Its funny how life
works out. For so long in college, I felt the
desire to lead a middle school/high school girls bible study. I never
seemed to be in a position in college where that bible study worked out but
here I am back at the church I grew up in and God has so firmly planted me in
the middle of an amazing, AMAZING, group of girls that I get to do life with.
From my Sunday night bible study to the Sunday school class I've had the
pleasure of co-teaching this year, I feel so incredibly humbled and blessed
that God chose me to get to have even a small part of these girls lives.
This past Friday
night, we had a sleepover at my house for our Sunday school class. I always get
really excited about these events and then last minute I go into panic mode
over having teenage girls at my house. I'm telling you, some days 25 really
catches up with me! But, the blessings that those six girls have brought to my
life this year are too numerous to count.
I went to bed Friday night listening to the sweet sound of laughter and
renditions of Taylor Swift songs coming from my living room. I woke up Saturday
morning knowing that friendships had been strengthened and developed through
lots of laughter Friday night and I was overwhelmed by the blessing God gave me
in allowing me to witness it first hand.
The older I get, the
more time I spend with these girls, the more I realize what a responsibility it
is to be a positive influence in their lives. I constantly find myself
thinking, "I can't tell the girls to do this if I'm not willing to do it
myself." But what I've realized over the past few weeks is that I learn as
much, if not more, from them every day than they ever do from me. They've taught me so many things this year
and its hard to narrow them down but here's 4 things they've taught me over the
past few months:
1) Our actions and
investment in others' lives often speaks louder than our words:
These girls have
taught me that some times people need to know that you care about them and love
them more than anything else. What I've
learned from these girls is that often it’s the investment of time that someone
makes in our lives that makes the biggest impact. I've had the opportunity the
past few months to pick one of my six girls up before bible study on Sunday
nights and I don't think she'll ever know how much those car rides together
mean to me. Whether she's telling me about some boy at school or I'm taking her
with me to buy milk and dog food, I so deeply cherish that time together simply
because it gives us time to laugh and be ourselves. She knows I care about her
and I know she cares about me. Spending time with these girls and watching them
on Friday night at the sleepover has taught me that some of God's biggest
blessings in our lives come in the form of friendships we never even saw
coming. God places people in our lives every single day. We each have a
responsibility and will be held accountable in regards to how we handle those
people in our lives. Sometimes people have to know we're willing to invest time
in things they care about before they will ever listen to the words coming out
of our mouths. If you want to make an impact in someone's life, start investing
time there. Don't just expect them to listen to what you have to say if you
aren't willing to let them know how much you care.
2) God created us
each in our own unique way and when we live in that, we works so wonderfully
together
If you look at each
of these six girls you see six EXTREMELY different personalities but when you
put them all together, you see a beautiful tapestry of lives that God has woven
together. The six of them are a beautiful remind to me of the body of Christ.
Just like the six of them, we each have unique talents, goals, dreams, and
gifts that God has enabled us with and when we use them to glorify him, the
richness of blessing that overflows creates a ripple effect on those around us.
These girls love each other and they paint the perfect picture to each of us
that fellowship in a body changes everyone's life in a positive way. It allows
the uniqueness we each have to come out and it allows us to be the people God created us to be, no
fear of judgment, no fear of rejection, just people living in the full life God
has promised.
3) We don't have to
live in drama, we can overcome it and we can move past it
As with any group of
teenage girls I've ever met, there's always drama at some point. Lets be
honest, with any group of women I've ever met, there's drama at some point. But
what these girls have taught me through all the drama of life is that 1) it's
bound to happen at some point, 2) it doesn't have to consume you or define who
you are, 3)If a 13-year-old girl can forgive her "mean girl" and move
past drama, as a 25-year-old I can too. I feel like at some point in the year
I've seen each of these girls deal with different situations of drama in their
lives and I've seen them come out stronger because of it. I've seen them set
aside their own feelings of hurt, disappointment, and anger and I've seen them
take steps to make amends even when it was the last thing they wanted to do.
I've seen them be real and honest about their feelings and I've seen them take
a deep breath, trust in God's plan, and begin to make changes in their lives to
let go of the hurt and drama. In those situations, they have challenged me more
than I ever wanted to be challenged. They've caused me to look at situations in
my own life and because of it I feel like I'm learning more and more every day
to let go of the hurt, anger, bitterness, and resentment and walk in a unified
body of believers building each other up instead of tearing each other down.
What I've realized about myself is that I'm a selfish person and sometimes, a
lot of times, I don't want to let go of the hurt/drama in my life. Sometimes I
choose to stay in drama which it the total opposite of what God has called me
to. This year I saw these girls write letters of forgiveness to mean girls in
their lives and I've seen them live that out. If they can do it, we can to.
Sometimes it take a simple reminder that it's not about us and more about who
God is in us.
4) When trust is
broken we have to look back at the one who will NEVER betray our trust
This morning in
Sunday school, we had a hard conversation on trust. We talked about the hurt
that comes when someone betrays our trust and how it's often hard to let our
guard down to others once we feel like we've been betrayed. We talked about the
importance of having trustworthy people in our lives and we talked about the
qualities that make someone trustworthy. We talked about the importance of
knowing someone in order to trust them. But what we also talked about is that
sometimes, even when it's hard, we have to let go of the hurt that comes from
broken trust. We talked about the importance of being an example of God's love
instead of seeking revenge or further hurt on the one that we can no longer
trust. These girls want to live like
this. I see it on their faces and I hear it in their comments. They want to be
different from their classmates and they want to live and love people like God
commands us to. They want to show unconditional love even when it isn't easy
and they make me want to live like that. The only way to do that is to be
secure in our faith and trust in the one who died for us. In order to do that,
it's vital we know the character of God and the love he has for us. It's vital
that we look at the sacrifices He made for us and the unconditional love he
pours out when we really don't deserve it. When we take our eyes off ourselves
and look at little higher, we begin to trust in the one who made us and the
hurt doesn't seem as strong.
I sit here today, so
overwhelmed and blessed by God allowing me to know these girls. As I said
before, I've learned more from them then they've probably ever learned from me.
They make me want to be a better person and they remind me that God uses each
of us to touch and impact lives, regardless of our age. I pray with everything I have that I can
continue to be a positive influence in their lives. I pray that our little
family that's grown this year can continue to grow and impact lives around us.
I pray that when one falls, the rest are there to help their sister up. And I
pray that they always always always know that no matter where they go, they are
loved and they are making positive changes in lives around them. God has
created each of them to be uniquely them, and I am convinced that he has big
things in store for their lives. I look forward to watching how he uses them
and I look forward to the things that they continue to teach me as we walk
through life together. Just like God wants to use each of these teenage girls, He wants to use YOU too. I pray that you know people love you enough to invest time in your life. I pray that you see the unique gifts God has enabled you with to impact others lives. I pray that past/present/future drama would not define who you are or leave you bitter and broken. And most importantly, I pray that through it all you would know the one who will NEVER disappoint or betray your trust. May that leave a resounding hope and joy in your life that overflows in all you do.
No comments:
Post a Comment