What an exciting time we had at Excel this past weekend!
I took two teen moms with us and it was truly life changing for them. One girl (a Christian) told me that her spiritual walk was empty. She likened her relationship with God to that of a pen pal, who writes a letter to her pen pal, gets a response but never reads it, writes another letter, gets another response, does not read it and repeats the process. “I am that way with God. I write Him a letter (pray) and when I get a response I don’t read it and then I write another letter with more questions and more requests but I never bother to read His letter to me.” She made a commitment to spend time reading God’s word so that she can grow.
The other girl had shared her story at our annual banquet where she told us that she had not yet given her life to Christ. Ray then asked everyone there to pray for “Tia”. While at Excel, the speaker told a story of Spelunking and getting to a hole in the cave and not wanting to go through the hole. The guide said to him, “You cannot come this far and not go all the way.” This statement really resonated with “Tia” and Saturday night she gave her life to Christ.
Ray was once again conference pastor and had the opportunity to speak to the teens six times throughout the weekend. Sunday night three teens came to our room and asked to speak to Ray. One teen told how she had given her life to Christ at Excel last year but “I haven’t been living for Him.” She recommitted her life to Christ determined to live for Him this time. Another teen had given her life to Christ before was concerned for her mother. The third teen, a young mom, gave her life to Christ Saturday night and was determined to be a better mom to her son. They came asking for prayer that God would really help them live for Him. What a sweet time we had as these teens poured their hearts out.
Please pray with us that these dear young people will stand firm in their commitments and truly find the peace that passes all understanding.