God works on our hearts over time. I don't think He rules over our lives or guides us using an on/off switch. He purposefully presents us with opportunities and places people in our paths when He sees fit and then continues to watch over us. Everything He does is for our benefit - even when it doesn't seem like it is... and even when what we go through may be new or nerve racking.
The summer after my ninth grade year my church's senior hi youth went to Toronto on a mission trip. I was excited to go on my first senior hi mission trip. I had gone on my very first mission trip earlier in the summer when I was a shepherd (high school leader) for the mid hi mission trip to Des Moines, Iowa. Anyway, I didn’t know what to expect, but that was probably for the best.
This was to be the mission trip that awakened me from my slumber.
I was put on the team that would work with people at St. Jude’s Academy of the Arts. St. Jude's is a school that works with mentally and physically challenged kids and adults. I was nervous, because I had never worked with special needs people before. Our team worked mostly with young adults. I soon realized that I had nothing to be nervous about. Even though the adults were considerably older than I, they were basically like children. Throughout the week we all played games, sang songs, drew pictures, told stories and jokes, and simply spent time together.
The thing that struck me the hardest was the fact that the 'students' of St. Jude's loved you for you.
It didn't matter what you looked like.
It didn't matter where you came from.
It didn't matter who your parents were.
If you gave the students the smallest bit of attention, they were ecstatic.
They loved me and, in turn, I loved them back.
... It would have been hard not to.
The Thursday we were at St. Jude's was the most memorable day of the week. Thursday was praise day. Each week a group of people (a local praise band) comes to St. Jude’s to play worship songs (or at least they had been doing so up to the point I was there). In the afternoon, everybody assembled in the main room. The band had set up and soon we were all singing along with the band – everybody. These young adults, often made fun of and ridiculed for something they have no control over, were lifting their hands and singing as loud as they possibly could about God.
About love.
About mercy.
About Jesus.
They danced.
They hugged.
They laughed.
That day, something in my heart told me that these people understood what they were singing about just as well as I did. Their worship was holy and pure. They didn't hold back. God’s presence completely surrounded us. I will never forget that day, as cliché as that may sound.
In the evening of that day, our youth group partook in a feet-washing ceremony. It was then that I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I had learned so much in that week and everything I participated in - not just in going to St. Jude's - touched me in such a way that I was finally able to realize what I was missing. The mid hi mission trip to Des Moines also played a part in my acceptance. You know, I had basically grown up in the church, although there was a five-year hiatus between third and fifth grade. I would say that I understood the concept of God, His Son and their love at a pretty early age, but never realized how much I needed to truly accept Christ into my heart until that summer.
It's truly amazing how greatly people can affect your life. Thank God for all of His children. We don't have the right to disregard anyone. God created the men on the street corners, begging for change. God created the babies with the cleft lips. God created the children that have Down Syndrome. Christ accepts every one. We are all alike in His sight. We are all beautiful and whole. We have set limits upon ourselves based on judgments and distorted expectations. What a shame.
'But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." '
[1 Samuel 16:7]
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