Nadia Diwah arrived at the large Cathedral hall with a booklet at hand and walked to the pulpit. The youthful congregation watched their church youth leader as she took the podium microphone.

Ever since she was elected by the church officials as the church youth leader, the area youths and beyond had been attending church services regularly through her stupendous religious knowledge and all-pervading influence. She was known to have the best manner and conduct of life maxims and morals, and she was always obedient, respectful, dutiful and submissive whenever she interacted with anybody. With as well her virtuous, upright, honest and moral character, she was a dedicated and disciplined leader who was highly respected and valued by anyone who knew her, inside and outside the church.

She looked at the congregation in their seats and gave them a quick smile, "Good afternoon, brothers and sisters?"

The congregation of five hundred youths replied back relaxedly.

"I am happy the Lord Almighty has given us once again this opportunity to learn and gain more knowledge among ourselves." She happily addressed, "Let us start the program with a word of prayer."

The crowd stood and a gentleman in the front pew offered to start the prayer. The prayer took a minute long before they all resumed back on their seats.

"Brothers and sisters." Nadia looked across the hall, "Today we are going to learn from two questions I received this week. I went through the questions with the church counseling team and I am confident we are going to be satisfied with the discussion." She opened the first page of the booklet in her hand, "Here is the first question; Dear Nadia, I hope you consider my question and help discuss it. Today's world is greatly consuming us into sins. We come to church and can get touched by a summon, but the next day, the summon is washed away as we continue interacting with the world and all that is in it. I am usually filled with sorrow and sadness when I see my fellow youths engage in activities that gradually close their Heaven Gate and open the Hell Gate. To me, the ignorant are not as worse as those who today learn about what God has forbid, and by tomorrow, they still do the same acts. Therefore, my question is this; how can we ensure the teachings we learn and acquire from our programs and services live with the youths permanently? How can we make sure these teachings stay with us and never get washed away by worldly activities?" She came back and looked at the crowd. All the eyes in the hall were on her.

"The question touched me." She said, "The lives of youths get worse in every generation. This generation is the worst, and the wonders the youths do is unimaginable. The generation and the world of today blind the youths in doing acts of unimaginable extremes. We live in a detestable, abominable, horrible and hideous world that is all our doing."

"Brothers and sisters, there is only one way on how the youths of today's world can live in a moral and righteous path. That way is through the Almighty our Lord. What the youths need is to know and realize our Heavenly Father, and believe in Him. If you believe in Him, have His knowledge and realization, do what He has ordained and stay away from what He has forbidden, He will direct your path righteously. You will have the knowledge of right and wrong, as He will be the one directing your life. If He directs your life, there will be no way pressure or influence from worldly activities can control you. Our Lord can never lead you astray and let these pressures and influences destroy your life if you believe in Him and do what He says in the Bible. He can never do that because He is a loving and caring God."

The congregation shouted Amen with spiritual excitement.

"Brothers and sisters, the Almighty leads perfectly. He has the power of absolute perfect lead, because He leads us in our favour; for our own sake. He leads with an omnipotent decree of going to hell if we do what He forbids, which are the things that affect our lives, health and thrive. So, brothers and sisters, if you get knowledge about the consequences of negative acts and life, the only way it can be a part of you is when you believe in God at heart and have his knowledge and enlightenment. That way if you are in the demanding world and pressures of life and regularly pray for God's guidance, He will always show you the best guidance. All you have to do is trust in Him, regularly pray for your sins, guidance, direction, well-being, and performing what has been written in the Bible. You should also choose friends and be in the company of people who share the same values and beliefs with you. When you do that, the Almighty will never abandon you. What He usually does is test you, never abandoning. If you are patient with the test, He will open the doors of your success and the ways to live righteously. The main two things you should have are TRUST and PATIENCE."

The congregation applauded with satiation, showing contentment from the question's answer.

