Actually, the bully problem is the easiest problem, because it’s easy to explain that there are bullies in the world! The problem is the rest of the girls in her class! Many of them are in her Sunday School class at church and are fellow GAs. She is perhaps a bit behind them in maturity. She seems more like an 8 year old. It doesn’t help that she is overweight. (But so was I and her two older sisters at that age, and we all weigh less than 110 lbs. now, so I’m sure it’s just a growing phase.) She is innocent and sweet and wants to get along with everyone, but the rest of the girls are in cliques and are not very friendly and welcoming. I know it goes with the age, but I also know it’s only going to get worse in Middle School. I tell her to keep her distance from the bully and make new friends, but nobody is willing to be friends.

It is heartbreaking to see this beautiful girl so unhappy. I try to give her practical advice, and I tell her it’s a normal phase of growing up. Girls just seem to be that way at that age, but it doesn’t hurt any less. I have gotten her involved in activities outside of school, and hopefully she will be making some new friends through those, and I have encouraged her to make friends with girls who are younger, since she seems to have more in common with them. I’ve also told her not to try so hard. (Girls seem to smell weakness!)

She knows God loves her the way she is and she prays about her situation, but do you have any coping mechanisms that I am missing? I know what she must be going through. I was a 5th grader once, but at least I had my own little group of misfit friends to hang out with, so we could all be rejected together!

Philippians 3:12-14

This is my favorite becuase it encourages me, becuase I know that I am not perfect, but I press on to leave the old things behide even though it is still a temptation. Pressing on in Christ. There is a reminder of who I am in Christ. Please count me in too.