“Hi everyone. It’s been a blessing to get to know some of you and your beautiful personalities and gifts. I just really desired to have an opportunity before we left to share with you and encourage you. My husband and I met at a young adults Bible study exactly like this when I was 18 years old during my freshmen year of college. I was praying for many things. One, for God to give me clarity about His will for my life. Two, for a man of God, a godly husband. And three, to make me a woman of God.

I had so many questions for God and about life. But the testimony and lesson in this story is this: Keep yourself devoted to the Lord, and let Him bless your life in the timing that He sees fit and perfect for you. Keep showing up to these Bible studies and worship nights. Let the word of God transform you from the inside out and transform your desires to be the Lord’s desires. Let your best friends be friends who love and are devoted to the Lord.

Because although we struggled with so many things as single, young adults, such as discouragement, lust, confusion, and there was always a tug-of-war going on in our hearts about whether we would keep walking with the Lord and chasing after purity and holiness, God showed Himself time and time again to be faithful, to keep us on this journey, and to sustain us when we were weak.

Not only is God after your heart, He wants to write your story. All of us have a past, we are all sinful beings. Daniel and I would be the first to be transparent with you and say being a Christian is challenging, it does get hard, and the enemy is always seeking to devour and take your eyes off of God and cause you to turn your back on your First Love. But the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:13,

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

This is true. Even after we leave, Daniel and I still make ourselves available to you, to pray with you, to listen to you, and ultimately to give you godly, biblical counsel so that you know you are not alone, and to remind you to keep running this race with Jesus beside you and Jesus before you.

If you are like me and perhaps you do not have as many godly examples in your life, I can tell you that the only thing I knew to do was to cling to God and make Jesus my best friend. Make Him your best friend, to confide in, to cry to, and to hope in.

Keep your eyes on God. Pin all your fears, guilt, and shame to the cross. Lastly, remember God is your Supply, your Protector, your Healer, your Provider, and His grace for you is vast.

Thank you. God bless you all.”

---

Minutes before the young adults Bible study started, I wrote these words down. The Lord placed it in my heart to speak a final encouragement to the young generation before my husband and I concluded our chapter at our church and with this college age ministry. As time came closer, nerves came and I grabbed my husband’s hand to calm me down. When he pulled his hand away to open his Bible to the passage of the night, I felt the nerves flood once more.

I focused my mind on one truth: “I am nobody, I am nobody, I am nobody, and I’m here to tell others about Somebody.”

The humility of that statement not only comforted me, but propelled me to be able to get up on the stage and speak what the Holy Spirit wanted me to say.

When the pastor said, “Allison, did you want to share something?” I replied, “Yes please.”

I went to the microphone and opened my phone so that I could read the words I prepared. When I began to speak, the Lord enabled me to put my phone back in my pocket and simply speak from my heart.

I had never once spoke in a microphone like that before with an audience of diverse individuals, all in different paths and seasons of life. And by God’s grace, I got through most of what I had prepared to say.

When I went back down to sit at my seat, I wrestled with the fact that I didn’t remember all the words I wanted to share and encourage with.

So as the worship service concluded, I went to put away something in my purse. From my corner view, I could see a girl walking pass me and there she sat next to me to talk to me.

As I met her for the first time, she shared, “I just wanted to tell you that I could tell you were nervous up there, but I knew the Lord put you up there because it was for me.”

Suddenly tears streamed down her cheeks as she paused between her sentences.

Immediately touched by her vulnerability that was expressing itself before me, my mind was trying to wrap itself around the reality that this was actually happening. It was trying to wrap itself around the reality that for the first time ever, a young girl was coming up to tell me how my words ministered to her and were what she needed.

For the first time ever, my spoken words at the pulpit were being used. I couldn’t believe it was truly happening.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Amy,” she replied.

“Well Amy, I would love to pray for you. Is there anything specific that I can pray for you?”

As she shared her struggles and circumstances, I was soaking in the moment of encountering a young woman who needed somebody to point her to Jesus. I was encountering a young woman who needed somebody to display His grace to her.

Amy was going through something I had gone through. She was walking through a pain I walked in before. And she mustered whatever amount of courage to come up to me.

“I never shared this with anybody,” she said.

This beautiful, young woman chose to finally open her heart, let out what she had been holding inside, to confide in me.

When a woman shares the deep waters of her heart, it is something so sacred and special. It is a move of God. It is a work of His Spirit.

I got to share with Amy the words I didn’t remember to say on the pulpit. Based off her story, in those seconds, I realized, those words were reserved for her.

I hugged and prayed with Amy when we finished talking. When I looked up, Amy was enveloped in tears that streamed down her face when I was praying for her. Not only were her cheeks wet, but her chin and arms were covered in tears that fell during our time together.

Amy needed somebody to comfort her. Amy needed somebody to remind her of God’s unfailing love for her. Amy needed to feel like she was not alone. She needed to feel not ashamed. She needed somebody to encourage her to keep moving forward and let go of the past because God still had good in store for her.

I loved every ounce of my time with Amy. She was God’s gift to me. She was a blessing to be with, even for a moment in time.

I didn’t know what would come of my words spoken over the microphone that night. I didn’t know how to say all that I wanted to say. I had to believe that whatever the Holy Spirit would lead me to share, that God would do the rest.

Amy was the one it was for. She was the soul that would be touched by the message God had me share. He told me to speak that evening, all for her.

She matters. Her story matters. Her next steps matter. And God put me in the middle to point to her the way He wanted her to walk in.

Many years as a young woman myself, I was the girl on the verge of breaking down in tears over the words a woman spoke at the pulpit in ministry. I was the fragile girl so touched by what an older woman shared that led me to pick up the courage to tell them how God used them to speak the words I desperately needed to hear.

For the first time ever, I was the older woman. Amy was the one.

She was the one it was all for.

One soul to comfort and bring hope to in a time of need is all that matters. We don’t know who that soul may be or what time they need it most, but God does.

Be faithful to do what He calls of you. Nothing matters more than the one soul that will be changed by the message God places in you.