Success rarely comes without hard work, but work hard and you’ll reap the rewards of it. Athletes train day in and day out to accomplish success on the field or on the court. Career professionals study several years in order to graduate and be successful in a job. Just because people have become successful in their ventures does not mean they didn’t have to overcome obstacles along the way.

Athletes get exhausted or even injured in the training process, but those who are truly dedicated to the training will push through and fight harder. Students in school often get stressed out and bogged down with homework, but those who are truly dedicated to learning will push through the struggles to receive the reward of a diploma and the satisfaction of fulfilling a goal or finding a good job.

Likewise, walking with Christ is a life-long journey that’s not always glamorous. In fact, the Bible tells us that those who believe in Christ and follow Him will experience persecution and struggles along the way.

“Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me” (John 15:20-21).

Even though we probably will face struggles throughout our journey with Christ, the reward that comes with living for God far outweighs the trials that one will face. Eternal life and all the blessings and provision and intimacy that come from the Lord cannot be experienced fully when one cuts out of the race. We should not quit or give up because things get hard. If everyone did that when times were difficult, no one would get anywhere in life. Those who are truly dedicated to following Christ will run harder in the race.

It’s hard to run the race alone. When struggles come, it’s a lot easier to quit when there is no a support system in place to encourage the person to press on. We weren’t meant to go though struggles or life alone. God made Eve so Adam would have a companion in life to share in his struggles and encourage him, and likewise, Adam was to do the same for Eve. Just like these two characters, we need people in our lives that will share in our joys and struggles and encourage us when we’re at our breaking point. As believers and followers of the same God, we are connected in Christ and should lift one another up. We need to be that voice of strength to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that we might rally one another to press on in the race towards the reward God has in store for His good and faithful servants.

Life is often crazy and leads us to unexpected places. Our choices affect where we will end up, and sometimes we don't always make the best ones. Getting into a pattern of making wrong decisions can lead us to places we never thought we'd be and turn us into people we never thought we'd become, and this can make us wonder, "How did I get here?"

It only takes one bad decision to start a spiral down the wrong path. It only takes one drink, one puff, one lie, even one rude act to get us off track and headed towards a place we've never been. So what do you do when you wake up one morning and don't recognize who you are or where you're headed in life?

The only good thing about treading far from where you were and who you wanted to be is that you can also go back. Even though bad choices cannot be reversed, they can be corrected. They can become lessons learned and wisdom to be imparted to someone else later, and for the ones who finally realize this, Father will be there waiting with open arms full of grace to lead you home.

All it takes is one choice, one decision to turn around and start heading in the right direction - one simple "no" to something you no longer want to be a part of. Sometimes the first step is the hardest part for many people, especially when we feel like we've done things so horrible they can't be forgotten or forgiven. But the reality is there is nothing in this world we could do to lose God's love for us. There is no amount of bad choices we could make that would cause Him to turn away and leaves us in a place we don't want to be. "

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). After all, God is a God of love, and He would leave the ninety-nine just to find the one, just to bring you back.

Saint Francis once said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words." I think this is a great way to evangelize to a broken world that's in need of Christ's love and the gift He is offering to all. We can preach the Gospel at all times because evangelism goes deeper than just the words we speak to other people. We can share the Gospel with others through every aspect of our life. We can demonstrate the Gospel through our actions and behaviors towards one another as well as with our words.

The Gospel of Christ is the good news, and the good news is all about love - how "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

We can then use God's example to treat other people with the same love God gave to us. After all, God's second greatest command is to "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). This command is evident in many passages. Luke 10: 27 says to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself."

Not only are we to love our neighbors or those who are kind to us, but even our enemies are to receive love. Luke 6:27-28 puts it like this: "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." This truth may be hard for some to swallow, but everyone needs love, even those who make it difficult. Since Christ loves each and every one of us, we owe Him our life, our love, and our willingness to love the rest of His creation. This task of loving other people can be scary to many because sometimes we just don't want to love people who treat us badly.

Preaching the Gospel at all times doesn't have to be scary like many of us would assume it to be. Love can be demonstrated in the smallest action or simplest word. Complimenting a classmate's wardrobe or holding a door open are both little acts that display our love for people. Now with that said, small gestures are by no means a replacement for sharing God's love verbally. As believers in Christ and God's messengers, we should always be seeking opportunities to make a difference in someone's life by speaking truth into their heart.

