Looking Back

FROM SEPTEMBER 9, 2013“THIS YEAR I DECIDED THAT NOT HAVING A NEW SCHOOL YEAR WAS NOT ENOUGH FOR ME. I NEEDED SOMETHING NEW TO BE A PART OF. I AM EXCITED TO START SERVING AS ONE OF THE LEADERS FOR THE CHURCH YOUTH GROUP ON SUNDAYS. ALTHOUGH IT MAY BE TOUGH AND OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE AT TIMES, I FEEL THAT IT WILL GROW ME AND STRETCH ME IN POSITIVE WAYS. I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT MAY ENTAIL BUT ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT I AM BOTH NERVOUS AND EXCITED TO SEE WHAT GOD DOES IN MY HEART AND HOW HE USES ME TO SERVE THE HEARTS OF THE STUDENTS AT LAKE TAPPS. THIS LAST SUMMER I LOOKED BACK AND I HAD COMPLETED A YEAR LONG CERTIFICATE PROGRAM AND THAT WAS A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT AND A TOUGH YEAR. NEXT YEAR AT THIS TIME, WHAT WILL I SAY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR? I CAN’T WAIT TO FIND OUT. “

Wow, 3 Years and a lot of fun memories and stretching times that I have had. Serving in youth ministry has been such an amazing time in my life. After I graduated from college, life was hard, I didn’t know what do do or where to connect. Most of my friends had moved on to other areas of the country and I was left alone. It was filled with a lot of dark feelings and I never felt growth. Well God was working in me even when I didn’t realize it.

In the fall of 2013, I had the opportunity to serve in the student ministry at my local church. They had just hired a new youth pastor and I figured it why not start something new. The first few months went okay and there was a sense of transition for everyone. I remember that one of the things that we wanted to do was start discipleship groups. Well for me that was way out of my comfort zone. I thought helping out one day a week was hard enough. It took a while, but that spring I contacted 2 students and we started meeting in the park in the afternoons. After a while we added a few more students and after two years still were meeting and studying the Bible together. It has been so exciting to see those students grow in the Lord, serve with them on missions trips, and watch them attend discipleship intensive weeks to learn how do it themselves with their friends.

I have enjoyed talking with students, getting to them and what they are into. Building relationship is so important and the encouragement from someone taking an interest in you is something that I loved having when I was growing up in high school. It is one of the main reasons why I want to serve.