Hey y'all! I hope you're having an absolutely awesome week. The beginning of my week was pretty action-packed with Ignite, Boy's Club, and my home group in the evenings as well as the typical daytime happenings of Cornerstone.
God has been so present in the ministry that's happening over here lately. To see Him move in the hearts and lives of those around me as well as in my own makes all of the busyness and work totally worth it. For instance, the Ignite group has quite a reputation of being rowdy and hard to work with. Monday was a perfect image of that. We were in the middle of a football match with the first group of kiddos when the adrenaline rush got the best of two of the boys. One began to push the buttons of another and before we knew it, the first was on the ground with blood gushing out of his nose. Now, let me give you a little bit of a backstory on Nelson* and Eddie*. Apparently, Nelson has battled anger issues for years. From what I gather, he spent more time on probation from Ignite last year than at Ignite for similar circumstances. Which is probably how Eddie learned how to push buttons so well. But there has been remarkable improvement this year for Nelson- last week he left the room twice when he could feel himself beginning to react negatively towards others when in the past he would've just stayed until he couldn't control it anymore. So praise God for working in his heart! Also, when we pulled Nelson aside, he was immediately remorseful and even let us pray for him. That's completely unheard of for him. I'm so thankful that during the time that we were cleaning up and caring for the boys, all of the leaders were able to show the two boys love and grace instead of getting frustrated and annoyed at the situation. It makes my heart happy to know that I'm serving alongside such a Godly team.
Boy's Club was less chaotic than usual, which was a nice change in pace for my Tuesday. I ended up needing to call an ambulance at Cornerstone (no worries, all is well), and the events surrounding that situation wore me out. I'm so thankful for those stressful times, though. My heart was made for loving people through the hard stuff, through their fears, and through the messes.
Tonight and parts of next week will be pretty busy with the Open Mic Night here at Cornerstone tonight and my boss being off next Tuesday-Thursday. Would you pray that tonight goes smoothly and is fun for all involved? Matt is supposed to be hosting the event, but he's rather ill today. Lift him up that he'd feel better (let's be honest, I was so not made for mc'ing much of anything- definitely not an open mic night). Pray for next week's events, as well. I'm teaching at both Ignite on Monday and Boy's Club on Tuesday. There's also an assignment due next week that I'm struggling to put words together for. When it's finished, though, I think it'll be super useful for the ministry happening here. Will you ask that I can handle the stress of next week well and still show Jesus to people with my attitude? As always, be lifting up the work of Cornerstone and the youth ministry at St. James. Pray that they would all function as lights that draw people from this community into the hope of Christ.
With love,
Britt
*For privacy, safety, and whatnot the actual names of customers, children, and well, most other people I talk about, are not used.
God has been so present in the ministry that's happening over here lately. To see Him move in the hearts and lives of those around me as well as in my own makes all of the busyness and work totally worth it. For instance, the Ignite group has quite a reputation of being rowdy and hard to work with. Monday was a perfect image of that. We were in the middle of a football match with the first group of kiddos when the adrenaline rush got the best of two of the boys. One began to push the buttons of another and before we knew it, the first was on the ground with blood gushing out of his nose. Now, let me give you a little bit of a backstory on Nelson* and Eddie*. Apparently, Nelson has battled anger issues for years. From what I gather, he spent more time on probation from Ignite last year than at Ignite for similar circumstances. Which is probably how Eddie learned how to push buttons so well. But there has been remarkable improvement this year for Nelson- last week he left the room twice when he could feel himself beginning to react negatively towards others when in the past he would've just stayed until he couldn't control it anymore. So praise God for working in his heart! Also, when we pulled Nelson aside, he was immediately remorseful and even let us pray for him. That's completely unheard of for him. I'm so thankful that during the time that we were cleaning up and caring for the boys, all of the leaders were able to show the two boys love and grace instead of getting frustrated and annoyed at the situation. It makes my heart happy to know that I'm serving alongside such a Godly team.
Boy's Club was less chaotic than usual, which was a nice change in pace for my Tuesday. I ended up needing to call an ambulance at Cornerstone (no worries, all is well), and the events surrounding that situation wore me out. I'm so thankful for those stressful times, though. My heart was made for loving people through the hard stuff, through their fears, and through the messes.
Tonight and parts of next week will be pretty busy with the Open Mic Night here at Cornerstone tonight and my boss being off next Tuesday-Thursday. Would you pray that tonight goes smoothly and is fun for all involved? Matt is supposed to be hosting the event, but he's rather ill today. Lift him up that he'd feel better (let's be honest, I was so not made for mc'ing much of anything- definitely not an open mic night). Pray for next week's events, as well. I'm teaching at both Ignite on Monday and Boy's Club on Tuesday. There's also an assignment due next week that I'm struggling to put words together for. When it's finished, though, I think it'll be super useful for the ministry happening here. Will you ask that I can handle the stress of next week well and still show Jesus to people with my attitude? As always, be lifting up the work of Cornerstone and the youth ministry at St. James. Pray that they would all function as lights that draw people from this community into the hope of Christ.
With love,
Britt
*For privacy, safety, and whatnot the actual names of customers, children, and well, most other people I talk about, are not used.