In the meantime, we should always be shining our lights into the darkness and expressing ourselves through love to those we meet. Preaching the Gospel is both a verbal and behavioral task. And as we go out into the world, let us go in all boldness and without hindrance just as our brother Paul did when he was preaching the kingdom of God.

Sarah Smith grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with an English degree. She loves being a child of God and serving in missions. She has gone on trips to Germany and London and served a recent term of five and half months in London as a missionary intern. She recently applied to seminary and is looking forward to attending Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall to study Christian Counseling.

Ninety-eight...ninety-nine...one hundred! Ready or not, here I come! I always hated being the seeker in hide and seek because it was so frustrating when I couldn't find who I was looking for. Some people can find really good hiding places, which would make the search for them even more difficult. But as I think about it, it wouldn't be much fun if I opened my eyes to find one of the hiders sitting on the couch in plain sight. The whole thrill of the game is the catch, finding who you're looking for. It can be frustrating, but when you do finally find someone who's been hiding in a really good place, it makes the game and the time spent searching for them feel so much more worth it. It gives us a sense of accomplishment for being able to seek out someone who was hidden really well.

Sometimes I think this same idea applies to our walk with God. It may happen when we're walking through life and come to a split in the road and have to decide which way to go, or it may happen when a storm comes and we need to find shelter and answers to life's struggles. Either way, when these situations occur, it is our turn to go looking and seek God to show us the way.

Seeking Him in difficult circumstances can be hard for us, especially when we are humans who always want answers here and now without having to wait, but with God we can't always expect that. God always has a perfect time to reveal Himself to us and show us what to do next. If we never had to seek after God and he always showed Himself right whenever we asked, we wouldn't ever grow more patient or learn persistence. We wouldn't learn to trust Him in the hard and painful times or when we can't see what's up ahead.

God has sought us from the beginning when we were living in darkness and showed us the way home. He continues to seek those who haven't turned to Him yet, and He also seeks those who have turned away or strayed from the path. So when we are looking for answers or guidance or standing in the middle of a storm, that's when it's our time to go seeking all the hidden truths God is waiting to reveal.

An Open Letter to Churches in America Regarding Student Ministry Leaders

Want to know how you can keep that youth guy around? Here's a five-step action plan for all the list-makers and strategists out there.

5) Respect him. In other words, don't treat him like he's one of his students. He's a grown man and God's Chosen to shepherd the kids in your church and community, so give him the respect he's due. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13) Don't belittle his calling just because God called him to work with students and not super-smart adults like you. And I say that as respectfully as possible, adults. (Note: One way to show him respect is through the title you give him. He's not directing traffic - he's providing spiritual care for a whole demographic of your church's population. So let's all collectively agree to retire the phrase "Youth Director," okay? Or you could stick with it and start calling your pastor the "Grown-Ups Director.")

4) Serve with him. Let him know you are eager to share in the biblical mandate to disciple the next generation (Titus 2:2-8). Don't shuffle him and your students off to their own room or even building and expect him to single-handedly ensure that each is truly discipled. That's not just his job. It's yours, too. Dig in deep with the students and experience life with them. See the needs for yourself firsthand, especially before telling him what the youth calendar should look like.

3) Get to know him. Maybe you don't get his ministry approach. Maybe you think he plays video games too much and has too much facial hair. But if you take the time to get to know the man behind that goatee, you'll find that he has a huge heart that's burning with a desire to glorify God and reach a generation that most have turned their back on. And once you see that, it'll be pretty hard not to love the guy who goes to battle every day on behalf of your kids. (1 John 4:7-12) If he's married, take the time to get to know his wife, too. Chances are that she's not half bad either.

2) Listen to him. He has more insight than you probably give him credit for. Give him the opportunity to have a voice in your church that has influence outside the walls of the student ministry. His ministry is probably the most creative one happening in your church right now, so why not channel some of that creativity into other areas? He probably hasn't been around the ministry block long enough to be jaded yet, and he can hold up the mirror to your face when you utter ministry death-knell phrases like, "But it's always been done this way." And trust me, we need someone to help us look at ourselves a little harder when we start saying things like that. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

1) Stand with him (otherwise known as "don't fire him"). The tenure of student ministers is growing shorter and shorter, but that's not the result of our generation's "nomadic" spirit. Trust me, we don't get an itch to uproot our families and move every 18 months. Most of us get a little help from the church leadership in making that decision. You see, in the interview process, everyone puts their best face on, but the masks come off when the real ministry starts happening. And in the light of day, there's a lot of ugly stuff going down in today's churches. But rather than confront it, it seems easier to send the new guy packin'. 

