Monday, October 21, 2013

Find Your Passion

Over the summer, I had a conversation with Ms. Chappell about finding your passion before you get into a serious relationship, because once you're in a relationship, if you haven't found the passion God instilled in you, your passion changes.
While we were having the conversation, I was pretty sure I had found my passion over the past couple of years, but as it usually is, I wasn't completely sure.

I am positive now.

The summer after I graduated, I started helping out with youth ministry at my old church.
I was teaching 7th/8th grade Sunday School and helping out with youth group on Wednesday nights. I was loving it....up until Winter Break.
That's when it hit me that I was trying to pour out something I wasn't being filled with.
That following summer, I took a step back from youth ministry to focus on my spiritual growth.
It took me until that November to find something for myself, and that was only after I gave up the search to God. He knows what's up and what's best.

Anyway, I spent the rest of that year growing in my faith and focusing on my relationship with Christ. Best decision ever, by the way. It was a year of change that needed to happen. & it was a year of God preparing my heart for what was to come.

That following summer, I took Tim to Tribes, which is the Jr. High ministry at Park Ave. I took him because I knew he needed an outlet for community, and a lot of my friends volunteered there.
I was going to stay because I was Tim's ride, but I went into thinking that I shouldn't just start volunteering because of my past experience. I just wasn't sure I was ready to be in that position again.
So, I went and hung out that first night. Maybe twenty minutes into it I was sold. I knew that I had to do youth ministry again, but I was still hesitant because I still wasn't positive that I was fully prepared for it.
I ended up sitting on that concept for the next week. That following Wednesday I told Richie that I was totally going to start helping.

That first year of helping out with Tribes was an incredible one. There were times I didn't feel like I was capable of leading some of those kids, but with the strength and wisdom of God, I created connections with the youth, and I knew there was something more to it than just a volunteer opportunity.

I am in my second year of helping out with Tribes, as well as Breakaway [high school], and God is continuing to reveal to me that this is where He wants to use me. It may not be forever at Tribes & Breakaway, but I do know that He put the youth on my heart for a reason. He is using me to lead these kids into relationships with Him, and that is awesome!
I get to create these relationships with these kids, seeing who God has created them to be, and I get to walk with them as they walk with Christ! It's kind of insane that I get to do this.
I never really had a youth group leader, let alone youth group, at this age that walked with me as I walked with Christ, but knowing that I get the opportunity to do that with these kids is surreal.
I get to share the Gospel like this...ahh!! That's freakin awesome.

I just read back to what I started with...finding your passion before you enter a serious relationship. None of this is to say I am going to do that anytime soon. Quite the opposite actually... But this is where I want to be, made whole and ready by Christ, before I become someone's wife. I want to glorify the Lord together with my husband, and God is going to use this passion He instilled within me to do just that. How awesome is that?! I'm pretty excited.
Right now, though, He is still showing me how big and great He is, and how He plans to use me in ministry to advance the Gospel and grow His Kingdom.
This is a journey worth taking.
This is a passion worth having.

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