If they cared...

Sometimes you have conversations that stick with you, a specific phrase or wording that is embedded in your memory. For me, one of those moments was with the brothel girls. We were having an honest discussion about how and why they ended up working at the brothel. All of them had very different stories and situations, yet; they had one thing in common. 

Each of them said: had someone invested in them, had someone paid attention to them, had they felt like someone cared when they were younger, maybe they wouldn’t have chosen this path…..

It always stuck with me. As I watched the girls leave the brothel and ultimately the brothel fall down, I just kept remembering those words. If someone had paid attention, If someone had cared about me, if I had felt valued….

Over the past year, I’ve been praying that God would continue to lead and direct as this ministry was changing.  During that time, several of the teenage girls from church asked if we could have more activities. I was intrigued that they reached out like they did. This spring, we had a group do a youth conference of sorts. The youth loved it. They sought us out and asked for more activities. So I started attending weekly youth group and spending more time getting to know each of the kids.  As we gather each week, I love watching them grow and challenge themselves and each other. When we initially asked them what their talents and gifts were, many of them couldn’t tell us. From that conversation, I knew we had to pour into them. To help them see their gifts and their abilities. To help them realize what they could contribute to this community and to the kingdom. Some weeks, youth group is a struggle and it feels like we’re going backwards. Then other weeks, it’s great: the students interact, they engage the speaker, they volunteer to lead.  Yet, I keep finding myself being reminded that If someone had paid attention, if someone had cared…..

Today, I spent the afternoon with 40 young people. Worshipping, playing games, learning about each other, and learning about God. Looking back, I see how God was directing. But if you had asked me a year ago if I would love working with the youth group, I probably would have laughed. But seeing them grow in their relationship, seeing them find their value, seeing them realize they have a community that loves them, makes me realize how crucial it is to invest in them now so that they don’t feel like those options and lifestyle choices are for them.

                                                    (photo from youth activity this year)