Sharing Jesus with Young People

I was so blessed with our small youth group on Wednesday. It has grown from 3 at the beginning of 2008 to 12 this past week. I had been praying about what God could lead me to share with them. There are so many resources available for youth ministry. I didn't know where to start. Sometimes I was feeling like I was talking so some bumps on a log. (hee, hee,...) I was teaching character building type lessons and was coming back empty. When a group is so small, you really get to know them. What the Lord revealed to me was so great! It became apparent that these young people, before anything, needed to be saved. They had never heard basic Bible stories of Jesus' love; they had never heard that God had a plan for them; they had never heard that they were sinners and needed redemption. What an opportunity!! They needed to meet and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

We began to pray and on the following Wednesday, I shared the God's plan of salvation with them. The Holy Spirit moved in an awesome way. My primarily Jr. High group was attentive to God's Word. We had 5 professions of faith and I believe 3 young people rededicated their lives to the Lord. I gave Bibles to 5 very excited young people with the date of their salvation written inside. Since then, I have begun a discipleship course with them. They have begun to learn of the need for a quiet time where they can read the Bible and pray regularly. We are also memorizing Scripture.

We are having a great time in the Lord together!

The Lord really spoke to me this past week and I'm pleased that He has allowed me to share of Jesus with these young fresh open minds. I'm enjoying teaching them to pray, to use a Bible for the first time, and to know that God loves them and has a very special plan for their lives.

I think Christians should always be busy telling about Jesus and when people accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, it's just as wonderful to be the one to teach them how God wants us to live. Praise God!!

Hello everyone,

This is my very first blog ever! Needless to say, I'm very excited about sharing with all of you this way. Well, today was a blessed Sunday. I led praise and worship in our Spanish service and our English service. I don't know how I have managed to keep this up for so long. It's hard enough to get all of the music prepared for one English service, let alone two and a Spanish one at that, but I have experienced many unexplainable surges of strength that I know is God blowing on me and guiding me forward. It is, of course, always a blessing to lead His children in worship through music.

This morning we sang, Draw Me Close to You, and that song seemed more special to me today than usual. My almost-two-year-old grandson, Isaiah, was especially cranky this morning at church. He was still tired, stuffy nosed, didn't want to stay in the nursery, and well, you know.... I was very busy running around greeting people, playing preludes, making sure all teachers had arrived, giving mail to the treasurer, checking the video camera, and on and on... My grandson kept coming over to me and wanted me to pick him up and hold him. He wanted me to comfort him and help him feel better. I was able to hold him for just a minute or two and then had to pass him over to someone to else. I felt sorry for him because his Dad couldn't come to church this morning and his small tired mom was hurting from her back by then. As we sang Draw Me Close to You, I realized that sometimes we come to our Heavenly Father the same way that my grandson was coming to me. My grandson is usually fine when he's feeling well and he hardly is aware that someone is keeping track of his every move. He doesn't want to be held for anything, but when he's not feeling well, is angry, is sick, sad or hurt, he immediately starts looking for comfort. He goes to his mom, his dad, or his grandma. He demands this attention by crying, falling to the floor, or doing anything he can to get our attention... all so that we can scoop him up, hold him close and comfort him. We do this also with our heavenly Father. The only difference is that He is never to busy to scoop us up in his arms, hold us close and comfort us. In those tough times, only his love will do. This gave me such a clear picture of God's perfect love for us. He is patient, understanding, forgiving and merciful. He holds us close and says, "It's all gonna be okay. I'm here. I've got it all under control," and it is.

When God showed me this as we were singing, I got a plan. As soon as my husband began to preach, I slipped out the back door to help my daughter who was tired and frustrated with this little grandson of mine. I had this word from God in my heart and I decided that I would do with my grandson as my Father wants to do with me. I scooped him up in my arms, held him close, and told him that everything was going to be okay. He put his head down on my shoulder and fell fast asleep as I rocked him in a dimly lit children's room.

I was able to see a picture of mankind's desperate need for God's comfort and God's willingness to be there for us. We can practice this same love in our imperfect way, but God's love and God's ways are perfect!! He is always there and is never too busy or too tired to "hold us close to him".

What a special day this was! Thank You Lord!!

Becky Rodriguez, preacher's wife

"The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." Psalm 145:18 NIV