"We All Have Problems"~ Advice Column by Nadia

Dear Nadia:

I want to talk to my mom about dating but how can I bring up the subject without making her think I want to date right away?

Wondering

Dear Wondering...
If you don't have a great relationship with your mom, you might want to start small and just start trying to talk to her more - asking her about what her life was like when she was your age, how she dealt with issues that you're dealing with right now - drama at school, doubting your faith, etc. - or just small-chatting with her about anything, from favorite colors to current events. If you're already pretty close to her, you could ask her about what her mom used to say to her about guys, advice her mom had for her about dating and stuff, when your mom started dating, her tips about it, or whatever. If you don't want her to think that you're interested in it, you can tell her that right off the bat. Hopefully she'll understand! God bless you!

Dear Nadia:

Ive seen so many things that say or imply that God loves everyone. Does he REALLY love everyone? Even the non-Christian? Murderers? Terrorists?

Freaked

Dear Freaked, there's a line from a song that says, 'God's love is amazing, steady, and unchanging.' So, God loves us all from birth and if His love is unchanging, that means He loves us 'till we die, right? Yup. It may seem unimaginable, but God loves EVERYONE... that means Every. Single. Person. In. The. Whole. Wide. World. He sees the good in each person, no matter how little of it there is. He gave us free choice and even when we abuse it, He still loves us and longs for us to come back to Him. God's love is unconditional and there are SO many scriptures about it in the Bible - John 3:16, the stories of the Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalen. However, even though God loves everyone, in the end all people receive their judgement (which is according to God's standards, not ours) which means that God will examine the motives and underlying details in the lives of those murderers and terrorists and He will send them where they deserve to be. Bottom line - it may seem totally unbelievable and unfair and humiliating that God loves us just as much as he loves people who kill babies, He loves slave masters just as much as He loves the best Christians... but think, isn't that an amazing love that can look past even the most flagrant crimes? And that love belongs to Y-O-U! In the end, though, God will bring each and every person to justice. God bless you!

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