Young Life. Asking for a definition of this eye opening, life-changing, mind-boggling ministry is not an easy task. By definition, I would say that Young Life is a Christian outreach ministry for high schoolers, middle schoolers, people with special needs, teen parents and many others. Part of the ministry is Young Life seeking to reach people who are the “farthest out,” and not necessarily as open to everything that Christianity can entail. Young Life brings people of difference together, and bonds them over the Lord and what He says. Young Life is meant to bring people of all different backgrounds, lifestyles, ethnicities and situations together to remind them that we’re all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28), and that we’re all beautiful children of God.

Throughout my life, I have been incredibly encouraged by my entire family, and their unfailing faith. This includes my parents, my older brother, my grandparents, my extended family and almost every relative of mine. I had always been a Christian girl, who went to church every Sunday, and prayed before I went to sleep. However, I had simply been born into this faith, never really experiencing what it would be like not to live in a family like that. I didn’t choose the Christian faith for myself while growing up. People who look to the Lord for every move they make had always surrounded me. With that said, I did not realize at the time what it meant to really make my faith “my own.” When I realized this was something I needed to do, I dove into my Bible and began exploring all that deserved to be explored. I soon began to realize that regardless of how strong I thought my faith was, I knew so little. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I was not living my life how I found that someone strong in his or her faith should be living. I was so motivated by the idea that I could potentially be the only Bible someone ever “read,” so I wanted to make sure I was portraying it wisely. This all began to hit me around freshman year of high school. A buzz was heard throughout the halls that Young Life was coming up soon, intriguing me. I will never forget my first Young Life club. It was held the second Monday in October of my freshman year of high school, and we met at 8:04 p.m. right down the street from my house. I was approached by upperclassman asking how my family was doing, and how my brother was enjoying college. He had been very involved in the ministry throughout high school, so everyone figured that I would be coming to club. From the very beginning, I felt so loved and welcomed there. When 8:04 p.m. rolled around, we began club, jumping around and playing all sorts of ridiculously odd games and watching skits that included passing around a slice of American cheese with our mouths. Leaving club that night, I knew for a fact that I belonged there. I’m grateful for the Young Life community that I was so heavily involved in at home, but I can truthfully say that this first semester at Virginia Tech and being involved in Young Life in college has shaped me in ways I could have never imagined.

Young Life made me more comfortable with talking to people about what I believed, why I believed it and how I knew it was the truth. All of my Young Life leaders throughout high school shaped me in ways that I did not realize were possible, and I’m forever grateful for their guidance and motivation. I desperately want to change the lives of students in the same ways that they changed mine, and I desperately seek to be as involved in Young Life as humanly possible, due to the fact that I can say with complete confidence that Young Life truly changes lives. I could not imagine my life without the jumping around, the belting out of songs that get one another riled up and the heartwarming, eye-opening messages that are presented to kids at the end of club.

Young Life holds a piece of my life that I could not imagine giving up, and I pray every day that the Lord will continue to allow me to take part in this ministry, and will continue to allow me to show people how much they're loved. There's no way I could ever fully express how much this ministry means to me, but I truly feel that I was made to change lives through Young Life, and I cannot wait to see where this passion leads me. Matthew 28:19.