Your student minister is going to make mistakes. He is human after all. But the truth is so are you and every person at your church. So what if we did something drastic and tried to get to the root cause of misunderstandings? What if we strived for biblical reconciliation? What if we stopped seeing that guy as a paycheck recipient funded by "our" tithe dollars and started seeing him as a person? And in the event that everyone still deems it best to part ways, do so with dignity. Honor the time he invested in your students and your community and lovingly send him onward in ministry. Be a blessing to his family financially, not out of a sense of obligation but out of a sense of compassion and gratitude. Speak well of him to others in your community who are watching and listening (James 3:9-12) or sow the seeds of slander and watch what fruit it bears. You see, word travels fast, and your actions just might make the next youth guy think twice before jumping into ministry with you. And it'll probably keep those lost and searching people from darkening your church doors, too. But if that's what you're going for, disregard everything you just read and proceed as planned.

After all, those youth guys are expendable anyway, right?

(P.S. All of this applies to your girls minister, too. Minus the facial hair...hopefully.)

We often get caught up in the do's and don'ts of modest dressing and totally skip the 'why'.  What's the big deal anyway? Why does the length of your shorts or the width of your tanktop straps really matter? There are many reasons, but I'd like to tell you about three.

1. First, we choose modesty because it sets us apart. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world..." What is the pattern of this world?  It is to show as much as you can as often as you can. We take a stand for our faith when we choose to cover up. We are a witness to others in the way we dress.  Possibly even more effective than the cross around your neck or the fish on your car is a tank under a spaghetti strap top that says you will not conform to the world's model - you are set apart!
2. The second reason we choose modesty is to prevent putting a stumbling block in our brother's, and for that matter, our sister's way. Romans 14:13 tells us, "...make up your mind not to put a stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way." It may not come as any shock to you that most guys' biggest struggle is keeping their thoughts pure. We don't do them any favors by parading body parts in front of them that are meant to be covered. Instead, we are often the cause of their stumbling into sin. Don't get me wrong - obviously guys have a choice to stare or look away.  However, a Christian guy should be able to go to church and worship his God without having to keep his eyes closed during the service. Ladies, we don't dress modestly just to help out our Christian brothers; we also do it to help our sisters in Christ. You see, modest dressing doesn't just mean that we don't show off too much skin. It also means that we dress in such a way that we don't draw attention away from the God we serve.
3. Let me explain with the third reason we choose to dress modestly, which is that it keeps the focus on Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:9-10 talks about modesty when it says, "women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness-with good works." Knowing the context of this verse will help us draw out the meaning. You see, Paul was talking specifically about women in the church. Barely-there clothing would obviously be a huge distraction to a guy sitting in church trying to listen to the message, but immodest dressing can also be a major distraction to our sisters.  Have you ever been sitting in church, listening attentively, until a girl comes walking in late with her super cute and obviously pricey bag, perfectly trendy and seemingly straight off the runway outfit with her hair just so, and you find yourself very distracted?  You were sitting there listening to the message, learning from God's Word and now, instead of thoughts about the Lord, you are struggling with feelings of envy and insecurity.  The gal that walked in late wasn't dressed immodestly because she was showing too much skin, but because she was dressed in such a way to draw all the attention to herself.  Unfortunately, when she drew attention to herself, she drew it away from the Lord. 1 Timothy isn't telling us that fixed-up hair, nice jewelry and cute clothes are bad in themselves; it's explaining that they become bad when they become a distraction from our God.

So what's the big deal? Why choose modesty?  It sets us apart, prevents us from being a stumbling block, and keeps the focus on Jesus.  My hope is that we would learn to dress in such a way that God gets ALL the attention.

Ten verses...when I was a junior in high school, I was challenged by a soccer teammate to quote ten verses from the Bible. I had been trying to tell this girl more and more about Jesus, and that day she told me that if I could quote ten verses she would listen to me. Otherwise, she would walk away.

Right now, I want you to think about it...answer that question. Can you recite ten verses from the Bible including where they are from?  Here is the reality...most of you probably cannot.  However, you could quote ten songs.  You can sing along word for word to most of the music on the radio. Many of you could sing along to ten entire CD's.  Ten movie lines would also be easy for you to quote. You could probably manage ten children's songs and likely ten nursery rhymes. The list goes on...

But what about God's Word...the Bible...the very thing that contains the truth from God himself. Sadly, we rarely take the time to memorize it.

