"Pray for strength". Three words that carry a multitude of meaning, especially throughout this summer. A few people from my hometown started this "pray for strength" thing that was accompanied by a snapchat filter, and it has quickly transitioned from snapchat to actual conversations. This summer, I was the youth intern for a local Baptist church, and my students took it to the next level. No matter where we went or what happened, "pray for strength" was said all the time.
Although they knew that my time with them would be limited this summer, and that I would be returning to school at the end of the summer, they never imagined what would happen over the course of the summer. Mid-summer, a bomb was dropped on our youth group, and these three words went from a silly saying to an actual prayer of strength for all involved. Our youth pastor chose to finally answer God's call and move churches to do what was needed of him and his family during this season of life. At first we were all devastated, and sometimes we still are, but we are able to cling to Jeremiah 29:11 and find hope in the plans God has for each and every one of us. Yes, we still say "pray for strength" like we did before; however, I believe when we say it now, it is a reminder for the strength we all need to get through this transition.
Throughout everything this summer, I have learned that it takes a multitude of strength to lead a group of students, but it takes an even greater type of strength to answer a different calling in your life. There comes a time in our life, especially in our walks with Jesus, that we are called into deeper waters because we are needed to further the kingdom in a different way. Once we decide to dive deep and answer the call to go deeper, we have to make a couple changes to our lives, even though it may be some that we don't understand or that just simply breaks our heart. I am a firm believer that when we are called into this new season of our lives, it is the strength given to us through Jesus Christ that allows us to persevere and push forward into our calling. Because we know as Christians that what hurts worse than answering God's calling for our lives is ignoring it.
You never know how much someone means to you when they tell you that they're leaving, or even when your time is up and you have to leave the people you love. One of the hardest things I will have to do is to walk away from my students on the last day of my internship. Over the summer, they have grown into more than just my students, they have turned into my family. These students mean the absolute world to me and it breaks my heart that I have to leave them to go back to school and life as I knew it prior to this summer. But they know that this is definietely not a "goodbye", but rather a "see ya later".
So to my students, church family, and youth committee, if you're reading this, this is for you. And one last time just for ya'll... "Hey ya'll Catelyn here, signing off on a great summer as the intern here at FBC. Love ya'll, pray for strength"!!
In His Love,
Catelyn
