Young life is so rad. Young life has played a huge part in my walk with Christ and my decision in going on the Race. Young life is filled with fun, high energy, raw feelings, real moments, and the best friends you’ll ever meet. They challenge you to walk closer and deeper with God and you do the same in return, even if unintentionally.
Here’s what Young Life has taught me!
Living in community is just more fun
It really is! I love my Redlands Young Lifers. They lived closely to me and saw the dark pieces of my life, the middle ground, the great times, and the times of learning. You can’t hide things from people who live in community. They see it all. Sometimes it’s so easy to hide the scary pieces of life from people, when in actuality, its SO much more comforting for them to see you. To see the real you.
Embracing differences
It’s really easy to look at a Christian and believe they have it all together. That their way of praying, worshiping, connecting, quirks, etc. are just better than anything you can do and that you should mimic them. I’ve learned and embraced the differences of others and that I don’t have to mimic them. I love their different styles of prayers and am so thankful they don’t sound like me. I rejoice in their unique way of worship. I love their individual quirks, embrace their personalities, and adore their laughter.
How to feel all the feels
Growing up, I’ve had this idea of the “perfect Christian”. The one who is even tempered, never sins, and everything comes easily to them. WHOA WAS I WRONG. Jesus got angry! Jesus got sad! Jesus felt ALL THE FEELS.
When I realized that, I got mad and sad and a lot of other things that were so healthy for me to feel, that I didn’t realize I was allowed to feel.
You WERE made for this
You really were! You were created in His image to love him, follow him, praise him, tell people about Him. You really were made for this. It’s just a matter of following that calling.
Jesus really does begin when you’re comfort zone ends
I rarely live my day-to-day within the boundaries of my comfort zone. It feels so much greater to let God do what he wants to do with my life, conversations, journeys, etc. I’ll pray over strangers, I’ll dance on a table, I’ll fall on my knees—all for the Lord.
You’re story is important and needs to be heard
I struggled with this SO much. I hated telling anyone anything about my story or myself. I went through Young Life leadership training my senior year of college and we had to share testimonies and I totally cheated everyone out of mine. Basically all I said was, “my parents died and now I love Jesus”. Ah man, have I beaten myself up over that one.
Recently, I had the chance to redeem myself from that situation. I was in the car with someone who was present at leadership when I shared my “testimony” and while in the car, he asked me about my family. And I responded with, I cheated you out of my testimony last year, let me start all over.
Thanks Bam.
So now, I’ll tell you anything. Because it’s not my story, it’s His. And it needs to be shared.
Here’s a video from a club talk I did for Young Life last week about the journey in saying yes to the Race.
Because… Y the L not???!!!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzG6SgCv2x1nNXhMNGhaWVdsd1U/view
