With Joy-Anna already married and Johannah being way too young to be engaged, the Counting On community’s eyes are on Jana Duggar once more. Now 27 years old and still unmarried, the eldest Duggar daughter continues to be the enigma of her conservative Christian family. If members of the official Counting On subreddit are right, however, Jana Duggar’s rebellious streak, which has been mentioned several times on 19 Kids and Counting , might still be alive and well.
Back when 19 Kids and Counting was still being shown on air, many viewers and the younger members of the Duggar family mentioned that Jana is mostly quiet and that she just likes to sit in the background. According to her fraternal twin John-David, however, Jana was full of spirit when she was younger, as noted by this previous report from the Inquisitr .
In fact, John-David even went so far as to describe Jana as “rowdy.”
Looking at Jana’s history with the family, it does seem like John-David’s description of his twin sister is pretty accurate. As recalled by several members of the Counting On subreddit, Jana herself admitted that she went through a phase of “pridefulness.” The eldest Duggar daughter also attended Journey to the Heart , a strict, intensive conservative Christian camp run by the Institute of Basic Life Principles (IBLP), which was previously headed by the controversial Christian leader Bill Gothard.
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The JTTH camp is described by the IBLP as a way for young people to discover their faith in a way that “they have never experienced before.” Lasting 10 days, the program is pretty intensive, with some members of the Free Jinger forums speculating that Journey to the Heart is probably a “re-education” camp, where attendees are forced to face their sins in order to trigger a renewed commitment to their faith.
While Jana’s participation in the Journey to the Heart camp is not that unique, the fact that she was sent to the camp multiple times is quite interesting. On the one hand, Jana could have simply wanted to head to the camp in order to take a break from her chores in the Duggar household. On the other hand, she could have been sent to JTTH multiple times to ensure that her rebellious spirit was adequately tempered.
In a lot of ways, it seems that Jana’s stints in the JTTH camp happened roughly around the same time when the family was still actively hiding Josh Duggar’s molestation scandal. As mentioned by a member of the Counting On subreddit, rumors were even flying at the time stating that Jana was having a difficult time “keeping sweet” to her older brother.
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Apart from this, Jana’s interview after Josh’s engagement announcement, where she seemed to be thankful that her older brother is about to leave home , appears to be telling as well. This was directly addressed by a member of the Counting On subreddit.
“In light of everything that we now know, I find the fact that Jana was actively praying for her 18-year-old brother to ‘find someone’ (was) soooooo telling. And creepy.”
Today, Jana remains unmarried, which could mean one of two things — one, she is probably not being married off by JB and Michelle Duggar so that she could continue to raise her younger siblings; or two, she could be actively trying to hold off on marriage in order for her to avoid giving birth as soon as she is married off.
“I have recently realized that (maybe) she is the ‘smart’ one, holding off on marriage as long as she can so she doesn’t have to start spitting out babies so soon. She is pushing 30 now, so that cuts off about ten years of having babies so far (20’s thru 30’s). Maybe that’s her whole plan.”
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Overall, Jana seems to be quiet and reserved most of the time, but sometimes, during interviews, a flash of her eyes and some witty comments seem to suggest that the oldest Duggar daughter might not be as tempered as what some Counting On fans believe her to be. Maybe, just maybe, Jana’s rebellious and rowdy spirit lives on.
[Featured Image by Duggar Family/ Facebook ]