The Week in Repose
Sorry for the waning quantity of updates this week.
I could make up a bunch of excuses...
I've been really busy...
I don't have anything to talk about...
Work has been crazy...
The sky is falling...
Whatever...
But none of those would be completely true.
The fact is that I just didn't feel like writing anything.
So.
There.
I said it.
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But since it is Friday. And I just can't let an entire week go by with only two updates (if you call that last one a real update) I have decided to write.
So here goes...
........
My heart has been heavy this week. There is a kid in our youth group - an outcast, if I may - who has really had a hard life.
He grew up with no dad, and while he and his younger brother have been involved with our youth group for going on two years, most of our leaders have never met their mom.
Someone from the church always has to pick the lil' bro up and drop him off.
The younger brother, J, has had no problem jumping right into the youth group. He has found a very solid group of friends, has joined the leadership team, and is now playing the bass guitar in our youth band. Every time the doors are open, he is there.
However, the guy that I originally starting writing about, D, is a different story.
He has a good heart, really.
But he is... shall we say... searching.
About three years ago, he attended NC's youth camp via the invitation of one of their kids.
He was screwed up, into drugs, alcohol, and God only knows what else. He actually had a demon cast out of him.
I know, scary stuff.
So, since his reputation at that church became "the kid who had the demon" he started attending our youth group with his lil' brother.
But even at our church, I have noticed, he is a bit of an outcast. He isn't the tough grit-iron personality that fits in with our "rough" crowd. And he certainly isn't the Bible-raised goody-good material either. He is somewhere in the middle... trying to be a man... but still not sure who he is... or what God thinks about him.
And somehow, from the beginning, we connected. I found it easy to encourage him in the things of the Lord, because he was so hungry to be poured into.
But he still had issues in his personal life.
Music that was anti-God.
Girlfriends who didn't love the Lord.
A life that was so different from where he had been before meeting the Lord, but so far away from where the Lord was willing to take him.
Then I left the youth about half-way through my pregnancy.
And, apparently, so did he... not too long after.
But...
He showed up Wednesday night. I told him I was really glad to see him.
Towards the end of the night, during worship, he came over and sat next to me.
He got his girlfriend pregnant.
He's 18.
She's 15.
Her mom isn't pressing charges. But the police are still investigating.
And somehow... I think it might be one of the best things that could happen to him.
Before this, he was in and out of school... in and out of trouble.
But now, as he was telling me...
He got a full-time job with a local homeless ministry. And his school is giving him full credit for working there. So he's planning to graduate high school.
He and his girlfriend are planning to get married in August, which I realize may not be the best thing, but at least he's not running away.
He's spending his entire tax return on a baby bed and supplies.
He said to me, "I want this baby to have all the things I couldn't have. I want it to know its dad and to have, ya know, a father in its life."
*gosh*
And the reason he was telling me all this, instead of our youth pastor? He knows B and I married young and have a baby... and he wants someone to teach them how to be good parents.
That just makes me want to cry.
He is so sweet. He's had such a tough life. And now, finally, he is taking responsibility for his actions. He's standing up and being the man. He seems to have found who he is... and he wants to be the best.
So I gave him B's number. And we're going to help him as much as we can.
But you know what I really want to do?
I want to say, "Here... we'll give you a place to live for free, under several conditions. You both have to finish school. D, you have to complete AT LEAST a two-year vocational degree. You have to work and save x amount of money over the next few months. We will provide child care and your basic necessities, but only until you are finished with your schooling and can get your feet under you. Then hopefully, since we are helping you, you should be able to save up for a downpayment on a house. And then you CAN give your child a better life."
He really does want to make a better life for them. And I know he would be willing to work for it.
He just needs a little hand up.
And what young married couple, at any age, doesn't?
The problem is... they have no one to help them.
So I am praying for the Lord to reveal to me how we can help right now.
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And I wonder if this is part of the ministry the Lord is calling me and B to. There have been other cases in our ministry where I feel like, if somebody would just give this kid or that kid half a chance, they could really make something of themselves. They could work their way out of this mess they have grown up in. And they want to. And they'll work for it. They just need some help.
And not a hand-out, but something they have to work for... to feel that sense of accomplishment... of pride in themselves.
Anyways... that's just what's been on my heart this week. And I keep hearing that part of the prophecy...
"Don't worry about what's going inside the house. God won't give you a house and have it sit there empty."
Hm.
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In other REALLY AWESOME news....
I went to the doctor last week and had some tests done.
Then I went and had a vaginal ultrasound done on Wednesday.
And...
Drumroll please...
The doctor said...
"There isn't one cyst. I'm sitting here looking at two healthy ovaries."
PRAISE GOD!!! *WHOOP WHOOOOOOOP*
So we're gonna have lots and lots of babies... in a few years...
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Having some girls over to my house tonight.
And then next weekend is the ever-interesting DNOW.
Remember last year? I had 9 middle-school girls spend Friday and Saturday night in my house?
There are 11 this year and *woot* I'm excited.
Went and got groceries for it on Wednesday. Lots of junk food. *double woot*
I'm also really excited about the ministry time with these girls. It was really awesome last year, and I feel like the Lord has even more amazing things in store for this year. ____________________________
Well, I'm tired now. I guess I should go do something else while pretending to work... hehe... such is life, eh?
Have a great weekend! *mwah*