Chapter One
What's Going
On in There? Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond
number; but my dove, my perfect one, is unique.(Song of Songs 6:8-9)
It's either happening already, or you've heard that it's going to:
You're growing breasts.
Hair is appearing in new places.
You're sweating more.
You've got the body odor thing going on.
You're gaining weight or getting taller by the minute.
Your friends are talking about starting their periods.
You're giggling one minute and crying the next.
And in the middle of it all, you're looking in the mirror and saying, "Who
are you and what have you done with me?"
This time in your life-between about eight and about thirteen years
old-is when more changes are happening in your body than have ever happened
since that first year (when you had to triple your weight, grow teeth,
and figure out how to walk!). It can be a confusing time-a time when you
want to shout to your body, "What's going on in there?"
Hopefully this will be a help to you: "What's going on in there" is normal.
All these changes are because of something called puberty-and it happens
to every girl and has since God first started making females. And probably
every girl has had the same questions you might be having.
Girlz WANT TO KNOW
LILY: Everybody talks about "When you hit puberty ." What is
puberty, anyway?
Puberty is the time when your body starts producing two new hormones it
hasn't produced before.
RENI: Swell. So what's a hormone?
A hormone is a chemical that's produced in a certain organ or gland and is
then sent to another part of your body to go to work. The two new hormones
in puberty are estrogen and progesterone.
ZOOEY: I have chemicals in my body!? Why? What are they doing
in there?
They're slowly turning you into a woman.
Estrogen causes
the development of your breasts (time for a bra?)
the widening of your hips (think of it as curves .)
the growth of all that extra hair in your arm pits and pubic area
the production of more oil in your skin and hair (enter pimples and
greasies!)
the thickening of the hair on your legs (break out the razor!)
your new interest in boys (They haven't gotten any less absurd-you
just don't mind as much!)
Progesterone, along with estrogen, causes and controls
your period
HOW IS THIS A God Thing?
You may find yourself wanting to ask God, "How come I have to go
through all these pimples and all this embarrassing hair and all this crying that
comes out of nowhere? Couldn't there have been a better way?"
In our minds, it might seem easier to wake up one day with a mature
body, clear skin, and perfect coordination-but would that really be better?
People would also expect you to act like a full-grown
woman-and where would that come
from?
God made growth-all kinds of growth-a
gradual process that takes time. The slow
appearance of hair, the day-by-day way your
breasts grow, the trial-and-error you have to
go through with your emotions-that's all part
of God's plan for you to have the time to get
used to the idea of becoming a woman.
Hopefully, by the time you look in the mirror
when you're eighteen or twenty, you're
going to pretty much like what you see. The trick
is to make it till then, right?
That's what this book is about: helping you to understand
"what's going on in there" and giving you some hints
on how to grow with it, physically and spiritually.
As always, there might be some obstacles, so let's try
to get those out of the way right up front.
BODY BLOCKER #1:I'm So Far Behind Everybody Else!
Maybe you're twelve and all your friends are getting their periods and
wearing bras-and you still look, and feel, like a little girl.
If you have a brother who asks you, "Hey, Sis,
when's the breast fairy gonna come?" or you just
have the fear that you're never going to catch up,
just remember these things:
It isn't a contest! You'll get there at the right time
for you.
You are your own unique self. God has already
planned how and when you're going to grow into that.
(Continues.)
