Lots of beautiful girls!

Just look at these beautiful girls!! I'm telling you, they have a big old chunk of my heart. 
They make up a ministry called YoungLives in Fort Wayne, IN. If you know anything about Young Life you will understand YoungLives- it's an "incarnational ministry" for teen moms. These teen moms are special to me because  they were MY girls when I was a YLVS leader. 

I was also a Young Life leader (of sorts) for a year while learning the ropes on the whole YLVS thing. So not only did I get to have YoungLives girls, I had Young Life girls too! (the Y's and L's get confusing, I know. Sorry about that.).
And I got to see all of them in one night!! It was so sweet. 

The YoungLives girls were having a Christmas party so I crashed it and surprised them :) Then I got to meet up with some Young Life girls for coffee right after that.

Here are the sweet Young Life faces.

I was SO excited to see the girls and catch up. I knew they would be happy to see me too, but I didn't completely expect the reaction I got from most of them. This isn't to toot my own horn, but they were really excited to see me! They acted so, at least. They said things like, "I missed you so much" and "when are you moving back here?" and "don't leave us again." Of course I do have to leave them again- sadly- but what was special about all of it was the way it felt like my presence in their lives really had meant something important to them. 

I think I didn't expect their reactions to be as they were because I didn't get to know most of them extremely well in the short time I was involved in YL and YLVS (especially the YL girls). But I think I realized something- that for these girls, having someone who they admire and look up to is of huge importance in itself. Yes, it would have been great if I could have been able to know their lives more deeply and maybe speak words of wisdom or advice into them, but I didn't. I was, however, able to share my life with them in small ways. I was able to let them know that I loved and cared for them enough to go out of my way to spend time with them. And I was able to let them know that I and the other leader's intentions in all of it was driven by our faith. The girls were simply impacted by a positive role model- even if I didn't realize the extent of it. 

The point I'm trying to make is that often we don't recognize how our lives may be influencing others. We don't always see how other people may see us as important in their lives. Who are some of the people in your life who may be admiring you or impacted by you? Thinking on this, what kind of influence are you showing them?

I for one want my life to not only be something that's good and beneficial for others to see, but I also want to take notice of who those people are that I can maybe be more intentional with sharing my life and faith with. I'm so very thankful for the relationships I was able to make with YL and YLVS girls, and I pray that what they admired in me are things that will help them grow and see life through new perspectives. 
And now that I'm in Charleston, I want to be sensitive to the way my life speaks to others- even in the little ways.