Youth Group Leadership

February 28, 2011

Never before have I been gathered with a group of volunteers, adult and student leaders for youth group, that I have developed and experienced such amazing love and a feeling of family as I did on Saturday. To hear everyone's story of how they met God, their struggles, their hopes, their dreams, their passions and to seal those with the prayers and declarations of God was AMAZING! As people spoke over each other, it was so filled with the spirit of God that we couldn't stop. It was a long, long day, we tired, but we're family, we couldn't deny anyone the experience of such a blessing.
I think the thing that blessed me most was when we prayed for Isaac. My thoughts had been gentle giant, like a redwood tree whose roots grow so, so deep. As he sat in the chair and one after another prayed for him, the same things were declared, "walking calmness, a quiet peace that surpasses understanding, a welcome gentleness, quiet and reserved, but greatly missed if he wasn't there". The beauty of it was the look on his face, of almost surprise and shock that these things were being said about him. As if he had no idea what he brought to the group, as if he thought he wouldn't be missed if he was absent. 
His reaction reminded me of the day I walked into Starbucks by the mall. I had a bunch of kids there, teenagers, telling me Chris Overstreet was there, to go ask him for prayer. I said, "in the middle of Starbucks?"  They said, "you keep telling us to let Jesus out of the box we put Him in. So?"  Reluctantly, I approached Chris, waiting my turn, I ask him for prayer. He says something like, "you are mother to all, God has anointed you as a mother to the motherless, a mother to a generation, you are mother to all."  The minute he said that my heart knew what my mind could not conceive, God created me, equipped me and gifted me to be a mother, not just to my own children, but to all. 
Purpose, meaning, direction sealed with God's incredible love and the gift of community.  That was a good and monumental day in my journey with Jesus.  I am the mother to a generation that is going to rock this world for Jesus.