Serving God's Children

Serving
God’s Children
As
I gazed over the cheering crowd and into the eyes of the child
emerging from the water before me, my heart melted with a feeling of
warmth and gratitude. As I reflected, I saw our first encounter on a
bright Sunday morning. I saw his childlike innocence, his heart, and
his passion to grow in the Lord. I saw how he depended on me to teach
him what I knew about God, and I saw him running to me excitedly,
proclaiming that he was getting baptized. My prayers for him were
answered, and the life God poured into him through me began with a
choice:  to serve.
As
a devout Christian and eager student, serving those in my school and
community has been one of my primary goals in life thus far. In the
summer of 2017, I made a life changing choice to volunteer at World
Outreach Church’s Character Quest, a weeklong summer camp for kids
in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Through a series of events and
encounters with the Lord, I made the decision to volunteer in
children’s ministry on a weekly basis at World Outreach Church, and
the seasons since have been the happiest of my life.


Each
Sunday morning, I serve a group of about five children; my
responsibilities include providing supervision, relating with them
about life experiences, and teaching the weekly Bible lesson. Through
this, I have been blessed with a unique opportunity to connect with
each child and to pour my heart and what I am learning back into
their lives. I am certain that by showing love, compassion, and
tenderness to these children, their lives are touched in a simple yet
extraordinary way.
Children
are special for a multitude of reasons, and those that I serve are at
a crucial stage in their lives. Behavioral and attention deficit
problems sometimes arise, but I am valuably learning each week how to
handle these situations. I believe that teaching something is an
effective way to learn, and as I help each child grow strong in their
faith, I find myself building character and learning significantly
about life’s hills and valleys. I am confident that my experience
volunteering in children’s ministry will benefit me greatly as I
pursue a career as a physician’s assistant.

From
the beginning of my service in August 2017, I have accrued roughly
240 service hours. I look forward to many more seasons of serving in
children’s ministry, and my prayer is that the children I cross
paths with will learn to love the Lord in such a way that everything
they do revolves around their faith. These children have been an
incredible blessing in my life, and I will continue to do my very
best to love, support, and encourage them in any way possible. My
hope is that they will hold tight to what I have taught them and will
take what God has blessed them with and use it to change the world.