Dear high-school freshman Christina,
Did you ever imagine this?
You are going overseas for two years. Going to Ireland to do youth ministry and community outreach.
Let’s rewind.
After you started going to youth group again your sophomore year of high school, you truly made your faith your own. You decided that you were going to be obedient to the Lord’s voice, no matter where He may call you.
You graduated college with a Biology degree, and you may never use it directly. You graduated with no intention of going to medical school anymore. But the Lord has given you peace about having a science degree and going into ministry full time.
During your junior year of college, you studied abroad in Israel for a few weeks. Even though you thought you were going to go to Ecuador for a Biology trip, the Lord directed you to go to Israel. During this trip, the Bible became even more real for you. Being in the places that are in the Bible made a black and white page into vivid color. You learned how important it is to look at context and background of things in Scripture.
You led a mission trip while you were in college. While leading this trip the Lord truly broke your heart for children. He revealed to you that you will be working with children and families for your life. Leading a mission’s trip to West Virginia, you were able to recognize the skills of leadership and responsibility that God has placed in you.
Did you ever imagine this?
You counseled at Camp JIM (where you went as a camper) for three summers and then interned there for a year and a half. As a counselor, you learned what it meant to lead a group of 8-10 children every week. To have honest conversations with them about life and God. You developed your passion for prayer. As an intern, you were pushed way beyond your comfort zone. Other full-time staff saw the potential in you that you didn’t even recognize. Through your internship you saw what it meant to be doing ministry full time. That even though sometimes it got incredibly hard, it was still SO WORTH IT. You had conversations with people you didn’t know. You became more vulnerable and began trusting the Lord even more. While at camp, you learned what the true body of Christ should look like; what it meant to be a part of a community of believers that love you no matter what.
The Lord has been teaching you to be confident in the woman that He has created you to be. You are support raising, meeting with people. You are willingly talking to people.
I know you are thinking “that’s crazy, I wouldn’t ever do that.” But girl, you are doing it. And let me tell you, you are loving it. Meeting with people and sharing where the Lord is calling you to, and how He has led you to this point has given you joy. You have always loved hearing other people’s stories, and support raising is a time to do just that. Through meeting with people, you have been more encouraged than ever, and you have continued to grow in that passion you have for prayer.
Did you ever imagine this? Well, believe it. Because you’re doing it.
~Sincerely, 23 year-old Christina