MATTHEW 25:40
When I was fourteen, I had the opportunity to go with my youth group and minister at a women and children’s rescue shelter in downtown Orlando. There were many underprivileged people, and it was a culture shock for the kids from our upper-middle-class church to see just how little these people really had. The kids at the shelter had very few clothes and not many toys. Compared to us, they were pathetically poor. I “adopted” a little Hispanic girl, Alexa, who was at the shelter with her mother. There was bad blood between her mother and her father, and I doubt whether she got to see her father very much, if at all. Alexa and her mother lived in poverty, and I felt bad for them, but I also saw how I could help them. All Alexa really needed was somebody to hug her and let her know that Jesus loved her, and I had the privilege of being that person for a week. I haven’t seen Alexa since that time, but I constantly meet people like her. They may not be physically poor, as she was, but they need Jesus. I have the opportunity to treat them kindly and show them Christ in my life. I know that when I am kind to someone who doesn’t have as much as I do, I am really honoring Christ. I hope I won’t turn down the opportunities to help others and show them the light of Christ. God wants to use us no matter how young we are. We just need to be willing to be used by Him.
Sarah Brautigam, 16, Houghton Christian Academy, Houghton, NY
Lord, showing Your love to someone
can change their lives. Help me to do that
today for someone who really needs to know You.