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Teen
Revival...
The Week of Change
By Kalista King & Cheyanne Mills
In the article last week, you heard from Alex, who has been making some
outstanding changes in her life since she accepted Christ as her
personal Lord and Savior. This week, I wanted you to be able to hear
from someone who just recently went on a Youth for Christ mission trip
to the Bronx, New York. This girl’s name is Cheyanne Mills, and we
became very close friends last year on this same mission trip.
Unfortunately, I could not go this year, but I was pleased to hear that
everyone had a good time and a great experience.
Though I do believe it is important to serve in our home towns and
communities, I also believe it’s important to serve outside of our
comfort zones in other places around the world, and that is why I asked
Cheyanne to share about her experience. Thankfully, Youth for Christ
allowed this opportunity to 13 local teens as you will hear about in
Cheyanne’s message. I hope you enjoy hearing about how God is using
teens to reach others in the Bronx as much as I did.
Cheyanne:
The week of June 9-16 was the best week of my summer. I spent the week
with a group of teenagers (and four leaders) in the Bronx, New York.
The trip was put on by Youth for Christ of the Miami Valley, and while
we were there we stayed with JUMP Ministries. This wasn’t exactly a
vacation; this was 13 local teens listening to God’s call on their
lives. God worked in a lot of ways throughout the week, and I am going
to share how he worked in my life.
On the first day I showed up with expectations because it was my second
time going so I thought I knew what was going to happen. I was so
wrong. Saturday night, I hurt my toe so I already had a pretty negative
attitude about the week. I remember thinking “Really?!? Is this what my
week is going to look like? Painful?” However, it was kind of an eye
opener. God showed me that this trip was going to be different, and He
continued to show me that throughout the next few days. We spent two
hours in devotions every day and God showed me a lot in that time. He
showed me that I had been “claiming forgiveness, not accepting it.” I
had been saying that God forgives me, but I kept bringing it up. God
also showed me that I need to put on the full armor of God, not just
pieces of it. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
On Wednesday we hosted a youth group for some of the boys there. One of
our students shared his testimony and one of the leaders spoke a little
about his life. It was cool to see the boys so absorbed in something
that wasn’t going to have a negative impact on them! It was also cool
to see them realize that whether people live in the Bronx or in Darke
County, they still struggle with the same temptations. We also talked
about demons on Wednesday. Our leader for devotions said that the
stronger we get in our faith, and the closer we get to God, the
stronger demons Satan will send our way. This proved true that very
night. I found out that a man from my church passed away, and right
after I got myself calmed down, a girl found out that one of her best
friends had died. It was very hard to see her crying like she was, so I
got everyone together and we prayed over her. It’s going to sound weird
but that was the best day of the trip to me. All 17 of us were there
with our hands over her praying to God to give her peace, and I could
feel the peace. I felt God that night, and I will never forget it.
God worked in so many more ways than I can put in this article so I
will summarize the rest. He showed me to listen to/for Him, He showed
one girl that crying and letting everything out isn’t a bad thing, He
showed another girl to be more selfless, and He showed one of the guys
that God was The Commander of all. He also showed us that ALL people
are His children. He really opened our eyes to the fact that everything
belongs to Him, that He deserves all glory, and I look forward to
seeing how the entire group grows from this experience. God Bless.
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