God is Present and at work!

On sunday, I shared with the Ignite Jr. High about God's Power and how to stay plugged into it. P=Pray in all circumstances, O=Obey God's Word, W=Worship Him, E=Expect Him to show up in mind blowing ways, and R=Remain in Him every day not just on sundays.

Well, one of my student's family has been having a particularly rough patch lately. They are hanging in there and trusting God through all their circumstances. But that hasn't knocked this particular 11 year old down! Just this week, she embraced the courage to invite one of her school friends to youth group on wednesday night. The kid has never been to church. He decided to go with her.......and had a BLAST! He can't wait to go again and couldn't stop talking about it all the way home.

Why do we doubt it? Why are we so afraid to step out and step up to what God puts in front of us? Maybe it's a friendship or a moment to share our faith or a situation where truth needs to be said in love. Maybe it's a supportive word or a coffee date or a service project that we just don't think we have time for. Maybe it's taking a stand for what's right or a committment to invest as much in our relationship with Christ as we invest in... (fill in the blank for whatever your thing is).

Someone reminded me recently that regardless of our circumstances, God is constantly being good. But we forget. We forget that there is this ALL POWERFUL God that wants to be working through what we think is a meager and insignificant existence sometimes.

I have plenty of moments when I feel insignificant and sorry for myself. But, for each minute you think you have nothing to give, you lose sixty seconds of giving. For every hour you feel sorry for yourself, you lose sixty minutes to comfort another. For every day you wait to get going in the ministry to which God has called you, you lose twenty-four hours to bless the world.

I am challenged by one 11 year old this week to put feet to my faith and action to my words. I want to tap completely into the POWER that is waiting for me to embrace. I want to use my imperfect self to encourage and embrace those around me. I want to be humble in every success and failure by always pointing to the One that saved my life.