Legacy

• Some of you already know exactly what this blog post is about and some of you are probably completely lost. Before some of you become misled about the title of this blog post, the Legacy I'm about to talk about isn't Merriam Webster's version of legacy: a gift that was given to me by will especially of money or other personal property. However, Legacy has been a blessing to my life and has been something that I will forever cherish. Legacy is the name of my youth group. I haven't always been a member of Legacy; actually I started going there one year ago at the end of this month. This didn't matter though, I can still remember how accepted I felt the very first time I went there. My best friend, Johnna actually invited me to their Christmas party and to be honest when I got there I felt so guilty because this was a party and I didn't want them to get the wrong impression that I was only there because of that reason. Little did I know that these people would have such a strong impact on me that after just a few weeks of going, it would become my favorite time of the week. Our youth group meets every Sunday from 6-8 in the evening and it takes a significant event for me to miss this time. To be honest, it messes up my whole week if I miss it. It starts my week off with a peace of mind, with a night of prayer and worship, and with a night with some of my favorite people. From the outside our youth group probably looks like any other, we play a game, we have prayer time, we worship with music, and have a lesson. However, from the inside you would learn that our youth group is the farthest thing from ordinary. We jump over couches through hula hoops onto a huge mess of cushions for games, we don't only pray but wrestle with God for each others' problems, we dance and sing at the top of our lungs to worship songs, and we learn and grow together in our lesson time. I've created so many memories with these people from tubing on the lake, to piling as many people as possible into the bed of our youth pastor's truck (shown below), to making survival videos in our youth pastor's woods, to serving other kiddos in Memphis, TN, to entertaining each other on a seven hour car ride, to catching each others' best and worst moments on our GoPro and so many more. Through this group, I've met some of my best friends, have grown to love and have been loved by two of my biggest role models (my youth pastor and his wife), been able to teach junior high girls about God and overcoming the pressures they face in daily life, been able to go on my first mission trip, been able to teach the lesson at youth group a couple of times, met a girl that has the most special place in my heart and my love for her is comparable to a sister's love, and have been constantly reminded that I am enough. Through this youth group, I switched churches which brought a bunch of more new people into my life, which has been nothing but a blessing to me. Through this youth group, I have realized how called I am to youth and to some sort of ministry (I'm sure God will lead me to that at some point, I'm trying my best to be patient.) I could go on and on about how much I love these crazy kiddos and these awesome adults who love us like their own but overall, at the end of the day, I know that I have a family that has my back because of these lovable crazies.