"The second question..." Nadia continued while turning pages on her booklet, "This is an important question that will enable all of us freely interact among ourselves without feelings of doubt, vacillation or demurral. This is the question; Hello Nadia, I am a lady in college with strong religious values and knowledge. I always attend church services and youth programs in the church, which has made me learn more about our religious doctrine. In college, I met a gentleman who is also religious and God-fearing just like me. We became friends and got along very well. We share a lot and have a lot in common. This makes us do almost everything together, including studying, having meals and touring different places around the city. My problem is that I now find myself developing strong feelings towards him. I am also sure he has these feelings because he gives me gifts, attention and he even constantly reminds me how special I am in his life. He respects me and values my opinions, which further increases the feelings I have towards him. We even pray together and sometimes come here for church services and programs. I am afraid of these feelings because it is feelings that can make one sin. I have been regularly praying for guidance and direction. Maybe God will finally answer me through you. I don't know if these feelings are wrong. Please help."

"This is an important question to us, the religious youths." Nadia looked at the crowd, "Feelings exist in all human beings, sometimes strong feelings that confuse us or make us uncertain of what to do."

"Nowadays we interact freely together in colleges or universities, and even in high schools, because of a variety of reasons. You may need the opposite sex in revision, group work, or to study together because he may understand a particular subject of study much better than anybody else you might know. Then during the study, you may create a bond and become friends, and then you get to know each other more every time you revise or study together, which strengthens this bond of friendship in yourselves and lead to strong feelings of attachment among yourselves."

"It can also happen that you get along very well with an opposite sex from getting attracted by their strong characters or any particular feature in their nature, which may make you start interacting with them regularly. And as you interact, you may find that you share a lot in common and your tastes and preferences are similar, thereby growing your friendly bond stronger. This is what results in strong feelings towards another, just like in the case of the lady in the question."

"But it is not wrong or sinful to have these feelings. We were all created with them. How to manage it when it occurs is what is important. You can serve the Almighty God comfortably with these feelings, but only if the other person values the special friendship you will be having. If he values the friendship, he will respect both the religious and your standings on matters that are wrong and right. If both of you are religious and God-fearing, you will be able to manage a mutual friendship based on Christian values. This will make you serve the Almighty without doubts and guilt between yourselves. Communication will help you achieve this comfortably and easily. If you are both friendly towards each other and find your interactions comfortable and fond, you will be able to communicate freely between yourselves, which you should. Communicate and remind each other to be observant of the rules and laws of the Almighty. Remind yourselves regularly never to breach these rules and always pray for the Almighty's direction and security in your friendship."

"But if the person is not God-fearing and tries to influence you on the things you know are sinful before the eyes of the Almighty, then such a person is not worth in your life. What he may achieve is taking control of your feelings and blindly lead you astray. Sometimes that can be easy because feelings are very delicate and fragile. Therefore, never let this happen. End the friendship and pray for courage and strength to forget about this person. The Almighty will help you because He also knows how delicate feelings are. Keep on praying and avoiding this person and the Almighty will wash away the feelings you have towards him. It will not take long for you to be freed from these feelings."

A round of applause filled the hall with satisfied impressions from the congregation. Nadia happily smiled. She knew and trusted in God that the program would be a success and satisfactory among the youths in the church, just like it always was the case.

They took an hour in Bible group discussion and services before Nadia finalized the day's program with a word of prayer.

After the church service and program, Nadia returned back home with precious news for the family.

"Oh, sister, this is unbelievable!" Evelyn Diwah proudly gushed while looking at the sister's university calling letter, "You are actually going to Crownzone! I wish to be there, too, one day."

"By the grace of the Almighty, you will." Nadia wonderfully smiled.

"Do me a favor when you get there." Evelyn's manner was still proud as she spoke, "Challenge every male student in your medical field. Come out on top in the field."

Nadia amusedly smiled, "That is a beautiful thought, but it will be the Almighty's will. It is only He alone who plans the future. Maybe He can put me on top."

Evelyn exhaled merrily, "Oh, Nadia, if only I can hold such a letter one day!"

"You will, sister. Just study hard and be devout. He will answer your prayers and dreams."

"Amen, sister." Evelyn was still gushing. The Almighty had answered a prized prayer in the family. All praise be unto Him.

Nadia herself was over the moon with the university calling letter. She had been putting all her hard work in high school while hoping and praying that at the end of the studies, she would be called to the most prominent university in the continent. And it paid off. The hard work and prayers bared fruits just as she had hoped.

Now she knew she would put the same hard work and prayers to emerge the best or one of the best medical students in the university. This had always been her dream, for she had a special prayer with God to make her the best doctor in order to be helping and saving lives with the skills. It had been her dream, and it seemed it was half done. The university would complete it just as per her wishes and prayers.