A letter to the seniors.... (Well, I guess you can still read this even if you're not a senior yet haha!)

my senior year was the best year of high school, by far. it was super hard at times and incredibly stressful, but God opened SO many doors for me that i wasn't even expecting. i felt like my sphere of influence was enlarged exponentially.... i truly felt like i made a difference and got to LIVE OUT my faith in front of my peers in a way i didn't feel like i could the previous 3 years.... i guess God was just preparing me! He gave me such a platform to positively influence the lives of those around me. i wouldn't trade that for anything. seriously.

all that to say that there's NO telling what God will do in and through your life. my advice: be praying and expecting Him to do something!!! He did so much in my life, and I honestly wasn't even necessarily praying or expecting the impact to be huge. but once He made my steps firm, He just blew my mind and i know that He affected so many people because i was just a willing spirit.

risk was involved. don't think for a second that it was the easy way to go! i could have stayed in my comfort zone and NOT stepped out in faith. i had to try new things and risk embarrassment and failure, which i'm not a huge fan of, haha! God gave me the opportunity to use my gifts in ways i hadn't really thought of, and the results were amazing and humbling. He provided me a way to truly live out Romans 12:1-2 - i love it in the message:

"so here's what i want you to do, God helping you: take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life -- and place it before God as an offering. embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. instead, fix your attention on God. you'll be changed from the inside out. readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, developing well-formed maturity in you."

take those words and bury them in your heart, senior. you CAN make a difference. there's a verse in the Bible (i'm not a Bible scholar lol) that says something like "God's eyes are searching the earth for one whose heart is turned towards Him." He's LOOKING for someone who is willing to step outside of themselves and surrender to God's will. will you stand up, senior? will you put your hand up and say, "here i am, send me"?

maybe it's starting a prayer group or Bible club, running for student government, joining a club on a topic you've been interested in, trying out for a sports or dance team, or just befriending someone in your class. God can and will use what you give Him. just give Him your fish and loaves of bread - watch how He'll multiply it.

for me, God gave me leadership opportunities and i got to influence and inspire so many of the underclassmen. i got to sing solos twice during the year and i was blown away by the impact that had. the one at the beginning of the year wasn't even a Christian song! but God anointed it and people were touched. the other was for our senior show and has gone literally all over the world via facebook. i also auditioned my high school's musical, and got the lead part, and i hadn't been in a play since middle school. i also got to have a leadership role in our choir with a good friend of mine who's also a Christian and we got to make sure every choir student felt valued. i got to sing and worship with a new youth ministry and make so many new friends. through that, i got to pray during an all-county worship & prayer night which many of my peers were at.

God's favor was over it ALL and i'm humbled that He would use me. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE WHAT GOD CAN DO WITH YOUR "LUNCH." you may feel like you have nothing to offer, but THAT'S NOT TRUE. pray, ask God to help you and give you opportunities to share His love, to be His hands and feet to your school.

i'm sorry this is so long. i got inspired while sharing a piece of my story with a friend. :-)

my prayer for you, senior, is that when graduation comes around, you can look around and know you've left a positive imprint on your school and on your peers; that you'll have no regrets; that you'll know you gave God your all and left it all on the table.

here's to the class of 2010! :-) God bless you all!!!