Psalms 119:11 says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Learning and committing verses to memory is the very process where we hide the word of God in our hearts. We do this to both honor God and to protect us from Satan.  Did you know that Jesus quoted scripture from the Old Testament when he was tempted by Satan in Matthew 4:1-17?  God's Word is truth, and it helps us get through the difficult parts of life.

So how do you memorize scripture?  Here are some tips:

1) Find verses that are meaningful to you. Look through your Bible and find verses you have underlined or highlighted and start with those.  Also think about things you are struggling with and find verses that relate.  Here are a few good ones...if you are struggling with:

• Sin......................................1 Corinthians 10:13
• Forgiveness........................1 John 1:9
• Finding purpose.................Jeremiah 29:11-13
• Tough times........................Genesis 50:20
• Self-esteem........................Psalms 139:13-14
• Anger..................................Proverbs 29:11
• How to live for God............Micah 6:8
• Cursing...............................Ephesians 4:29
• Knowing you are saved......Romans 10:9-10

2) Memorization comes from repetition, so you have to practice.

3) Develop a disciplined system. For example, I keep note cards with verses on them next to my bed and review them every night before bed.  Once I am certain I remember one, I add a new one.

4) Pray that God would help you to remember the verses you are practicing.

To finish the story, that day on the soccer field, she walked away from me because I couldn't do it. I promised God to never again allow my lack of discipline in learning His Word to keep me from a chance to share with someone about his love.  So now I have not only learned ten verses, I am working to learn 10 chapters!

So I challenge you today to start with one verse.  Find one verse and spend time going over it time and time again until it sticks. Then add another...you will be at ten before you know it.  Are you ready? Will you accept the challenge?

Sometimes life gives us lemons. Things fall apart. Parents break up. Loved ones die. Disasters happen. The world is never all we hoped it would be, but in times of distress...when we're beaten, bruised and at our weakest...those are the moments we need to hold on tight and never surrender.

Paul makes a great statement in 1st Timothy 6:12. He says, "Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

We have greater things to look forward to beyond this life, a place of peace where no pain, sorrow, anguish, or fear will exist. But until that time comes, we must give our best to the One who gave His all. We must remember that we are called to a better life, and even though life on this current earth is full of trials and tribulations, we can still enjoy the beauty of heaven and the blessings of our Father if we live in Him now during this life. In order to receive all those great blessings, we must choose each day to walk faithfully with Father and abide in His love. The following poem demonstrates a commitment to live in Him even when we're crushed by struggles.

Let Me Live

I fight and I sweat

I bleed and I cry

The world is a battlefield

But I'm too broken to fly

I grow weary and tired

I'm faint and I'm weak

Yours is the strength

My soul longs to seek

The pain here is brutal

It mangles my heart

When from this place

Will I soon depart

I want to be free

I want to jump high

This battle it drains me

No longer I try

Teach me to see

Help me to give

Protect me in battle

Just let me live

It's in the trying times when we're at our weakest that Father is at His strongest. So when you're bleeding and broken, there's a Healer to mend you. Tired and weary, there's a Helper to give you strength. Lost and confused, there's a Leader to guide you. Afraid and alone, there's a Friend who will never leave your side. And when you think you've lost all hope and feel like you can't go on, there's a Father to carry you in His arms until you're ready to start again. Next time your world falls apart, let Father put it back together and never stop fighting the good fight of faith.

Vincent Van Gogh once said, "Let's not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it." You see, Van Gogh was a gifted artist, yet he was a tormented soul governed all too easily by his emotions.

But struggling artists aren't the only ones who allow their lives to be captained by their emotions. Having served in vocational ministry for over a decade, it's frightening to see how often we "ministers" allow our emotions to overtake the guiding of the Spirit. Think about it...It's certainly uncomfortable to watch a toddler throw a temper tantrum in the grocery store, but it's even more painful to watch a servant of God throw one in their Father's house. Don't get me wrong - I know how tough ministry can be. People insult you, judge you, and even betray you. And when attacked, our natural human instinct calls us to take an aggressive action. But our spiritual instinct teaches us that no sin from another justifies a sinful response from us.

Proverbs 29:11 (ESV) says, "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back."

Maybe you've learned to process the anger, but you're being bombarded by another of the enemy's attack strategies. You look around at your ministry, and you just don't seem to see any results. No one shows up to that Bible study you spent weeks preparing for...a girl you thought was solid turns up pregnant...the church tells you there just isn't any money for that event you'd been planning. You look around at other ministries, and they seem to be thriving. You go home at the end of the day feeling defeated and unsure of your calling. Sound painfully familiar?

