Brianna and her friends Carly and Mandy were standing around in the mall when Stacey walked by. Stacey was always dressed in worn out clothes. Right away, Carly and Mandy started saying nasty things about her. Brianna started talking about Stacey, too. She didn't really know Stacey, but she wanted to do what her friends were doing. Well, their voices must have been raised louder than they knew because Stacey looked at them sadly, put her head down and walked away. The three girls started to talk about something else.

The next day, Brianna was sitting in homeroom waiting for the day to start. Some girls she only knew a little bit were sitting behind her. They didn't see Brianna sitting there because their backs were turned. To her surprise, Brianna heard the girls start to talk about her. "Did you see the sweater Brianna is wearing?" one of them asked. "Yeah," answered her friend. "Did you ever see such a stupid-looking picture on a sweater?" The girls laughed and then started to talk about someone else. Brianna felt sick as she looked down at her sweater. She didn't see anything wrong with the picture on it. In fact, it was one of her favorites. Now she felt just awful about it. She took it off and folded it up and carried it around with her the rest of the day, even though she got cold.

When Brianna got home from school, she went straight to her room. She was supposed to be doing her homework, but she just couldn't keep her mind on it. All she could think about was what those girls had said about her. She tried to comfort herself with the little kid's rhyme, "sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." It didn't work. As she lay on her bed thinking about all of this, her eyes went to a picture she had on her wall. It was a poster she had made in church and it said:

When you talk, do not say harmful things. But say what people need - words
that will help others become stronger…Ephesians 4:29

"Yeah," she thought. "That's what those girls should have done." Well, all of a sudden, Brianna remembered how she and Carly and Mandy were talking meanly about Stacey. "Oh boy," she thought. "I shouldn't have been doing that. I didn't do what God's word said. Now I know how bad it feels when people say bad things about you." She knew what she had to do. Right then and there she told God she was sorry…and she really was. She asked God to forgive her…and He did.

Brianna felt better, but she knew God wanted her to do one more thing. At school the next day, Brianna went and found Stacey and apologized to her. Stacey could see that Brianna really meant it and she forgave Brianna. Slowly, over the next few weeks, the two girls started talking and becoming friends. Brianna found out that Stacey's father had been sick and out of work for a long time. Stacey really needed a friend, so Brianna became her friend. Sometimes, Stacey slept over on Saturday night and then went to church with Brianna on Sunday morning. Brianna was glad that she and Stacey were friends. She asked God to help her not to talk badly about people…and He did.