"You told?!" I screamed at her, forgetting to keep my cool.

"What?" They would have found out sooner or later.

It's no big deal", Tristen said nonchalantly.

"No big deal?! This could ruin my reputation", I shot back.

"Whatever. Come on, it's almost time for class", Tristen said, ignoring my comment and dragging me out of the restroom.

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"Honey. are you okay?'" Mum asked me.

"Yeah", I answered.

"You haven't eaten anything", Mum said, looking down at my plate.

"I'm not really hungry", I said,pushing my plate away from me.

"Can I have your food?" David, my little brother, asked me.

"Sure", I said, pushing my plate towards him.

He quickly grabbed it and wolfed down the food.

"If you need me, I'll be in my room", I told Mum and headed towards my bedroom upstairs.

The tears that I was holding back poured out as soon as I plopped down on my bed. I know that Gwen's comment was only the beginning of more teasing and torture for me. I had seen it happen a lot of times and I had no doubt that the same thing would happen to me. This was exactly why I had kept the fact that I was a Christian a secret for so long. Then I stupidly told Tristen. I knew telling her was the right thing to do but look at where it has led me to. I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, too lazy to take a paper towel. I absentmindedly opened the Bible app on my phone. The Verse of the Day was Romans 1:16.

Romans 1:16

I am proud of the Good News, because it is the power God uses to save everyone who believes - to save the Jews first, and now to save those who are not Jews.

Then it dawned it on me. I shouldn't be ashamed of the fact that I am a Christian. I then remembered that there was a verse in the Bible which said that if we are ashamed of Jesus Christ here on earth, He will also be ashamed of us when He stands in front of God. I decided to make some notes in my notebook. I saw some notes that I had made last Sunday. It was like the words were just speaking to me.

Luke 14:33

It is the same for each of you. You must leave everything you have to follow me. If not, you cannot be my follower.

You must leave everything. I must leave my pride, my reputation. Everything. I had to pay the costly price of following Jesus Christ. I really liked how Jesus Christ was totally honest with us. He didn't tell us lies or sweetmouth us to tell us that everything would be perfect once we followed Him. Instead, He told us the truth by telling us that life as a Christian was not going to be easy at all.He also promised that He would always be with us. I wish I could be that honest. I instantly realized that I had made a terrible mistake.

"Thank you for telling me the truth and showing me that following you is very costly. God, I'm so sorry for not being honest with my friends and being ashamed that I am a Christian. Please forgive me. Help me to overcome the trials that come with being a Christian. In Jesus'name, Amen".