Well, it's one of the enemy's most effective emotional manipulations. If he can convince us to compare our ministry with others, he can breed insecurity, jealousy, and doubt. If he can convince us to measure our spiritual success by a worldly standard comprised of numbers and dollar signs, he can generate fear, frustration, and even despair.

Psalm 139:23 (NLT) says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts."

For those of us in the trenches of ministry, it's critical that we give God the green light to show us the truth behind our thoughts and emotions. Without Him at the helm, it's truly impossible to navigate the often choppy waters of ministry. So I challenge you to step back this month and give the wheel to the One who is able to quiet your emotional turmoil with three simple words: "Peace, be still."

If you never thought materialism was a big deal, then you'll definitely want to check out this article outlining the sad, moral plunge of the "mall girls" in Warsaw.

A few of the high points (or low points in this case) include:

• "The revelation that Catholic girls, some from middle-class families, are prostituting themselves for a Chanel scarf or an expensive sushi dinner is causing many here to question whether materialism is polluting the nation's soul."
• Katarzyna Roslaniec (a young filmmaker who made a film about the real-life "mall girls" she met at a Polish shopping mall) calls the young women "the daughters of capitalism," providing the following explanation of her phrasing: "Parents have lost themselves in the race after a new washing machine or car and are rarely home. A 14-year-old girl needs a system of values that can't be shaped without the guidance of parents. The result is that these girls live in a world where there are no feelings, just cold calculation."
• At Zlote Tarasy, a sprawling mall in central Warsaw, Nina Chmielewska, 15, an aspiring actress, said she knew some mall girls at school. She said they disgusted her, but acknowledged the pressures. "If you want to be cool and accepted at school, you need to have a good cellphone, designer shoes and a boyfriend. You are judged by how you look," she said. "For sure, I don't want to end up with a sweaty, ugly guy."

So what do you think about materialism now? This is a convicting remember of the damaging ripple effect that often comes with the love of money.

So the older I get, the more I've realized that I allow my emotions to control EVERYTHING! If I feel sad, my actions are sad. If I feel happy, my actions are happy. Sometimes I am completely irrational and just plain out of control because of my emotions.

Now, God gave us emotions for a reason. I'm not saying they are bad. In fact, they are a blessing. Emotions allow me to rejoice, to experience the "feeling" of love (which is only part of love by the way), to feel sad when I need to feel sad, to feel sad when my brother or sister in Christ is broken and hurting and needs me to hurt with them, to laugh out loud with a big smile because I am so happy inside, and so on and so on.

My emotions truly are a blessing from the Father. In fact, He tells us in Proverbs that He is keeping our very own tear bottle for each of us! However, there is a bad side to these crazy things called emotions. The bad side comes in when I begin to allow these emotions to control me. When my sad day drives me into depression just because I can't seem to shake it off. Sometimes my emotions cause me to act rude, mean, and just plain ugly toward people. When I let my emotions control me, I become like a human rollercoaster. Sometimes I am happy, sometimes I am mad - up and down, up and down. So the other day I was reading Colossians 2:9-10...

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

This verse tells us that Christ is fully God, therefore God being fully Christ (confusing I know, hang with me). It also tells us that we have been given the FULLNESS of Christ - not just a little, not just some...no ALL, fullness, one hundred percent filled with Him.

Okay, the next part says that He (Christ) is the head over EVERY POWER AND AUTHORITY. Does this mean that we have power through Christ? YES! Complete power through Christ - we have power through Christ over Satan, evil powers, and evil authorities. But check that last part again...Christ, who is head over every power. Sometimes, my emotions get so out of hand that they tend to have power over me. They force me to act a certain way, or believe a certain thing about myself.

For instance, I am a sinner inherently, therefore I am going to sin (even though I hate it). Sometimes when I sin, my emotions go crazy and i feel all this guilt, sadness, and condemnation even after I go to the Father and ask forgiveness. Because of my emotions, I began to go crazy and start believing that Jesus doesn't love me anymore or isn't happy with me anymore because I screwed up. I know that's not true because of 1John 1:9!

Okay, so what am I saying in all of this? I am saying that emotions are a good thing, a blessing in fact. But when they become an EVIL power in my life and begin controlling my actions, moods, and motives, I've got a problem. I must realize that through the name of Jesus I have power over my controlling emotions of sadness, insecurity, anger, hatred, love, happiness, and EVERY OTHER EMOTION YOU CAN THINK OF!

