Godfearingfeminist

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I'll be sure to check them out :)

Hi everyone I hope you're all doing well during quarantine! I'm extremely bored and have no motivation to do pretty much anything ? I'm an extrovert and really miss talking to people! My boyfriend is a key worker doing 80 hour weeks so we barely even have time for a phone call. If anyone wants to send me a message I'd appreciate it, even just to chat I was wondering if anyone knows of any FaceTime sermons or prayer groups going on online? I've looked on Google but can only find pre-recorded video sermons and tbh I can't focus on them. I need real interaction otherwise I just zone out I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have ? thanks ❤️

I don't understand the part about cheese??

Hi everyone! I haven't posted in a while, but it's nice to be back :-) I just wanted to ask if any of you have ever had to spend Christmas/Christmas Eve alone or without the person you really wanted to be with? (I'm sure it's very likely) I recently moved into my own apartment and have been finding it quite hard to settle down on my own. I'm used to a very noisy household, having 10 siblings and two dogs, and now that I'm all alone (I couldn't bring my dog to my apartment ?) it's extremely lonely. I'm concerned about Xmas this year especially. I'll be going back to my mom's house for the day, but not everyone is going to be there, and since my boyfriend is working Xmas Eve, Xmas day and boxing day, I won't see him at all. This is the first time in 5 years we won't be seeing each other over Xmas. In fact, we're not even going to see each other during the week leading up to Xmas! It feels a bit daunting tbh. Also, his brother just had a baby at the beginning of the month, but he's not going to be allowed to spend Xmas with his new son -- he and the mother are having problems again -- and he's pretty broken up about it. My friend has just moved out as well and is on her own with her three little girls for the first time! She has her boyfriend with her, but she's never had to do Xmas all by herself before -- wrapping presents, decorations, Xmas dinner etc. I imagine is quite overwhelming, especially the first time. Any advice on how to stop feeling so lonely/overwhelmed/anxious? Or do we need to just suck it up and get on with it? I feel kind of childish even worrying about it all, but I can't help it atm. I hope you all have a great Xmas and get everything you've wished & prayed for ?☺️

Warning: there are some dark topics in this post such as bullying, stranger danger, sexual references. Something I think about a lot - not surprising since social media is pretty much ingrained in most people's daily routines these days - is how Christians use and let their children use social media. Are some apps okay and others not? Or do you ban it completely in your household? Do you track your kids activity or put protective passwords on the internet? I've thought about this a lot in the past, but thought I'd post about it now because at the moment, I'm sitting in my 13 year old sister's room while she's on her phone talking to a stranger over WhatsApp. The stranger is a teenager who is confused about their gender. They already had reassignment surgery and now a couple years later they want to change back, so my sis tells me. They're also a self harmer, which I have sympathy for, but I don't really want my sis exposed to any pictures or gory info about this person's experiences with self harm. My sister is mature, but lacks common sense sometimes. The stranger has been harassing her for months, saying that she loves her and that she belongs to her. Even though my sis has made it perfectly clear they're not 'together' this person keeps insisting they are and she knows one of my sister's friends in person apparently. That's kinda creepy. I only use FB and IG for business promotion now, but in the past I've had messages from strangers on IG which turned out to be naked pics or porn, and I'm a bit worried my sister has experienced this too. Of course I can't do anything about it since she's not my child. I've told her to block the person but she says she feels bad if she ignores them as they guilt trip her with sad stories about them. I've got all her passwords so I can monitor what she's doing online. I trust her, she's not an idiot, but I don't trust other people on the internet. (How ironic that I'm posting this on an online forum ?) She's sweet and innocent and smart, never had a boyfriend, whereas her real friends have had boyfriends and girlfriends and done things with them. She knows I don't think she's in the right circle, but she thinks she knows what she's doing. I can't blame her, I was the same at her age, however I always say I was born first so I could do all the stupid stuff so they wouldn't have to. I was hoping they'd learn from my mistakes lol. Point is, the internet can be a dangerous place, especially for kids. For most people these days images of sex/violence, deadly internet pranks/trends and online bullying is normal and not something to be especially anxious about, but for Christians who actually practice what they preach and try their best to keep themselves and their families away from these things in real life, the internet and social media is something worth protecting ourselves and our children from. So I want opinions from fellow Christians. Is it okay to let your kids/younger siblings on the internet unsupervised, or should we block some things? Or can some kids be trusted to obey their parents if they set some basic rules for using the internet? Should kids be banned from social media all together? By kids I mean people under 16. Other than staying in touch with friends, I don't see the point in people younger than 16 having social media. Sure sometimes their picture gets likes and it makes them feel good for a bit, but sometimes they don't get any likes or response on their posts at all and believe me, in a teen's mind the bad will always outweigh the good, whether they're Christian or not. It's like if a hundred people all gave you a compliment. You'd appreciate them, but if someone insulted you, you'd think more about the insult than the compliment. I don't know, maybe I'm just one of those people who doesn't understand it despite my age. I grew up poor and while some of my friends had all the latest tech as soon as it hit the shops, I had to use a landline or my legs to stay in touch with people until I was fifteen, when I finally got my own laptop. I didn't have a decent mobile phone (that I didn't have to share with my 2 brothers) til I was seventeen and even then I never had credit, so I wasn't constantly available to everyone. I just find it weird that such young kids are so easily accessible to friends and strangers alike I guess ? What do you think and what are some good and bad experiences you or your children have had on the internet??

