Leaving a place of comfort and entering into a place of discomfort is never easy. You can try to prepare yourself as best as you can, but there is no way to fully understand what it means to live on a day-to-day basis with your own struggles while at the same time living on a day-to-day basis with the major struggles of nineteen teenage girls, at least not until you are in the midst of it. This year I have committed myself to a ministry called Shelterwood, a place which commits itself to addressing issues of depression, anger, substance use, risky behavior, anger, substance abuse, family discord, and school failure in struggling teens in order to bring restoration and healing to the hearts of the teens as well as the families of the teens. The listed struggles usually stem from a loss of connection between the teen with his or her family and ultimately, a loss or a lack of connection or intimacy altogether with the God of this universe. I am currently living in a lodge with 19 teenage and 10 other mentors. My job as a mentor, or in Shelterwood terms, “Big,” is to come alongside the residents, or “Littles” and reconnect them with healthier ways of living. We are given daily opportunities to pour into the lives of these girls who feel that all hope is lost. Through living with these teens, we are positioned in such a way that we are able to bring the hope and the key to the healing and restoration that is so needed and desired in the lives of the teens of the program. We are up at 6:30am to make sure the Littles are up and ready for school, and we are with them until they go to bed at 10:30, with the exception of school and counseling. We make sure that they are on time to every appointment and meeting, we take them on random trips to ice cream shops and fast food joints, we laugh with them, cry with them, pray with them, struggle with them and for them, and ultimately love on them with a love that is not our own. It’s a year of learning to die to self and to live for the sake of a group of kids who are not in a place to care for themselves.
Nobody ever said that this was going to be easy.
I am convinced that this is going to be the hardest year of my life, but I couldn’t be more excited to enter into this season with a hope and a truth that will hopefully rock the world of the teens that I am to enter into the lives of. This year I expect to hit lows that I’ve never hit and to enter into highs that I’ve never reached. I am expecting to see lives changed and hearts softened to a God who is an all consuming fire and a God whose kingdom cannot be shaken. I am excited to see the work that He wants to do in my own heart as I struggle and learn more than I ever have.
If you pray, please join me in prayer for these struggling boys and girls. It is not only the mentors who are living in a place of discomfort, but it is also these teens who are ripped from everything familiar to enter into a program that they have no desire to be a part of. Most of them are so hurt and angry that they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is going to take much time before they start to experience the joy of life again.
Pray also for the Bigs, who have little to no time to themselves. Sleep and energy is coveted amongst us... We are in a battlefield for these teens and it takes a toll on our stamina and effectiveness.
Pray for me as I struggle with being assertive and authoritative. This is a job that requires me to stretch my personality in ways that I am not used to. Pray that I will connect with the girls that I am meant to connect with and to love the girls that I have a hard time connecting with.
