How do you deal with the pressure to do drugs?

The pressure to do drugs or to have sex to be cool is definitely there. But the definition for “cool” is messed up. You are cool for not doing drugs or having sex. And if your friends put pressure on you to have sex, do drugs, or lose weight when you don’t need to, then they really aren’t very good friends.  It sounds like they are insecure about themselves, and even if they’re not aware of what they’re doing, they’re really just trying to get you to sink to their level to have some company. If these are the standards that we have put on each other, where does God fit into our lives? What happened to His standard?

I used to think that if I did drugs, all my problems would disappear and everything would be okay again. It seemed to work … but only for a little while. I’ve been through many things, and one time I was feeling so bad and so down that I just flipped the Bible open. It opened to Psalm 91:

He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence…. his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day…. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. (Ps 91:2-5, 11)

This really started to make me want to fix all the problems I was having – really fix them. Then, I wanted to help fix the problems that others were having as well. I knew that God gives His “angels charge over” me, that He is always guarding me and taking care of me. I knew that this truth was my hiding spot when evil was trying to tempt me into making wrong choices. And it helped me to know that God gives us each our own importance.

But you have to believe, and you have to pray for yourself. If you rely totally on others to pray for you to help you, and if you think you don’t need to do any of your own work, then you will never get your healing. But when you decide to pray for yourself and rely on God, everything will get better. It did for me.

-- Dana, age 14, CO