It always amazes me how much the Lord teaches me when I'm the one doing the teaching.This past weekend I went home to lead a Disciple Now at my church. I had 9th and 10th grade girls and was PUMPED going into the weekend to get to spend this time with them and talk with them about the Lord. When I found out we had 15, I was a little worried about drama and cliques and whatever else happens among 10th grade girls. I prayed for unity in our house this weekend-- and Saturday night wrap-up ended with them all in a group hug on the couch. SWEET how our Father works.
The theme this weekend was "Becoming." In our lessons, we talked about Paul and how his life changed dramatically when he met Christ. We talked about his "defining moment" on the road to Damascus and about how after his encounter with the Lord, his "message" changed and his "identity" became found in Christ. We talked about what it means to have a Christ-centered message and an identity that is found in Christ and how to apply all of this to their lives.
It was so neat to go through these lessons with the girls. They love the Lord so much, and it shows. They are SO wise, and I saw that many times this weekend. (I found myself thinking more than once, "I wonder if I was like this as a sophomore." I hope that I was, but I doubt it.) I can see how the Lord is working in them and through them, and I can see how they have a desire for Him in their lives. They love each other too, and that is an awesome thing.
In our first lesson, we talked about Paul's "defining moment." Then we did an activity in the book that talked about different qualities of Paul before he met the Lord, as Saul, and then qualities of Paul after he met Christ. The activity was called, "Hello, My Name Is..." and after we read the verses and wrote out the qualities, we talked about how people define others by their qualities and how they associate that with your identity. This reminded me of some things we talked about in Phi Lamb last semester, so I took the opportunity to change the lesson up a little and talk with the girls about their identity in Christ. It was super sweet, because it totally fit in with the rest of the lessons--
We talked about how as high school girls (or just girls in general) the world tries to tell us who we are or who we should be. The world will tell us that we're not pretty, smart, worthy, whatever enough. Because of something we did in the past we're not worth it to Christ or that we have been too bad for Him to forgive us. We talked about how we must be found in Christ and in Him alone. We talked about how our identity comes from Him and from the WORD, not from the world. Then I took the opportunity to be crafty, because girls love being crafty. We gave the girls all t-shirts and iron on nametags that say "Hello, I am" (also stolen from Phi Lamb...) we had the girls write a quality or something on their nametags and then find a verse to go along with it. It was neat to watch them, because I think they really got it. It was cool to spend the extra time thinking on this while making the t-shirts, talking about what it truly means to be found in Christ. Some girls put some really neat things. A few of us put "becoming." I really like that one, because it reminds us that Christ will finish the good work he started in us (Philippians 1:6) and that He is sculpting us into great things. One of my girls put "struggling" which I really like. Her verse was Proverbs 3:5-6 (look it up, it's SWEET.) I like that she put something that most people would see as negative. While I was ironing this on we talked about what it meant. We talked about how even though she is struggling, the Lord is still sovereign over that and He is still working through that. She said some really neat things (again showing how wise my girls are) that I can't remember at the moment, but it was a really neat conversation we had. It was so fun to see all my girls getting into it and digging through the Word at 3am to find verses. :) How cool.
Saturday morning we worked with Mission Tyler on a home for a disabled woman. We worked with the 11th/12th grade guys painting and putting up sheet-rock. I was excited to work with these guys because I am close with a few of them, and feel like I know them really well. I was around these boys a lot throughout the weekend, and discovered once again that they are STUDS. I remember when they were all freshmen, and it is SO COOL to see how much the Lord has grown them and raised them since. Holy cow. How cool, I cannot even tell you. All of these kids worked super hard to get this house painted by the time we had to leave. They all had AWESOME attitudes about it and had a lot of fun doing it, despite having gotten no sleep the night before and it being cold out. They joked and played with each other the whole time and had so much joy about this project. ...they also had joy about painting Mr. Caid's face. Sweet.
Saturday afternoon Bible studies were amazing. I feel like the girls got a lot out of them. We gave them journal/personal time to hang with the Lord for about fifteen minutes after each lesson. We put on music and gave them markers and paper and notecards. It was neat to see them all writing verses and reading their bibles. For one of the songs, I played "Somewhere in the Middle" by Casting Crowns. It has been one of my favorites for a while. I think I just forgot about some of the lyrics, because as I was listening and journaling myself, the Lord just grabbed me:
...but will we trade our dreams for His, or are we caught in the middle?
I was like, "Oh heeey." That totally describes my last semester and what is going on in my life. The Lord has been showing me what it means to put down what I want for His sake. (What it really means.) To trust that He is in control and to run hard. And it hasn't been easy, and I still struggle with it. (LCP knows, oh goodness.) But honestly, there is such a COOL ADVENTURE going on in my life right now! And I am so thankful for the people the Lord has put in my life to share this with and to work at this with and to pray with and love on and build me up. And honestly, it probably wouldn't be there, or wouldn't be this BIG if I had gotten what I wanted last semester. Honestly, it would have gotten in the way. (And I PRAISE THE LORD that you saw that when I didn't.) I know these things, and I love how the Lord works. But it's still a struggle, and that's cool too. He's teaching me so much. I don't have words for it all, so more on this later maybe. At the CHOP last week I wrote "It's about learning to put my own desires aside for the sake of the Lord." I'm learning what this can be like and what cool things the Lord can do when I learn to let go of things.