God loves you. He has blessed us with emotions - use them wisely!

Most people see school as a place to kill time until the afternoon when they're free to have fun with friends or watch TV. Some see it as just a place where teachers try to cram all of this information into your head that you think you'll never use again. But maybe school can be more than that. Maybe school is a mission field that can be used to reach out to others and show them the never-ending love of God.

Other than sleep, school takes up the majority of a student's day. Most students are at school for at least seven or eight hours. That's a big chunk of time to be in one location for nine months out of the year with the same people every single day. A lot can happen in someone's life over the course of nine months. But, as in most cases, we are often too self-centered to notice that other individuals walk the planet, too. People are stereotyped and labeled under categories that are mostly untrue. But for some reason, most of us still stick to our own groups in our own little worlds and aren't concerned about the needs of those around us.

But what if you did something different? What if you decided to make a change?

What if instead of gossiping about the awkward girl in school, you stood up for her? What if you offered your pencil to someone who needed it? What if you showed the new girl around instead of letting her lose her way? Or what if you just said hello to someone who's hardly ever spoken to? And what if it changed their world?

Little acts of kindness can make a big difference in someone's life, especially someone who's having a horrible day. And the more little acts of kindness you do, the more courage you'll build up to do greater acts of kindness. If we girls would look at school as a mission field where we can show love to others, then more opportunities to show Christ's love will come up. If you're in tune with the Spirit and your eyes are focused on Him, you will be able to see little ways to love on other students.

We don't always see the practical places like school as being a mission field because somehow we're under the impression that a mission field must be some foreign country that's poverty stricken and where no one knows Christ.

But a missionary is someone who is sent out to a location to help others and share what they believe. You don't have to be working in an orphanage in Africa or handing out food in Haiti. You can be right where you are, so let Christ use you to change a life, a school, or even the world. Remember, as it is written in Matthew 5:14, "You are the light of the world...," so shine on!

Sarah Smith grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with an English degree. She loves being a child of God and serving in missions. She has gone on trips to Germany and London and served a recent term of five and half months in London as a missionary intern. She recently applied to seminary and is looking forward to attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall to study Christian Counseling.

Forgiveness is truly a divine ability, and one that we cannot hope to fully execute in our human nature. Perhaps we are most like our Maker in the moments when we choose to forgive those who have wronged us..hurt us...betrayed us. And in the moments when we allow forgiveness to govern our actions, I believe the heart of God honors our prayers.

The following prayer was found on a scrap of paper during the liberation of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp in Germany during World War II.

"Lord, remember not only the men of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us. Remember rather the fruits we have brought, thanks to this suffering: our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown out of this. And when they come to judgment, let all the fruits we have bourne be their forgiveness."

I am moved by this prayer in ways I cannot even express in words. You see, this particular concentration camp was created primarily for women. Between the years of 1939-1945, over 130,000 female prisoners passed through the gates of Ravensbruck. Only 40,000 lived to tell about it. Corrie ten Boom, one of my spiritual heroes, was among that 40,000. She eventually shared her story through the book, The Hiding Place, which was later made into a movie as well. One of the recurring themes of the book is forgiveness.

When I look at the betrayals in my life, they seem inconsequential when compared to the suffering inflicted by the leaders of Ravensbruck. Yet somehow the women held captive there allowed God to infuse them with the capacity to forgive. So how can I not allow God to do the same in my life? Forgiveness is a gift we can choose to give. It is not conditional upon the wrongdoer's acknowledgement of their mistake. Think about it...some people will never accept responsibility for their actions, nor will they seek your forgiveness. But we can bestow the gift of forgiveness anyway, and in doing so, we can bear the fruit of the Divine.

When we reflect on our spiritual heritage, there are several spiritual "giants" who have lived such sacrificial lives that even non-believers admire their legacy. One of those "giants" is the small-statured Mother Teresa who spent her life caring for the forgotten in the streets of Calcutta. Her work was difficult, yet she endured without complaint. I think her prayer below reveals how she did it...

"Dear Jesus, Help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go, flood our souls with your Spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus. Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be your shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching - not by words but by our example...by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do...the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you."

What would happen if each of us woke up each morning and lived each day with the goal of spreading His fragrance wherever we go? Oh God, let that be our prayer and our desire - to preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example.