#Thailand Tuesday: The Cost and Reward of Obedience, Pt. 1

I have been reflecting a lot over the last few months about all the steps it has taken to get to this point in my life. There are several times when I was making a choice to go one way or another and I would pray to ask God for direction. I would sense Him say one thing, not sure where it would ultimately lead me. 

This week I'm blogging about that journey into youth ministry and where that has taken me. Exactly 5 years ago I was sitting in church, wondering what God had in store for me that summer. I had been trying to make arrangements to spend the summer in Kenya, but that fell through. I was really disappointed and wondering how I would make use of that time. That Sunday in church, our pastor was making announcements about opportunities to serve in the summer and being a youth lifegroup leader was one of them. I thought, Oh that would be fun for the summer! I put my name down and later that week I got an email from our junior high youth pastor (who would later become a dear friend and mentor). 

I soon realized that jumping into youth ministry was ideally committing for at least a year, not just a summer. I was stuck. I was about to enter my last year at Baylor and knew my schedule was already overloaded. I began to pray and felt like God said He would take care of my schedule. 

Then I learned that moving into youth ministry meant leaving my college lifegroup. This was hard news because I had just started really getting connected to the college ministry and was being discipled by one of our college lifegroup leaders. This was my family and I was just getting used to it. I didn't want to give it up. I prayed for about a month about this decision and asked others to pray with me. In the end we all felt like what I needed to do was leave the college ministry to jump in with the junior high ministry. I had no idea what was in store. 

My first Junior High girls lifegroup. Here they are 7th graders and they are now juniors in High School!

It has now been 5 years since then. Doing youth ministry has been both challenging and rewarding. I've been challenged in my leadership and in how I relate to others. I had to grow in my security as a leader and fight through thoughts like, "I'm not the favorite leader" or "They are more gifted than I am" or "People like them more." I would also say that I have grown in my enjoyment of this age group. I used to do it because I wanted to invest and make a difference, now I also do it because I really enjoy being with students and consider them my friends.

Silly Picture on our Mission Trip this Past March

At the time, I felt like it was a heavy cost to leave the college ministry. God had been doing so many cool things and I didn't know what community would be like in the youth ministry. But because of that step of faith and obedience, I can now say that I have the richest community I have ever known. I have friends who will be friends forever. Because of being in youth ministry I have gotten to know so many more families in our church and it actually made me feel more connected to our church than if I had probably stayed in the college ministry. 

What does this have to do with Thailand? Well, everything. See, I probably would not have gone to Thailand the first time to work with the kids and youth if I hadn't been working with the youth ministry and kids already at church. It was through that first trip to Thailand that I met the 2 families that I will be working with in Chiang Rai. My 5 years of youth experience is also going to benefit many in Thailand as well. We are already talking about how I can invest in the youth group there and disciple students. I now also have tons of awesome games to take with me as well! I know I will still have a lot to learn when I go to Thailand, but I can't help but be thankful that I made that decision 5 years ago to step out in faith and leave something behind, not sure of what I would be taking hold of except a promise from God to be with me.