Each time before we have a Truth for Youth Retreat, we meet with the Retreat Team, of high schoolers and young adults who will present the retreat, to prepare the games, prayers, and talks the team will give to the middle schoolers or high schoolers at the retreat. We gather together as a team to hear each talk so the speaker has a chance to practice their talk and receive constructive feedback before the retreat.
Each time we have these meetings at our office, our little office suite becomes a truly sacred space. We invite the Holy Spirit not just into the room with us, but into our hearts, minds, ears…so that what we say will be His Word, and what we hear will be His Word and what we feel in our hearts will be His Heart beating inside of us.
It is a great honor and blessing to get to hear and see how God has worked in all their young lives – especially through the hard and confusing times of their lives.
Many people may wonder what do teenagers have to complain about – “wait until they get to be adults, then their lives will be hard!” And, while that is true, the very real struggles they have experienced deeply impacts their lives.
But what is always most amazing isn’t what has happened to them or what they have done or didn’t do, what produces those “holy spirit goosebumps” is hearing what God has done for them and in them through those hard and trying times.
Many times, teens feel like because of what has happened in their lives, or what they have done, it makes them unworthy or disqualified from being loved or from witnessing to the love of God to others.
On the contrary, it is because of what they have experienced that makes them qualified to speak to God’s Love. God’s love isn’t for the perfect one who has no sin, it’s for all of us. And often, the greater the hardship one experiences the greater one can appreciate when they realize God does see them and how God does love them.
As one of our young men shared during his talk, when he was feeling so alone and desolate and unworthy because of what his life had been like, God entered into that moment through the voice of another reassuring him that he is not alone. When he asked “Why me?” to answer the reason God allowed him to feel this way, the words this person shared in response changed his perspective on everything.
And now that team member is doing just that – teaching others how to swim through the crashing waves and to reach out for the hand of Christ when you feel like you are drowning.
The story of human salvation is not a story of how we have saved ourselves by leading perfect lives. It’s a repeating and ongoing story of how God comes into our brokenness and invites us into His restoration.
This is what the young people on our team witness to when they share of their hearts and their time to serve on the Truth for Youth Retreats – to show how God weaves in His Goodness into our imperfections.
High School and College-age young adults are invited to join the Pure and Simple Retreat Team and become a witness of Hope to the youth of this generation. Learn more and apply to join the team here.
