TeenPact Ohio I 2012

Don't we look sharp?

Awesome Staff Guys!!! Johnny, James, and Garrett

"Look Serious"

Left to Right/  Johnny, James, Anna, Jenn, Joy, Sophia, Kayla, Garrett, Mr. Goode

Awesome Staff Girls!!!  Left to Right/ Kayla, Joy, Sophia, Anna, and Jenn

So two weeks ago It was finally time to staff TeenPact Ohio I!!!!  Yes, I was SUPER excited.   It was an amazing week!  We had the opportunity to serve 23 amazing students, and hopefully, impact their lives for the glory of God.  TeenPact is incredible. You have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to learn how state government works, what our role is as Christians and citizens, as well as the life changing opportunity of being brought out of your comfort zone and growing closer to God. This last thing is what I like best about TeenPact.
     TeenPact completely forces you out of your comfort zone.  period dot.  As a first-time students two years ago, this was totally frightening to me.  I really loved my comfort (selfish) bubble.  TeenPact made me break through that bubble, and once I had, my life completely changed.  When I stopped focusing on me and what I was comfortable or uncomfortable with, I was able to focus on what God wanted me to focus on.
     The amazing staff at my first TeenPact class were probably the one thing that helped me most in getting outside of my little bubble.  They encouraged me, prayed for me, and helped me in all sorts of ways during that brief four day class.  In short, they impacted my life. 
     This is the reason why I wanted to come back, two years later, and staff a TeenPact class.  I really wanted the opportunity to impact people's lives just like God had used the staff at my class to impact me.  In his gracious will, God gave me, and the other wonderful members of my staff team, that same opportunity.  It was truly a humbling experience.  We were really shown how we must trust God completely with every detail...no matter how small,  rely fully on his grace to give us the strength necessary, and His Spirit to be with us as we ministered to the students.  He is so good and his grace is truly enough for us!

So go check out TeenPact at www.TeenPact.com   And it will truly change your life!


Soli Deo Gloria!

-Kayla

P.S.  Check out the super awesome pictures, compliments of Jenn Geiger of Unoriginal Originality !!!!!
  

So, over the last two weeks, I went to a Christian leadership school, called TeenPact www.TeenPact.com (Check it out folks, it'll change your life, seriously!), to get trained to teach their program. Part of the training was giving a five minute devotional; something we might be asked to do during one of our state classes!

So, this was an excellent public speaking opportunity! Normally, I don't mind speaking in public when I am given something to talk about. The only instructions we were given however, was to share a piece of Scripture with the group, or something that God had been showing us lately. So there were many different angles we could take on this. We were allowed to pick which day we wanted to do our devotional, and I chose Wednesday, the last day. So that whole week I prayed about what I might be able to share. I called my mom and i talked to others and asked them to pray that God would show me what I ought to talk about. I truly had no idea what to talk about.

It wasn't until Tuesday night that I had even a real idea of what I might share. So as I was thinking about things God has shown me, I kept coming back to the fact that one of my biggest struggles is handing everything, all my life, over to Christ. I can do nothing and am nothing with Him.

So, with that thought in mind, an outline was formed.

We looked at Romans 12:3 which says "For the by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you no to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

Turning over my life to Christ, relinquishing all false concepts of "my rights", and humbly submitting all I am to my Savior is very difficult because I so often fall victim to "thinking more highly of myself than I ought to think."

A remedy to this false thinking though, is realizing just how small we are, and just how big God is. One of the ways in which we can see this is when we think of God as the Creator of the universe. Now, we often refer to the God of the universe, but I think sometimes we don't realize just what that means. We then looked at Psalms 139: 13-16 which talks about how God formed our inward parts, knit us together in our mother's womb, how we are fearfully and wonderfully made, how the Lord formed all our days etc.

This is where the amazing providence of God comes in. For seemingly no reason ( obviously part of God's sovereign plan), I had brought along this little lapel pin that was the exact size of an unborn baby's feet, 10 weeks after conception. it looks like this: I had no reason to bring it, I just thought it was kind of neat and pinned it onto my backpack, minutes before I left my house to go to the airport. In the true sense of the word, our God is awesome!

I thought this was an excellent illustration of just how small we really are. We have absolutely no part in bringing ourselves into this world; we have absolutely no part in sustaining ourselves in this world either. It is only by the grace, mercy and power of our Almighty God, that we can move, breathe, and have our being. We can do nothing without God's strength. It is He who sustains us, He who leads us, and it is to Him we are to say "Take my life and let it be all for You and for Your glory! Take my Life! Let it be Yours!" (From the worship song "Glory to God, Forever" by Fee)

I concluded by encouraging us all, as we went back and prepared to staff our state classes, to hold on to nothing, realizing the greatness of our God, handing it all over to Him, and remembering what it says in Matthew 19:26 "But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." "

God is Faithful!!

*( please if you have ANY questions regarding TeenPact Leadership Schools, I would absolutely love to answer them!)

As one country artist wrote " Its the little things in life that mean the most." Everyday I find out just how true that phrase is. My hope is to share with you all the little, beautiful, insignificant everyday things that create the joyous adventure called life.