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I am fortunate to have the opportunity to lead a small group of girls in my husband’s high school youth group at our church. My group includes both junior and senior girls, some whom I’ve had since they were freshman. To some a small group with high school girls might seems overwhelming. Surely they talk and gab about life and boys the whole time right? This is not always so for my group. We have had times where we are not too serious. People share hilarious stories and we all laugh together. We have inside jokes and can get distracted and off topic if we aren’t careful. My group used to be more formal, only meeting on Wednesday nights for the Bible study. But in the last couple of years we have all grown together and now enjoy movie nights, painting nails together, one of their favorite things is dipping graham crackers in frosting and watching the ’80’s mystery film “Clue”.

I’ve seen my group have as many as thirteen girls and be down to only three. People have come and gone, but we always still meet every Wednesday night to study the Word together. During my time as this small-group’s leader, each girl has really become special to me. I’ve had the opportunity to have one-on-one time for coffee, lunch or dinner with some of them. I hope that they will each learn and grow in the Lord. I pray for them all often and have really grown to love them. Last night I had an eye-opening moment with my small-group.

Bobby is teaching through the beatitudes in Matthew 5 and last night we were discussing verse 6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousnes, for they shall be filled.” We talked about the fact that we often don’t think we need much. None of us really have experienced hunger or thirst in any stark terms. If we are used to eating at noon and don’t get lunch till 1:00pm we say, “I’m starving!” We tried to define “righteousness”. We came to one question that said, “In what specific ways do we need God to live on a daily basis?” One of the girls said, “Well, we don’t deserve anything. God allows us our next breath and grants us life to wake up to each morning.” She wasn’t trying to give me the “right” answer. God had been teaching her this about how He grants life. She even shared how thinking from the perspective of “God gives me my next breathe” rather than “I deserve life” helps her focus on God each morning. I could see that she really is striving to live right before the Lord in her heart. It touched me.

Several of the other girls had shared similar thoughts during our time in small-groups at the cabin this last weekend. One girl said that she wants to be thankful for every thing that God gives to her because He has blessed her with so much. She knew she had become ungrateful at times and saw that God did not bless to give her some sense of self-sufficiency, but rather to draw her to overflow in thankfulness to Him.

When I see God working in someone’s life, I am encouraged. It is evident in some of these girl’s lives by the things that they say and what they do, that God is drawing them to come to Him and follow His will for them. I was very moved by the reality that God can use anyone to teach or encourage someone else. It does not matter your age, position in life, education, or how long you have been a Christian. He uses you. He uses the girls in my small group to encourage me. They may not even know that the simple things that they share can have such an impact.

Some of the girls in our small group seek to encourage others through blogs. Kelsey is one of the senior girls who writes a blog called [2] Redeemed and Summoned. In her most recent entry she states well that worry is not something that we just have to cope with, but that, “if we were constantly having the right view of God, we would understand that He will provide for us.” She challenges, “Remember who God has promised to be to us and cling to it. Rely on Him fully and don’t worry, He’ll provide, He promises.”

One of the other girls, Julie is a junior who recently began writing at [3] Julie Logan’s Blog. Her first entry is very inspiring as she asks, “Is sleeping 20 extra minutes a good substitute for starting your day off with God?” She answers her own question with, “No. If I spend those 20 minutes with God every morning, He is going to do something in me. I’m going to grow.”

Last night one of the girls mentioned that she had been really encouraged by something my younger sister, Monica had said as her camp counselor two summers ago. It was a simple story that Monica had shared of something a customer had said to her at work that made her realize she should be thankful for the life God had given to her. At Monica’s blog, [4] A Little Bit of Monica, she wondered in a recent entry about her responses at her job, “Am I showing that I am a changed and different person amidst every moment of stress, every confrontation with an ornery cashier?” She writes, “Identify yourself with Christ by not responding like anyone else would. We’re in this together and should be encouraging one another on to love and good deeds…”

No matter who you are and all of the unique things about you, you can encourage someone. You don’t have to set out to be some motivating influence to all around you but can start by simply sharing the simple things that God is teaching you. If you are reading and studying your Bible, praying for others, meditating on who God is and what He has done, realizing the blessings you have and the God provides…you will have something to share.

Maybe this entry will encourage you to start a blog or update the blog you already have. Everyone doesn’t have to have a blog. Maybe you are better at e-mail or writing a card. One of our girls, Sarah, says that she prays for people while she brushes her teeth. Maybe you will have to go out of your way to share God’s love with others; it may take some of your time and energy. We can remember that everything we have is given to us from God and meant to be used for His purposed. So I hope we will all take some time today to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works…” Hebrews 10:24-25

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