Thanks for the advice. I agree with the thing about broken families. I was raised by my single mother with four siblings, and my father has six other kids from three different women, so there's 11 of us altogether! I always hated not being a 'real' family and I always said I would wait til I'm married and have a real career to have kids, otherwise I wouldn't have any at all. Just want to clarify that I don't want a baby just because other people I know are having them - my boyfriend and I have been together five years and are very happy together, hence why we're currently planning our wedding. I already wanted a baby way before everyone else started having them. My jealousy comes from the fact that I'm the only one in a stable relationship with a job, the most financially and emotionally stable one out of me and these other girls, yet they are the ones getting to have babies even though they're less prepared than I am. It just doesn't seem right or fair to me There's also the fact that they don't even seem to really cherish these blessings. They still smoke and drink during pregnancy and they don't seem to be excited about the baby itself, just the fact that now they won't be expected to get a job, instead the government will pay for them and their housing just because they're pregnant. That's all they care about and honestly I think it's dispicable. Excuse me for being judgemental but that's not what kids are for

Thank you both, PromisesPromises! Your response was very helpful

Rycee here... I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to stop feeling jealous/envious? I've been feeling like this a lot lately for the stupidest reason (so my fiance says). Long story short, I want a baby and have wanted one for almost two years, but we're not ready because of 1. We're not married yet, 2. We don't feel financially ready. I started wanting to have a baby a couple months after I turned eighteen, when we started really planning our future together and coincidentally when I found out my foster sister was pregnant with her second child. Not long after that I met my fiance's baby cousin. She was the sweetest, most beautiful child ever and looks a lot like him when he was little. This only made my desire stronger. I moved out at nineteen and my little sister turned thirteen a month later. There's 7 years between us and 10 years between me and my other sister and I have always looked after them and felt as if they were my own. Now I was away from home and they were growing up, doing their own thing, and I guess that left me with a void I felt I had to fill. My foster sister just gave birth to her THIRD child, one of my old friends just had a daughter, and in July I found out my fiance's brother's girlfriend (we'll call her Connie) is pregnant. I've been extremely envious ever since and no matter what I do it doesn't seem to help. I've never got on with Connie. I tried but always felt there was something off about her. And I was right - turns out she cheated on my brother in law and had to have a DNA test to make sure he was actually the father. She moved in with him and his mother in August and has gotten all the baby stuff delivered there. It sounds petty but I didn't even get a card or present for my birthday cuz my in laws were focused on her. I had to stop visiting my soon to be mother in law cuz everytime I went Connie would brag about all the things she'd bought the baby and we couldn't have a conversation without "the baby" popping up. Sometimes my MIL would blatantly ignore me to talk to Connie about the baby! I've fallen out with my MIL because of it. I ended up homeless at the end of August and she refused to take me in because Connie was there. I ended up roughing it til someone else could take me in. Thank God I have a couple of good friends. My MIL saw no problem with this whatsoever. My fiance got mad at her about it and she told him I was a bad girlfriend and that he should break up with me. Apparently I treat him like a dog and spend his money. Even he disagreed with this completely untrue statement. I've thought about forgiving her but all I have in my heart right now is hate. This makes me feel guilty and very unchristian but I can't help it. I feel like an idiot for letting my envy cause all this, even though I'm not entirely sure it's all my fault? My constant whining about how it's not fair that all these other girls are having kids and I'm not has been getting on my fiance's nerves and we've argued about it a few times. It's really getting me down and I can't stop thinking about it. I guess I'm also jealous that she is now his family's favorite even though I tried so hard to be accepted by them and she did nothing but row and lie and cheat, not to mention having sex before marriage which they say they don't approve of. If anyone can spit me any bible verses that might help or any links/advice/personal experiences with this sort of thing I'd really be thankful. Sorry for the looong post x