“Girl, you will not believe what she said to me!”

“What did she say?”

“She told me that she was going to tell her Mama everything I told her about me and Antoine. Can you believe that?”

“What? See, I told you not to tell anybody what happened. You could have gone on and did what you needed to do that no one would have known but me and you.”

“Yeah, but I thought she was my friend. Not only that, I thought she could keep the secret because she is his sister,” Tameka said.

“Well, what did you expect? You told her that you went to the clinic to be checked for an STD that you thought her brother gave you. Duh!”

“Yeah, well she didn’t have to tell. I don’t have a disease. I’m straight.”

“Girl, you barely escaped! I told you not to have sex with him in the first place because of all the rumors about him. But you are hard-headed and you don’t even listen.” Rachel was a little frustrated at Tameka because she did not listen to her, but she was her friend and she needed to still be there for her.

“Ray, you are the only person in the world who is not having sex. You won’t even go down on a boy and that is not sex at all. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you are going to have give it up in order to have a boyfriend.”

“Girl please, I am not trying to go to hell just to have sex. I have my personal beliefs and I just believe that it’s not all about sex. And by the way, oral sex is real sex, Boo!”

Rachel and Tameka had this conversation quite a bit. Although Tameka chose to do her own thing and Rachel did hers, it never stopped them from being friends. Tameka always appreciated Rachel for never passing judgment on her or trying to place her personal convictions on her.

“So, do you want to go to my church’s youth explosion with me or not?” Rachel asked.

“Oh, yeah I’ll go. I always like going to those things with you. When is it?”

“Tomorrow night at seven o’clock.”

Tameka would occasionally go to church with Rachel just because she was her friend. But she always ignored when they talked about salvation and giving your life over to God. Blah, blah, blah! She always thought it is just babble.

Tameka felt that she had so many things she liked doing that she was not going to get saved ever, or at least not until she had lived it up and did everything she wanted to do. Besides, she was not a bad person, she did not do drugs or smoke. She didn’t even curse. Her thing was, she liked boys and how good it felt when she had their total attention regardless of how she got it.

“Tameka, this time can you wear some decent clothes?” Rachel asked. “I was not feelin’ that mini skirt you wore the last time you came to my church.”

“Yeah, whatever! You’re just jealous that I was getting all the looks and you weren’t. I'm a hottie, honey. You better know it!” Tameka always got a kick out of teasing Rachel about how “hot” she was.

“Whatever!” Rachel said.

When they walked in class, the boys were all over Tameka. She always got attention because of her “hottie, hoochie” attire. The boys seemed to like it and so did Tameka.

Since finding out that Tameka was sexually active, Rachel prayed all the time for Tameka. Her thing was that she wanted to see her friend turn her life over to Jesus Christ and stop living the way she does. Here they were in the 9^th grade and Tameka had been having sex for two years now.

Rachel thought that this last scare with her possibly having an STD would slow Tameka down, but it didn’t seem like it did. As Rachel watched Tameka and a boy in class pass notes to one another, she said a small prayer under her breath, “Lord, please let something be said or done at church next Friday that will change Tameka’s heart and cause her to commit her life to You. She needs You now more than ever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

After the bell gang, Tameka walked over to Rachel and said, “Guess who’d coming over to my house after school?”

“Let me guess, Lil’ Joe. Tameka your sister just took you to the clinic yesterday and you are going to be with another boy today. Didn’t that visit to the clinic scare you? And what about your parents? Are you afraid that they will find out?”

“Girl please, don’t nobody care about me for real. My Mama works two jobs and my daddy it too busy with his new family to have time for me. The only reason Angie took me to the clinic was because she wanted to prove to me that I was going to have an STD. She can’t stand me fore real either. I just let them do them and I do me. Don’t nobody care.”

Tameka’s home life was in such shambles that she found her own way of coping and that was to ignore everyone and do what she wanted to do. No more and no less. Of course that was not right and Rachel always asked God to show Tameka her true value and worth instead of banging her over the head with Scriptures and Christian babble (as Tameka always put it).

“Tameka, just be careful okay? And call me tonight, girl.”

“I gots this, girl. I gots this!”

Rachel got on the bus and headed for home while Tameka stayed for cheerleader practice. That was their daily routine – ride the bus to school together, each lunch together, go to their last two blocks together and Rachel would ride the bus home and Tameka would stay for practice after which her sister would pick her up and drop her off at home.

Tameka’s sister Dana was in college and she worked in the evenings. So for about four and sometimes five hours, Tameka would be home alone until Dana or their mother would come home from work. She had it made. She could do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and no one ever knew about it. It was the life… or so she thought.

Around 6 o’clock, Lil’ Joe showed up and Tameka was ready. She changed into a little tank top that revealed her belly and some cut off denim shorts with flip-flops. When Lil’ Joe saw her he was really aroused and wanted to “jump her bones” right then and there.

“Come on in,” Tameka said as held the door open. “You already know the way to my room.”

Lil’ Joe went straight to Tameka’s room. When she got in there she turned on the radio and popped in a slow jams CD she downloaded and burned just before he got there. By the time she turned around, Lil’ Joe was standing behind her. She reached up to hug him and before he kissed her he said, “What do you want to do?”

