"So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you." -Deuteronomy 31:6
How am I supposed to be strong when everyone around me doesn't understand? This was my question going into high school. I knew the whole thing about getting into a good crowd of friends so that I wouldn't do anything bad. I wasn't worried though. I knew what I believed and thought I could talk to anyone about my faith.
I ended up finding a friend who was a year older than me and was crazy and outgoing like I was. With a few friends from middle school, we all instantly connected. We did everything together. These friends were just what I needed to fit in and feel like I wasn't an outsider at school.
Over the course of my first two years in high school I felt that I didn't need to tell people about God because they should have heard about him already. I started to act like some of the girls that I was hanging out with. I never denied I knew him, but I did NOTHING to further God's kingdom in my school. I was learning ways to share my faith, yet I did nothing. I was learning how God could move in situations that are so unreal, and I still did nothing.
Living through this time of going through the motions of church, youth group, and volunteering, I felt like my faith was not authentic. I knew this needed to change, but I didn't know how.
The beginning of my junior year, I got invited to go to Goldfish again, which was a Christian club at my high school. I really didn't know anyone and had no idea what it was like, but I knew it would be a way to meet other Christians. The day I started going we got these books, Dare To Share, about how to share our faith with different types of religions. I felt like God was saying to me, "This is where you need to be." I felt at home with these other students. It was not this automatic change where I switched friends and had a great time spreading Jesus to everyone. This was just a stepping-stone into where God was leading me.
The ultimate redemption I felt came when I had the opportunity and ran with it! This wasn't about me having lots of friends, it was about me being a light for Jesus in my school, no matter what ridicule I had to deal with. At the beginning of this year, I decided that something needed to change at our school with this Christian club. Two other friends and I got together to make the club something bigger. Throughout the year we have had about 20 students, which coming from about 4 is a big difference. Since I go to a public school, they don't let us advertise at all. But, through this I have been challenged to tell students in my classes to come join us!
I had thought my high school years would be easy and I could just get out as fast as possible. I was not looking for God to go before me like He did and open up doors of opportunity. Thinking only of my popularity left me at nothing. Bringing God to my friends at school has brought them hope for the future and a smile to my face.
"We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine." -D.L. Moody
