole family your whole neighborhood, your daughter and all their friends and their moms or your whole church for just $10! I hope you'll join me.

Also speaking of lies and truth I want to mention a book that we do have for teens here at Revive Our Hearts. It's Lies Young Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free.

Both the books I mentioned today are based on Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth Best Selling Lies Women Believe which God has used to set more than 1.5 million women free. Get a copy of any of those books at ReviveOurHearts.com

Wow. What a good…

Erin: I want to come to the world’s largest pj party.

Dannah: Erin, can come here and you're always invited. You just gotta wear your PJs,

Portia: You’re a mama so you got a daughter, so okay, you go.

Dannah: Go there's, you know, there's something about our relationship that kind of fits into this episode that I think is sort of special.

Erin: Yeah, I was just getting ready to say that I think our Grounded sisters probably don't know the story. I'll give you a quick pop quiz, Dannah. Do you remember how old I was? When you and I first met?

Dannah: I think you were 15.

Erin: Yes, I was 15. And I wasn't suicidal, but I was confused. I was a new follower of Jesus and I had so much to learn. And Dannah, you just spent time with me. That's what you did. That was the formula and look how God has used it all these years later, we’re partnered in ministry together.

Dannah: I know, it's unbelievable. I was saying I was thinking when Susan showed those pictures of those little girls being mentored by 20 something you were 15.

Erin: That was one with fresh young skin like that.

Dannah: So beautiful. And I was in my 20s So it was that saying you were someone younger than me and I was like, let's hang out. And we really did just hang out. That's what we did. We hung out. I'm so proud of the fruit that you have in your life today. Erin It's such a joy for me to get to be a part of it.

Erin: Thank you and I just dug in to just keep beating this dead horse if you got a young woman in your life and you think what difference could possibly taking her out to Starbucks make? Let me be the poster child because it can make a world of difference. So, I hope you will take action.

Dannah: Yep, do it. Don't wait. Yeah, if God bringing some girl in your church to your mind right now, text her or on Sunday when you see her I want you to wrap your arms around that girl and say “God has given me a special love for you. Do you want hang out because I would just love to make sure you have everything you need to walk with Jesus.” She will say yes. Yeah 100% Guaranteed.

Portia: Absolutely.

Erin: It’s not too late to drop her name in the chat. We are going to send that list to our prayer team so put her name in there and we'll get her prayed for that's going to make that process go even smoother. I'm sorry Portia I cut you off.

Portia: You’re fine. You reminded me of two things. I need to go and drop my name in the chat and not my name but the name of the young lady that I disciple, and I need to text her. I hadn't seen her in a couple of days. So yeah, I'm gonna text her today and say “Come on, let's hang out.” And in the meantime, God bless. Let’s wake up hope together next week, on Grounded.

Dannah: Grounded audio grounded audio is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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