Knowing Jesus Christ has been the grace that gets me past each day and keeps me going but if you're younger than I am, allow me to share some things I've experienced with you. I DON'T know it all...by any means, but maybe I can help someone.
1. Your parents weren't perfect...but they weren't entirely wrong.
2. Marriage does not fulfill you. It can be a blessing if you marry the right person who loves God, loves you, works hard, is faithful, and is committed to your joy. It can also become your worst nightmare if any of those factors start failing.
3. Money is important. Especially as a woman. Save early. Not so you can splurge and be wasteful, but so you can be financially secure, have less high blood pressure, have to talk to creditors less, and have to depend less on anyone else for your basic needs. Btw if you live in America, start a "ROTH IRA" as soon as possible. You'll thank yourself later in life.
4. Enjoy your singleness... you won't realize the level of free joy and liberty you are enjoying until you're no longer in it. Enjoy living alone. Enjoy silence. Enjoy your own schedule.
5. Place value on your gifts, talents, time and intellect at an early age. That way no one sells it cheaply for you or takes it cheaply when you're older; whether in the name of friendship, faith, or even love.
6. Only You as a human being, can ever really have your best interests at heart (after God) because only you live in your head and know where the shoe hurts. Others may try to understand you, but they can only try.
7. Do not, under any circumstances, think that your help comes from man. As good as a human being can be, they are never fully altruistic and their motives still stem from an inherent sin nature driven by the desire for gain. For themselves. Even help comes with its price. P.S. the government is not your sugar daddy.
8. None of the disappointments listed above should stop you from wanting to help people, be a giver, serve, love, desire marriage, or run from intimacy. Just know what you will encounter and prepare as adequately as possible for it to lessen the pain enough to really enjoy the blessed parts of it all.
9. Life is hard but you are strong. With God, nothing is impossible and this too shall pass.
10. As you go on this road, you WILL lose people. Someone, at some point, that you care for, will go. You can't ever really prepare for it. It just happens. But you will learn to live afterward. I promise.
11. Everything you think you know now, will someday be superseded in time by what you will know in the future. Because you are ever-learning. Maintain your Godly principles and faith in Jesus Christ, but be aware that you will learn, grow, and sometimes have your world rocked and restructured by your growth.
12. You will be hurt. By people you didn't expect. By those you love the most. But you'll be alright. Don't let it change you. Please.
13. Be faithful. For God's sake! For your sake, be faithful. At work, at school, and especially in relationships! What's the point of tying someone up into your life in marriage for instance, having the same last names, and then being unfaithful? At the very least, have the sense not to commit them to you if you're not ready to commit yourself to them.
14. Have children after you get married. At some point. If you can't have them biologically, adopt! They will change your life for the better. You will gain a better understanding of God's love when you have children... it's pretty amazing. If you have them biologically, please watch the process of delivery. This too will change your life, 😂
15. Spend time with your family. I can't justify this enough... let's just say it's like telling you to save money. You won't understand the importance of doing it until you don't have the privilege anymore.
16. Learn how to forgive quickly. Why? Not because you aren't justified...probably not because you don't deserve revenge even... but because you will be offended faster than you can process the offenses or create acceptable rationales as to why they occurred. So it's easier to just let them go and move on with your life.
17. I promise!!! You don't need as much cable and regular tv programming or even movies as you need to read books and watch documentaries. (Btw buy REAL hard-copy books... virtual ones will change info and can be taken down. But hard copy books will have more value and can't be erased.)
Study. Watch videos on YouTube on different topics if possible. It'll be better than watching seasons of tv shows making money for others and adding very little to your intellect. Believe me, as unbelievable as it sounds now, learning history, knowing biographies, and understanding science, technology and government will make your life more valuable.
18. A cute person without character or integrity will devastate your life. But a person with integrity and character still needs to work on their looks. Girls, a man with money is a really really good idea. But if you only have a choice between money and love, choose love. It'll seem to suck at first without money, but money will come with hard work. Love can't be bought.
19. You are never too old to learn a skill or a new activity. The older you get, the harder it will become and the more time and brainpower it will require...but it is not impossible and you can do it. Enrich your life.
20. Read your bible all your life. You will NEVER know it enough till the day you die. Its supernatural nature being the Word of God keeps it opening up deeper dimensions of knowledge you cannot anticipate. Do not let anyone tell you it isn't valuable, that it is flawed, or that it is simply another piece of literature. It is the single most important book you will ever read. It is relevant to everything from sex and family, to nanotechnology and transhumanism. God tells you the future from the past and not knowing this book will leave you constantly not understanding your world or yourself and the gift of hope and eternal life you should have in the midst of all the things I listed before this.
21. You are different from everyone else. You have a unique purpose to fulfill in this world. Even in a room of a thousand people doing the exact same thing you are doing, there is a dimension you bring to it that no one else can. God intended this. God knows you in the midst of billions and you are not a mistake. You did not evolve by mistake from primordial goo and apes. You are intelligently intended, purposefully designed, and eternally loved by your creator. All your mistakes have been anticipated and paid for.