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Originally Posted at BGAV.org. Article by Taylor Hayes.
God invites us on adventures every day. Some seem more exciting than others, but they will all teach us something in the end.
We just have to accept the invitation and step out in trusting God to open our eyes and our hearts.
As a staff member last year, I knew God was inviting me back to be on staff for Impact Mission Camps months before this summer began. In a leap of faith, I made it my goal to serve God wholeheartedly all summer, sharing his love and hope with everyone I interacted with during camp.
The biggest way that God used me was through my testimony. I shared about my struggle with depression and the hope that I found in God during the hard times. I encouraged anyone who felt the same to open up and reach out for help.
And when I allowed God to use me to tell everyone who came to Impact this summer that there was a hope that could only be found in God, I saw them filled with God’s love.
I was stunned by the number of people each week who would hug me and share with me that they were also struggling. I spoke to them of hope for their lives, and I shared God’s love with them.
God taught me that though it seemed so impossible to stand in front of hundreds of people on a stage and be so completely vulnerable about my life, he was using me as a beacon for others to see his light and hope.
God blessed me with the opportunity for God to use me because I simply accepted his invitation, even though I didn’t know exactly what I was being invited to do.
As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.–Psalm 71:14 (NIV)
Taylor Hayes is a student at Longwood University. Her home church is Gwathmey Baptist Church, a BGAV-member congregation in Ashland, VA.