A guest post by Becky Bagnall, YoungLives Coordinator for Central Grand Rapids Young Life
Our YoungLives camp week was quickly approaching and we had 4 teen moms signed up from Central Grand Rapids. The girls were slightly apprehensive but overall excited about having the best week ever.
We had plans to meet at a small ice cream parlor to finish camp forms and figure out last-minute details. It was at this event that one of our teen moms mentioned her friend Jasmine.
“Is it too late for Jasmine to join?” she asked us.
My co-leader Patty and I exchanged a look that silently expressed the understanding that adding another mom at this point would be difficult and unlikely. It would mean more fundraising, and camp was now 10 days away! We left that conversation telling the girls, “We will see.”
As YoungLives leaders, we are always encouraged to think and pray about that “one mom” who is on the fence about camp. Jasmine was that mom for us.
But God was already at work and His plan was beginning to unfold. I reached out to Jasmine the next day: “Can you join us for YoungLives camp at Timber Wolf Lake?”
The answer came quickly and with desperation, “Yes!”
But the reality was that Jasmine had a full-time job working at Denny’s in Grand Rapids and she needed to ask for the week off from work. Jasmine asked her boss for the time off and was first told that with such short notice they could not meet her request.
Later that day, Jasmine was able to have a personal conversation with her boss about the reason for her request (a week at camp for teen moms). Upon hearing her story, Jasmine’s employer looked her in the eyes and said, “You not only CAN go, you HAVE to go!”
It turns out that the daughter of Jasmine’s boss had been to YoungLives camp about six years ago with Holland YoungLives. She had seen first-hand the positive impact it had on her daughter.
A week later, Jasmine and her 2-year-old daughter were in the van with our YoungLives group headed to Lake City, Michigan.
God had been opening hearts and leading the way for Jasmine to hear His message of love for her at camp. Jasmine went to YoungLives camp with the knowledge that God had brought her there for a specific reason. At camp, Jasmine zip-lined, laughed, made memories with her daughter, and most importantly accepted Christ into her life.
We serve a God who cares for every one of His children. A God who goes to great lengths to rescue them and draw them into His love. A God who makes a way when there seems no way. A God who pursues. We are humbled and thankful to witness God’s work in Jasmine’s life this summer!
DID YOU KNOW?
>> YoungLives is an outreach and discipleship ministry of Young Life that reaches teenage mothers (and their children), by entering their world, modeling the unconditional love of Christ, and encouraging them to become the women and mothers God created them to be.
>> In the Western Great Lakes Region, you can find YoungLives in the following areas: Central Grand Rapids, Eastern Ottawa, Greater Holland, Kalamazoo, Lakeshore (Muskegon), Southwest Grand Rapids.
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