The Joy of Discipleship

I have been so encouraged to see the high school freshman girls in my small group grappling with the hard questions of life. It is such an exciting thing to see the girls really searching for truth and not being willing to settle for regurgitated 'Sunday school' answers. What a privilege to be able to come along side them and be ready to give an answer. The answer I would have given five years ago is so different from the answer I am able to give today. Today I desire to point the girls to the authority of the Word of God! I rejoice that the Scripture has become the authority for my life. I remember endless hours on phone calls to friends throughout my teens and twenties, asking advice from countless people and choosing to settle on the advice I most preferred, but the advice was rarely the kind that brings true freedom. The advice I most preferred was ego stroking and self-justifying and the quick fix. And then one day I met a woman that, when I sought her advice, she asked me "what does the Bible say about that?" Huh! Great question...not really a clue. What an illuminating moment to recognize that this book written more than 2,000 yrs. ago is RELEVANT for me today. Not just relevant generally, but so very specifically. It speaks into all areas of my life and shows me the right way, the free way, the best way, God's way. Jesus is the WAY! Anything else is sin. Bam! That just changes everything, now, doesn't it. And what joy it is to be able to share this truth with girls who are so much earlier in life's journey than I was in my own when I recognized I had been looking in all the wrong places for good advice. He pulled me up out of the miry clay and placed my feet on the Rock. Lord, help to do the same for others!