shoes of peace

So in jrhigh we're doing a series on the armor of God and I was asked to teach on the sandals of peace. I had just come back from vacation and was a little "out of it". I hadn't seen the kids in three weeks and I had no idea what was going on in jrhigh. Now I have to teach. All week I prepared and I was ready. I had been going through some things and I was praying that God's spirit would be merciful to the kids because this broken vessel He was about to use, was.... hurting.

The morning was a little hectic and right before class started I remembered the words to a song that I thought would be appropriate. I went to look up the song and instead found Isaiah 52v7. So I opened the lesson with that and that was the first and last time I looked at the notes that I so beautifully prepared. God had other plans and He was merciful. Not only to the jrhighers but to me.

As I prayed, the only "plan" I had was to tell them to take the shoes off their feet and surrender it to the altar. I didn't doubt. I knew God would do it. Those kids are so very hungry for God. I was more afraid that they'd walk out and it wouldn't stick. So, here I was, telling 50-60 jrhighers to surrender their shoes to the altar of God and how they represent doing things their way and walking where they want to walk. Then the first person responded, then another and another and I started to cry. I realised that the God that I serve is so powerful. I had 2 pages worth of notes.... none of which I used.

I found myself giving an altar call that said, "It's great you surrendered your shoes but now God needs willing bodies to fill them. The shoes can't walk to your family and preach the Gospel on their own, they can't share the love of Jesus with your friends. God's asking now that you surrender your will and your way and trust Him". Where'd that come from??? I was blown away at how when I'm broken, I'm open and I'm saying "yes Lord" how faithful He is.

At the end, the kids responded and yes, while that was great and I watched God move two things stuck with me:

1. The leader of jrhigh said: whatever it was that took you to that place, stay there. Praise God that was an amazing message and the spirit of God was moving.
2. One of the kids said to me: thank you for sharing about your mom... and for crying. it showed that you're open and vulnerable and that encouraged me so much.

I don't know why God would choose to use me but one of the leaders in high school heard about the lesson and said to me "if you ever doubted that you were supposed to be in jrhigh, there's your proof that you're right where you need to be"

I'm never going to forget this lesson. I've taught a lot in jrhigh and there's a lot of memorable lessons. I have all the notes but this is one that when I was at my lowest, at my weakest, probably even at my worse that God choose to do something sooooo amazing!