i just got home. i got on Facebook, only to be pleasantly surprised by a message in my inbox. a girl i know from wyldlife apparently reads this now, and i guess she was encouraged by it. this got me really excited. see, when i started this, i had no expectations. no goals. no idea of where it would take me. but since then, i've started posting often, just random thoughts that pop into my head, and sharing my life. i've learned a lot about myself, too.
apparently if just my plain old thoughts and my life can encourage someone, then i should definitely keep sharing. so i've decided to make a goal for this blog: i want to keep sharing my life and my thoughts, but also share how i've been learning and growing in Christ, in hopes to keep encouraging people.
i know not many people read this. i don't care. at first, i was weirded out that anyone read it. but now i'm thinking, who knows? if my life can encourage one person, maybe i could have an effect on other people, somehow. if it's a possibility, then i'm definitely gonna try.
this also got me thinking about the crazy effects we can have on people's lives. just one person living out the gospel can make a world of difference in the lives of many. how do i know? it happened to me. i was in 8th grade when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the weekend after she was diagnosed, a girl from school (who i wasn't friends with, but her mom was friends with my mom) called me and invited my to Rockbridge for a Wyldlife weekend. i had never heard of Wyldlife, or Rockbridge. i think that she only called to invite me because her mom made me.
before i go on with this story, there's something you should know about me. before i knew the Lord, i was dead and broken. like most of us. but i was not at all like i am today. i was quiet, with few friends, and i never really felt any kind of emotions.
so i went on the Wyldlife weekend. my mom made me. i had this crazy thought that she would die while i was gone, so i was afraid to go. when we got to camp, though, i experienced what you have probably already experienced if you're reading this and you've been to YL camp. i experienced Christ. i saw girls that were happy. they had tightly bonded friendship and their friendships seemed to go deeper than any of my [few] friendships did. these girls seemed to feel things i didn't. seeing these girls, and our leader, Carey, living their life in such an admirable way made me want the same thing. and 2 years later, i realized that the difference was that those girls had Christ in their life, and i gave my life to the Lord at Sharptop Cove.
those girls at camp in 8th grade never really talked to me about the Lord. Carey did. but seeing the Lord in the other girls was what really made me want it. i saw it the same through my first years of high school. they lived their life differently, like they had something to live for. just seeing girls around me live for the Lord made me start to pursue a relationship with Him, and they didn't even have to talk to me about it. but imagine if they did. do you think it would have taken me 2 more years to start my walk? i don't.
so this is for my girls: i pray that you'd realize the power you have to change lives. you may not realize it, but girls look up to you. especially if you are an upperclassmen. so use that to further the Kingdom of the Lord. i know you can do it. when i look back at high school, i see lots of wasted time. lots of relationships i didn't pursue. i see people i was mean to for my first 2 years, and people i thought i was better than. don't do that. i try not to regret anything. i think that regrets are mistakes you don't learn from. but you don't want to look back and see missed opportunities. you have the opportunity to change your school. so take it. love well. i love you all.
"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." ~ 1 Thessalonians 2:8
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