Seeing the Fruit of Your Labor

Special thanks to Leigh Hendry, a student at Auburn and summer intern for the LifeWay Women's Events team, for writing this post.

If there is one thing I have learned from doing high school girls ministry it is how frustrating it can be.  I grew up in a very comfortable home with great parents who cared about nothing more than loving my sisters and instilling in us a love for our Savior.  Not only did I have my parents there to set a wonderful example for my life, but I was put around countless older women mentors who truly showed me what it was like to live for Christ and to love Him with all your heart. 

With that being said, I could play the game better than any one else out on the field.  I showed up, but I was slightly less than interested in what they had to say.

I got to Auburn my freshman year and it was the first time no one was watching, no one expecting anything out of me.  It was fun, but it left me so empty.  In high school I was the girl who knew all the right answers, the face of my youth group, I had all the head knowledge.  Head knowledge can only get you so far when you are stuck in a dorm room alone on a Friday night.  It was when I was so broken and empty that I picked up the phone and called the older girls who had always been so constant in my life, the ones who I had taken for granted. 

I feel like the Lord has such a sense of humor.  As a Young Life leader at Auburn, I don’t think He could have given me girls that were any more like me as a 16 year old.  I get so frustrated sometimes when the deepest prayer request is for her grandmothers dog who has pneumonia.  So many times I just want to grab their perfectly done up faces and take their nicely manicured hands in mine and say, "be real with me for just 10 minutes, what is really going on in your heart."

This year, our Young Life team had to constantly remind each other, even though we may not be seeing the fruits of our labor right now, we are sowing seeds in these students' lives.  We may be the only constant things in their lives, and 5 years from now when their world crashes down, we will be the first ones they call.  I have learned that ministry is not just your 7:00-8:00 o'clock Bible study on Wednesday night.  It is not just Young Life club meetings on Monday nights.  Ministry is walking through life with these girls.  We are called to take them by the hand and care about what they care about.  God loved us so much, He sent His Son to walk life with us.  Ministry is letting them walk life with you.

Be ready to cry with them when that silly boy breaks their heart, shop with them for a prom dress, and hang out with her on a Friday night when no one else has called her.  She is watching you make sacrifices for her, even if you feel unappreciated. 

Even though I would not have admitted it at the time, I was watching my mentor’s life, taking note of how she handled situations.  I wasn’t doing anything with that information but stored it away.

Let this be a challenge to you.  When you feel exhausted, and feel like your ministry is going no where, think again.  Somewhere out there, there is a young heart who will one day look back and maybe actually thank you. 

And if you never get to see the evidence, still remember the Lord has called you for such a time as this (Esther 4:14).  The Lord promises in 2 Timothy 2:13, that even when we are faithless, He is faithful!  What a promise to hold onto in ministry, especially in ministry to high school girls. Your efforts do matter.  He promises to be faithful and our labor will not be in vain. 

A little more info on our guest blogger:

Leigh came to know Christ at a very young age. I grew up in an amazing and loving family with parents who wanted nothing more than for me to walk with Jesus.  Being a student at Auburn, the Lord has also blessed me with friends who have shown me how to walk with Him and push me closer to Christ every day.  After doing Young Life for two years, I decided to change my major to Human Development and Family Studies with a minor in Psychology and hope to go to grad school for a counseling degree. I have learned there is nothing that makes me happier than living life with teenage girls and I can't imagine doing anything else.