On one of my coaching calls this year a young lady asked me to help brainstorm ideas and gifts for leader appreciation. It got me thinking about the different things I’ve done through the years.
Have you ever wondered if there is a purpose for the journey God is taking you on in life? I mean with social media today, everyone else’s journey in life can look so much more important than our own. The truth is that no one’s journey is more significant than anyone else’s. Each of us plays an important part in God’s story.
There are a lot of people and places telling you how to handle your anxiety so you can find some peace. Some work and some don’t. All are temporary fixes and will only mask your feelings. There is truly only one way to battle your anxiety.
In my blog Girls’ Ministry 101, I defined girls’ ministry as…An intentional relationship plan for young women that helps meet the unique needs of teenage girls. So how do you invest in them to meet those needs? I’m so glad you asked! Let me share with you four ways to invest in the lives of the girls in your ministry.
I love summer because students’ schedules aren’t as busy as during the school year and you get to just hang out with them. Here are some of my favorite girls’ ministry activities to do with my girls. Maybe you’ll get inspired and try something new this summer ;-)
Driving home from church one Sunday, after a pretty difficult morning, God reminded me that He is in control. Between the technical issues, difficult conversations, and an all-around crazy morning I was just exhausted and beating myself up over the conversations of the morning.
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
As ministry leaders, a part of our job is to mentor the young ladies in our ministry. This can seem challenging and overwhelming at times, especially if your ministry has more girls than the available hours you have in a week. So, I want to give you some practical steps to mentoring the girls in your ministry.
Every year people make resolutions but a few weeks, maybe a few months in, they give up. Often, it’s because there is no real plan and they are trying to achieve the goal on their own. So, it makes it easier to give up when life gets too busy or they lose the motivation to keep going. This year I want to challenge you to make it more than a resolution.
If we believe that God deeply loves us beyond our capacity to love, it gives us the ability to overcome how we see ourselves when we mess up or when the world tries to tell us we aren’t good enough.
Planning events is one of my favorite things to do in ministry. I think it’s the excitement of preparing something for students that allows a concentrated amount of time to teach them one truth from God’s Word while also having the time to fellowship with them for more than the couple hours I usually get in a week. Over the years the one thing that I have found most important and rely on more than anything when planning one of my girls’ events is the TEAM!
The idea of studying God’s word on your own can feel a little overwhelming when you don’t know where to start or even how to do it. Let me give you a starting point. Here is a simple way to jump in and begin discovering God’s truths on your own.
FAITH – Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It‘s an attitude of the mind that believes God’s Word and walks in it. It is an act of living out what God calls you to even when you can’t see the end or exactly what is next.
Summer is my favorite time of year in ministry. I love the packed schedule with camp, mission trips, lunches, Wednesday night activities, girls’ days, and hangouts. But what I love most is the extra time I get to spend with students building relationships and making memories with them because they don’t have school and extracurricular activities dividing their time.
A while back I asked some of my girls to share with me labels that their peers or society had given them. They shared labels like weak, insecure, not worth it, loud, heartless, mean, dramatic, rude, quiet, not good enough and the list goes on. I don’t know what word people have labeled you with today but I know this, that word does not define you.
We live in a world where the best parts of our lives are on display. As we scroll through our feeds, it appears like everyone else has it all together except us. The truth is what we see isn’t always reality. And what is real is that person’s journey, not ours. God’s plan for you isn’t His plan for someone else.
Ever had that moment in a conversation with a teenage girl where you weren’t sure how to respond? Maybe you couldn’t quite find the right words to respond in a way you thought would be beneficial. You might have had scriptures to share and words of encouragement to offer but somehow you still felt like it wasn’t enough.