“Anything you want to do,” Tameka said.

“Anything?” Lil’ Joe asked.

“Yeah, anything…”

“I know it’s gonna rain today! You got on clothes that cover up your flesh! What’s up with that?” Rachel could not believe Tameka had on some decent clothes. She really did not think Tameka even owned any decent clothes.

“Not this morning. I really don’t feel like it.” Tameka was serious.

“What’s wrong with you? Did Lil’ Joe come over to your house last night?” Rachel whispered so no one could hear her.

“Huh? Oh, yeah he came over?”

“Well, what happened?” Rachel was expecting the usual tell all by Tameka.

“You know, I’d rather not talk about it. Let’s just ride to school this morning and not talk about it, okay?”

“Okay,” Rachel said as she turned and looked out the window.

Rachel noticed that Tameka really was not herself all day long. She barely said anything at lunch and during their last block she noticed that she and Lil’ Joe did not even talk or even look at one another. Rachel did not know what to think.

After class, Rachel asked, “Are you going to tell me what happened last night or am I going to have to ask Lil’ Joe to tell me?”

“No, Rachel its no big deal. Please don’t get involved.”

“Did he hurt you?” Rachel looked Tameka up and down to make sure she was okay.

“Oh, no he did not hurt me. Look, I will see you at around 6:30 tonight, okay? I’ll need a ride to the youth explosion because Dana won’t be able to bring me.”

“Okay. As long as you’re alright. I’ll see you at 6:30.” Rachel rode the bus home wondering the entire time what could have happened since yesterday to make Tameka act so differently.

She better not be lying to me that Lil’ Joe did not hurt her, Rachel thought.

Later at the Youth Explosion

“I had such lose self-esteem and self-worth that I gave my body to anybody. The more I had sex, the lower my self-esteem and self-worth got. Until one day I got on my knees and asked Jesus to come into my heart and change me. It was then and only then that I was freed from the bondage I was in.”

The lady who spoke at the youth explosion was so real. She shared with everyone how God had delivered her from a life of prostitution. She said that she had done any and everything you could imagine and she was miserable doing it. But because her self-esteem and self-worth was so low, she did whatever it took to get attention from people, especially the opposite sex. She dressed provocative, did drugs, smoked… you name it. But she always remember stuff her grandmother told her about Jesus and how He could deliver her from it all and she got on her knees one day and got saved.

“So, if you are here today and you are suffering from lose self-esteem and self-worth, if you are where I once was in life and felt that you had to do whatever it took for attention I want you to know that Jesus is the only attention you will ever need. If you want to be free from pleasing people, free from low self-esteem and low self-worth I invite you today to come to the altar and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He will fill that void in your life and you will never be the same. Will you come?”

Before Sister Deborah finished speaking, Tameka nearly ran to the altar. Rachel was in total shock as she ran behind her to be with her friend. Tears were flowing down Tameka’s eyes by the time Rachel made it to her. All she could do was thank God for answering her prayers regarding her friend. They both stood at the altar hold hand and in tears.

When services had ended and they got a chance to really talk, Rachel asked, “What brought this on? Why now? You always said that you would ‘never get saved’ or at least wait until you are old.”

“When Lil’ Joe was at my house he asked me to do some crazy stuff… train, get with other girls, let him do certain things to me. I was like, ‘What?!?! Oh, no! Not me!’ So I kicked him out of the house and I sat there thinking… Am I this out of control that he would think I’d do that mess? What kind of person had I become for him to even ask me to do those things. All kinds of questions just popped up in my head. So I head this voice say to me, ‘Stop.’ That’s all it said. Then I kept thinking about how you say God talks to you and I knew it was God’s voice. It had to be. I didn’t want to talk about it today because I didn’t know what to say or how to say it. Then after hearing Sister Deborah talk, she said everything I feel. Her life was so much like mine it is unreal. The only difference is that she contracted AIDS and I just had that STD scare! While she was speaking I heard that voice again say, ‘Stop doing your own thing and let me help you. You won’t regret it.’ I knew it was God then so I decided to let Him help me. ”

“Tameka, you just don’t know girl! I’ve been praying for you and praying for you. All I can say and do is thank God. I can only tell you that you won’t be sorry. This is just the beginning…”

Indeed it was just the beginning for Tameka and one she knew would be the beginning of a great life! Especially with God and Rachel as her friends.

mPOWERd Questions:

1. What is low self-esteem?

2. What is low self-worth?

3. Can you find Bible verses that can help a person overcome low self-esteem and low self-worth?

4. Is sex bad?

5. What does the Bible say about sexually immorality?

6. The power of prayer was a big deal in this story. What type of prayer did Rachel use for Tameka?

7. Why didn’t Rachel beat Tameka over the head with Scriptures?

8. Do you think it is necessary to always quote Scriptures and talk about the Bible?

9. Was Rachel a living example of the Bible to Tameka?

10. What does the Bible say about being a light to those around you?

11. Can you list other examples of people in the Bible who influenced the people around them by their lifestyles alone?

 

The above story is fiction. However, the events can happen in real life.

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