Encouraged

I am sitting here writing this after a great night with some of our high school girls. This afternoon, I found myself very discouraged. I was working on the Bible study for tonight and in the process, calling girls to see who was coming. For the second week in a row, a lot of them couldn't make it. It looked like we were down to one girl(and Melissa is gone for the week, so I was the only leader), so I was deciding whether or not to cancel. It was frustrating because it just seemed like we weren't getting any where and the girls were losing interest in coming. I have honestly seen how Satan can bring discouragement to keep us from doing what we're suppose to. So, inspite of how I was "feeling" we had our study. Three girls came, and we had a great time! I was concerned that they wouldn't have fun because of the group dynamics. But they really seemed to. We talked a lot, had a good study in which they were very involved and just enjoyed being together. It reminded me of how important it is to just be there for them. It doesn't always have to be extremely deep or spiritual(though this is good and NEEDED!)-but if they can just see that I genuinely care-and that the love I have for them comes from God-then they will be more open to what I have to say about God. On the way home, Misha was sharing about a boy who she had a class with who was shot and killed over the weekend. I could tell that it really bothered her and she was still dealing with the shock of it. It hurts me to see these young ones have to deal with such struggles. It makes me want to protect them from anything like that. I just have to continually remember that God is bigger than anything they may face. His grace is sufficient-for all things!!
These pictures really don't have anything to do with what I'm writing about...but I thought they would be great ones to share! The first one is the kids following Christ's example of washing each other's feet. The lesson was on servanthood. "The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many" The second picture is of HPCO's great leader (and founder!) John Weidman teaching a Bible lesson to the children.