It's NOT about me!!!

I've been doing ministry with high school kids for almost 7 years now. This has been a year of tremendous growth for me as God has decided to make it very clear that it's not about me. Imagine that, huh?? :)

I've always had a very easy time finding common ground with the girls that I work with...until this year. The girls God has been drawing through the doors on Mondays could not be more different than me...and they've got WALLS up! I've literally spent entire car rides with them in complete silence. I mean, how long can you ask them questions about themselves without sounding like some sort of investigator?? Several months ago I started asking God for help. That He would break down the walls, show me the common ground, and begin to develop relationships centered around Him, not me. These prayers have seemingly gone unanswered...until last night...

I went to the school yesterday at lunchtime and met a few new girls. I invited them to club for a big spaghetti dinner and they said they'd like to go. Normally, this means "I'm going to say yes right now, but only so you'll go away. I'm blocking your number as soon as I get to my 4th period class." I had plans to pick up 6 girls. I ended up with 5. PTL!

Two of these girls in particular seemed really talkative and open. I really enjoyed our conversations, and then when we got to club they could not stop loving on my kids! That always blesses me to pieces when my whole family gets to do ministry together. :)

After our big dinner it was time for the talk I'd been working on. This was literally one of those talks that I was unsure of until the moment I stood up and began to talk. The Lord calmed my nerves like I could not understand. I guess I shouldn't be surprised...if He can calm a deadly storm he can certainly calm my nerves... At the end of my talk, after explaining the importance of Jesus' raising from the dead, God put it on my heart to have the kids close their eyes and listen while I explained the gospel step by step.

Then came the moment of truth...is anyone in this room ready to accept Christ?? I sure hoped so. I invited anyone who was ready to say "yes" to Jesus to just open their eyes and look at me.

I saw 9 sets of eyes look up at me.

Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus for teaching me that I am only to be a vessel for you to love kids THROUGH me! I can do none of this on my own.

AND, after passing out Bibles to all of these kids and a few others, 2 of the new girls sat with me asking questions about how to read their Bibles and how to understand Scripture for nearly 20 minutes while their friends played in the gym.