Saturday night was LEGIT. We played the lightstick game. It's similar to Pine Cove espionage, only not really. Each house has a cross and the kids have to go out into the wooods and find all the lightsticks hung from the bushes and trees. The leaders', or "darkness," is to steal the kids' lightsticks and send them to jail. The lightstick is safe only when it is on the cross. So it's an us vs. them thing. Anyway, I must say this game is way more fun on the leader side. SLASH IT WAS STINKING COLD. :) I must say that I enjoy catching kids and filling my backpack with glowing things. Anyway, the "darkness" won with 85 lightsticks, so go us. The point of the game is to give the students an illustration of our lives as Christians. There are always forces working against us (the leaders) to steal our LIGHT(the lightsticks), but it's our job to protect it and let it shine anyway. With Christ (the cross) we are strong. It was neat to hear the students talk about this around the fire afterward. Steve sort of just left the conversation open to let them say what they can learn from this game. They came up with some really good stuff! (I love my youth group. They are STARS.)
Then Steve took all of the different colors of lightsticks and talked about what each one stood for. (Red- salvation, white- purity, purple-relationships, yellow-treasures?, green-growth, blue-baptism.) He talked about how we cannot become truly like Christ if there are things in our way. (also represented by the leaders trying to steal lightsticks- things getting in the way of you and Christ-- the cross) He challenged the students to think about what was getting in the way of their relationship with the Lord. Then they could hang a lightstick on the big cross to symbolize their committment to work on these things. (To have a relationship with the Lord, or to get baptized, or spend more time with the Lord, or fix relationships... etc.) This part was neat to watch too. When they finished, the cross was mainly green and white. Which I think is SWEET. "Let's clean up the things in our lives that aren't pure and pleasing to the Lord, and let's spend more time with Him so we can grow." You guys rock.
Saturday night wrap-up was really good. Our girls had some awesome conversations and were really willing to share about what they hung on the cross and why. The rest of the night was filled with junk food, hot tubs, t-shirt making, mafia playing and group hugs. Sam and I had a good talk with one of our girls too. It was neat because she is struggling with some of the things I struggle with too- so it was cool to be able to share with her about how the Lord is working/has worked in my life. This girl loves the Lord, let me tell you. It was awesome talking with her.
Sunday morning was sleepy and it was harder to wake the girls up. During Sunday school I think they were all still half asleep. We had a good last session though, and Sam and I had them write letters to themselves about what they learned this weekend and how they planned to apply it. We are going to send them to the girls later in the year to remind them of what the Lord has done.
What a cool weekend. It always amazes me how the Lord can take two days and turn it into an awesome thing for Him. Thanks, Steve, for letting me be a part of it! Thanks Sam for being my co-leader and sharing your heart with these girls. You are such a beautiful daughter of Christ and I love you immensely. Girls, you are wonderful. Please keep seeking the Lord and his plans for your life. Please keep loving each other and encouraging each other like you do. :) Please keep BECOMING lovely ladies that are found in Christ.
What a stellar weekend. What stellar people the Lord has allowed me to know.
Speaking of stellar, I'm off to Singers. :)
Saturday night was LEGIT. We played the lightstick game. It's similar to Pine Cove espionage, only not really. Each house has a cross and the kids have to go out into the wooods and find all the lightsticks hung from the bushes and trees. The leaders', or "darkness," is to steal the kids' lightsticks and send them to jail. The lightstick is safe only when it is on the cross. So it's an us vs. them thing. Anyway, I must say this game is way more fun on the leader side. SLASH IT WAS STINKING COLD. :) I must say that I enjoy catching kids and filling my backpack with glowing things. Anyway, the "darkness" won with 85 lightsticks, so go us. The point of the game is to give the students an illustration of our lives as Christians. There are always forces working against us (the leaders) to steal our LIGHT(the lightsticks), but it's our job to protect it and let it shine anyway. With Christ (the cross) we are strong. It was neat to hear the students talk about this around the fire afterward. Steve sort of just left the conversation open to let them say what they can learn from this game. They came up with some really good stuff! (I love my youth group. They are STARS.)
Then Steve took all of the different colors of lightsticks and talked about what each one stood for. (Red- salvation, white- purity, purple-relationships, yellow-treasures?, green-growth, blue-baptism.) He talked about how we cannot become truly like Christ if there are things in our way. (also represented by the leaders trying to steal lightsticks- things getting in the way of you and Christ-- the cross) He challenged the students to think about what was getting in the way of their relationship with the Lord. Then they could hang a lightstick on the big cross to symbolize their committment to work on these things. (To have a relationship with the Lord, or to get baptized, or spend more time with the Lord, or fix relationships... etc.) This part was neat to watch too. When they finished, the cross was mainly green and white. Which I think is SWEET. "Let's clean up the things in our lives that aren't pure and pleasing to the Lord, and let's spend more time with Him so we can grow." You guys rock.
Saturday night wrap-up was really good. Our girls had some awesome conversations and were really willing to share about what they hung on the cross and why. The rest of the night was filled with junk food, hot tubs, t-shirt making, mafia playing and group hugs. Sam and I had a good talk with one of our girls too. It was neat because she is struggling with some of the things I struggle with too- so it was cool to be able to share with her about how the Lord is working/has worked in my life. This girl loves the Lord, let me tell you. It was awesome talking with her.
Sunday morning was sleepy and it was harder to wake the girls up. During Sunday school I think they were all still half asleep. We had a good last session though, and Sam and I had them write letters to themselves about what they learned this weekend and how they planned to apply it. We are going to send them to the girls later in the year to remind them of what the Lord has done.
What a cool weekend. It always amazes me how the Lord can take two days and turn it into an awesome thing for Him. Thanks, Steve, for letting me be a part of it! Thanks Sam for being my co-leader and sharing your heart with these girls. You are such a beautiful daughter of Christ and I love you immensely. Girls, you are wonderful. Please keep seeking the Lord and his plans for your life. Please keep loving each other and encouraging each other like you do. :) Please keep BECOMING lovely ladies that are found in Christ.
What a stellar weekend. What stellar people the Lord has allowed me to know.
Speaking of stellar, I'm off to Singers. :)
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