The Public Schooled Christian - Interview with Isabella Daou

Hello there, friends! 

Today I have the owner of presenting an interview with my friend Isabella from Inhuman Passion. This is part of the blog tour for Isabella's new blog, The Public-Schooled Christian: resources for Christian teenagers who attend public school and want to live out their faith.

So without further ado, let's get to the interview! 

 

1. All right! Welcome, Isabella. Could you introduce yourself for us?  

Hi! I'm Isabella, a 15-year-old Christian who lives in North Carolina. 

I have grown up in a Christian family and was baptized when I was 9, but I realized the seriousness of faith in Christ and truly started living for Him at 13 years old. I started writing about Jesus at 14 years old, and here I am now—starting a blog about living for Jesus in public school.

 

2. What made you decide to start this blog?

As you might have realized, I go to public school. School has been a big part of my journey with Jesus--in good and bad ways.

When I was younger, I didn't feel a lot of opposition for Christians in school--probably because I wasn't yet a deeply rooted Christian myself. I truly got to know Christ in the summer between 7th and 8th grade, and it was when I re-entered normal school after quarantine (in 9th grade) that I realized how hostile public school is to Christians.   

There are so many temptations and challenges for Christians in public school. I've had people ask to cheat off of me on assignments, I've been unsure of what to say in gossip-filled conversations, and more. School, even if you take away the academic aspect, can be downright challenging for Christians. Many times during the school year, I wondered, "How am I supposed to respond when someone asks me this question?" or "How do I glorify Christ when I'm put in this situation?"

I began to look up resources for public-schooled Christians online, but found few. There are some resources for parents of public-schooled Christians and public school teachers, but almost none for the students themselves.

I still felt that I needed guidance on how to live for Jesus in school. And I knew I couldn't be the only one.

So I decided, "If there are no resources for public-schooled Christians on the internet, I'll make my own." That's why I decided to start The Public-Schooled Christian to give guidance, tips, stories, and encouragement as others go through the journey of living for Jesus in school with me. I am hoping that the blog will encourage public-schooled Christians to be a light even when it may be uncomfortable or difficult.

 

3. If you had to sum up the central message of your blog in one sentence, what would you say?  

Christians are called to glorify God in whatever they do--which includes their school life.

There are many Christians who spend time with Jesus at church on Sunday mornings or at youth group on Wednesday nights. But it's a lot harder to follow Jesus in the mundane parts of life--like school.

It's especially hard because people aren't expected to follow Jesus at school. I feel that Christians are expected to be nice people who believe the concepts the Bible teaches. But people aren't expecting us to go out of our comfort zones to follow Jesus. In fact, we're often told that we shouldn't do something if we're not comfortable with it. It's okay to remain silent if we're not comfortable talking to people. It's normal to skip reading our Bible if we don't have enough time. We shouldn't make friends with the outcasts at school because they'll only be bad influences on us.

Those things aren't true. Backing down from doing uncomfortable things for Christ does not proceed from faith. I want The Public-Schooled Christian to push Christians to take up their cross, deny themselves, and put Jesus' commands above their own wants in their school life.

 

4. How have you personally grown from your school experience?

When I was younger, I was surrounded by people at school who either didn't know Jesus or didn't take their faith seriously. So I didn't take my faith seriously, either. I had one friend (who I am friends with to this day) who loved and followed Jesus then. But I was influenced by so many non-Christians because of my other friends and the media I consumed, and I think this caused me to stray in my walk with Christ.

Of course, life apart from Jesus makes things much, much worse. When I was in 7th grade and the coronavirus pandemic hit, I reached a low in my life. I struggled with my mental health, like so many other people did during quarantine. But Covid-19 didn't bring new brokenness into my life. It exposed the brokenness that was already there.

I spent too much time on detrimental things. I watched worldly TV shows--even shows that don't seem bad, like DC's Supergirl, influenced me in bad ways because I wasn't grounded in Christ. I hung out with friends—one friend in particular—who held viewpoints that opposed Christianity. I read books where certain sins were encouraged or portrayed as okay.

