The Rebel with a Cause

Spiritual maturity can be viewed two ways when it comes to age - either you’re too young to have it or you’re too old not to have it. Personally I have found neither option to be true.

Looking back on my own life, my spiritual maturity has changed based on how much I’m feeding myself with God’s word. I was really involved in my youth group as a teenager and as a result of that, I possessed more spiritual maturity during my teen years than I did in my twenties. Now I feel like my maturity grows stronger as I continue to seek and obey God. It requires change and it is an ongoing process but the reward far outweighs the struggle.

Obviously with what God placed on the very young shoulders of Mary, there is no age requirement to obtain spiritual maturity. God does not place a sign out that says, “If you were born after May 13, 1999 then you are officially spiritually mature”. It is based solely on you and your relationship with God. Draw near to him and you mature. Pull away and you don’t. It’s as simple as that!

As Christians we place a lot of stereotypes on others and by doing this we judge their spiritual maturity. Jen says in Chapter 10 – ‘God constantly blows the doors off our stereotypes ….No one is more unconventional than God. Funny how His name is used to create boundaries when, in fact, He is the Ultimate Rebel. Frankly, I’m shocked when He uses anyone slightly normal, whatever that is.”

I love that God is a rebel – and that he uses abnormal people because I have that going for me! And I’m pretty sure it really ticks off Satan to hear God described as a Rebel and to see him cozying up to the bad guys, because if anyone can flip a bad seed good, it’s God! Satan is probably saying “Back off my people – I got them locked up!” See that is the thing with God…nobody is excluded from His grace which means anyone can come in to spiritual maturity no matter what their past is. God is a rebel with a cause - and that cause is YOU!

I really enjoyed reading about Jen’s friends in Chapter 12 – wow what amazing women. I’m kind of feeling like a slacker! Makes me realize I could do so much more than what I do for God. I do however have something awesome coming up so I’ve decided to be totally selfish here and ask for your help. For the past 2 summers I have had the opportunity to participate in a mission trip with my church to Moldova, the smallest and poorest Eastern European country. On June 20 I will be headed back there with another group of adults to help lead a sports camp for teenagers. We have a very small group going this year – just 4 of us – and we really need your prayer! So if you can start praying now for God to be with us in planning, preparation, in the willingness of the kids to attend, for the Moldovan leadership as they put the camp together, for our safety in travel and for us to be spiritually mature and share God’s love with these kids – it would be greatly appreciated!!

I’ll leave you with a picture of me and my girls Karina, Nadia and Maria, and my husband Devlyn and Karina's brother Dan, some of the awesome teenagers in Moldova that I have formed a very special bonds with. Thanks for your prayers!!