So one of the areas I help out in at my church is in the Youth Group. Last Sunday was my turn to teach in the first service. It has been about two weeks since the group got back from summer camp and it is so cool to see how they have gone and are going through so many changes. God is doing such amazing things in each of their lives and I have a front row seat to see it! Something happened to their faith while at camp and they came back with such a crazy love for each other and God that is contagious. I can see how God is using their fire to ignite even the rest of our church. At the end of class we had a time set aside for prayer, so I broke them up into three groups and it just so happened that the rowdiest kids ended up together in one group. The other two groups quickly got right to sharing prayer requests and then started laying hands on each other and praying. I decided to walk over and join the “rowdy” group and attempt to help them focus. We went around for prayer requests and here is what they asked for: Cami, needed prayer because one of her closest friends died on July 4th from cancer; Elizabeth, needed prayer because she was sad that her parents won’t let her participate in some youth activities because they are struggling financially; Avelino, needed prayer for the friends he is hanging out with because they are mean; Mark, wanted prayer because he misses his family. His mom has passed away and his sister is in Las Vegas. They prayed for each other and there was not one dry eye in the group, all of them had tears of comfort as the Father embraced each one of them in the midst of their burdens and secret heart aches. My heart broke again for each one of them and I felt the love of God for them. His presence was so thick within the circle as they held each other’s hands and cried for each other as they carried one another’s burdens and lifted each other in prayer.
It would have been so easy to just give up on those kids. To think that they didn’t care about praying and assume that they couldn’t focus and pray. Yes, they were a rowdy bunch but God loves them and wanted to minister to them. I’m really going to miss these kids while on the race, watching God move in their lives builds my faith more and more everyday.