In quarantine, I gradually realized that so many things about my life needed to change. I began reading my Bible—a chapter of Genesis each day—and I started to truly love and get to know Jesus. I read the book Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman, which made me realize that I hadn't truly been following Jesus for a long time. But I was now. Soon, I began to overcome my mental health struggles through Christ and build better relationships with media and other people.

Then, I entered school again.

At first, school wasn't normal. Students were masked and only going to school two days a week. The work was easy and it felt like an extended summer. But a couple months later into the year, we re-entered school five days a week, seven hours a day. I spent that time getting accustomed to school again and figuring out how to make time for deepening my relationship with Christ despite the new busyness.

In the summer between 8th and 9th grade, I grew a lot in my faith. I learned to be bold and do hard things for the glory of God. When I entered my freshman year in high school, I realized how hostile public schools are to Christians. I'm not just talking about the concepts taught in schools, though that can be a problem. I'm talking about the people, too.

Though there may be many "Christians" in public school, there are not many people who actually follow Christ. The majority of school (at least, the school I attend) is made up of people who have bought into the lies of the world. People who are not pursuing holiness.

My freshman year of high school pushed and grew my faith tremendously. I learned to go out of my comfort zone to approach new people. I learned to be okay with being different from others. I learned that not everyone who says they're a Christian really knows Jesus.

I learned that Jesus wants me to be a light for Him in school. And now, I'm striving to do that.
 

5. What’s one challenge that public-schooled Christians face?

Public-schooled Christians are often surrounded by people who either don't know or don't care about Jesus. When we have these people for our company, we are encouraged to be like them. To resist this, Public-schooled Christians need a firm foundation and a Christian community.

If we don't have a firm foundation, we will be swayed by the lies of the world and the beliefs of the people around us. We can build a firm foundation by spending time with Jesus, knowing what His Word says. and building relationships with other Christ-followers. Non-Christians from school should not be our main influences. If the world is what influences us, we will become like the world. We need Christ-followers and the Word of God influence us.

It is hard to stand out from the crowd, as Christians are called to do. But if our foundation is built on Christ and we have brothers and sisters cheering us on, it will give us the courage to be a light in the darkness of school.

 
6. Name your top three books that you'd have public-schooled Christians read.  

First, I would recommend the book Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. This book completely flipped my faith upside down. I claimed to be a Christian, but wasn't actually living for Christ for a long time--and this book exposed that. It focuses on Luke 9:23—that we are called to take up our cross and deny ourselves to follow Christ. However, it may not be as helpful if you know that you are truly following Christ.

My second book recommendation is Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris. Not A Fan showed me that my faith wasn't true faith without action alongside it. Do Hard Things showed me how to take action for Christ and gave encouraging stories of how others are doing hard things to glorify Jesus.

Last but not least, I recommend Stand Up, Stand Strong by Sara Barratt. This book dives into how to respond to certain situations and how to defend your beliefs. It talks about a issues public-schooled Christians might face, like how to have conversations about abortion or transgenderism.



Thank you so much to Isabella for joining us! If this interests you, be sure to check out The Public-Schooled Christian and get ready for some awesome faith-filled content, as well as the rest of the posts on the tour:

• August 30th: 5 Ways to Make the Most of the School Year with Eliana the Writer
  
• August 31st: Dear Public-Schooled Christian, You Are Not Alone with Anna Kate Writes
  
• September 1st: Author Interview with Roses of Grace (hey, that's me!) 
• September 2nd: 3 Tips to Overcome Fear with The Public-Schooled Christian
• September 3rd: Your Calling is Simpler Than You Think with Chosen for Christ
• September 4th: Q&A–The Top Challenges a Public-Schooled Christian Faces and How to Overcome Them with The Book Dragon's Alcove 
• September 5th: Author Interview with The Misty Mayflower