Devin Marshall, 17, decided her freshman year of high school that she’d do whatever she wanted. After a typical school day she accepted an invite to hang with a different crowd — the wrong crowd. "That afternoon I started drinking and it evolved from there,” she says. The wrong crowd, alcohol and partying were factors that led her to make poor choices, such as going too far with her boyfriend. "I’m constantly reminded of the decisions I made and those memories are hard to let go," she says. "I’ve asked God to forgive me, but I find it hard to forgive myself."
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Brett Leifson plays football and baseball. In uniform and out on the field he becomes a different 17-year-old guy. "I find it easy to get mad and allow my tongue to slip when there’s a bad call or things don’t go my way. There have been times I’ve really messed up," he says. Surrounded by football and baseball buddies at a public high school, Brett daily faces the temptation to join in on the profanity and inappropriate jokes.
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Kirsten Matthias' dad left her family when she was 5. Now at age 16 and after 10 years of no contact with him, Kirsten’s dad wants to re-engage in her life. It is hard for Kirsten to understand why her dad has finally decided to be involved. "I know I shouldn’t judge him, but I find it hard to forgive. He told me the first time I saw him after so many years that there wasn’t a day that went by when he didn’t think of me. If he thought of me, why didn’t he call or send me a birthday card?" she says.
Maybe you can relate to Devin, Brett or Kirsten. Or you may have a different story. Stories play a huge role in sharing your faith! These three teens can relate to peers who have struggled in similar situations. And through their personal stories they can offer the hope they have in Christ.
All from the same youth group, Devin, Brett and Kirsten were equipped to put their stories into action after attending Blaze, a faith-building conference produced by Dare 2 Share Ministries. A study of Isaiah 6 led them back to elementary teachings about fire safety: stop, drop and roll. However, this time the fire they dealt with were the flames of God’s desire, holiness and praise. They had to examine their lives in light of those flames and decide whether they’d follow God and serve Him.
STOP
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty" (Isaiah 6:5).
After much prodding from Brett, Devin decided to return to church. "I looked at my life and realized that having a boyfriend, drinking alcohol and living a party lifestyle wasn’t going to make me happy. Those things would never satisfy," she says.
Just like Isaiah recognized his sinfulness in God’s presence, Devin examined her life while attending Blaze and even recorded her shameful sins –– not for anyone to see, but to pinpoint who she really was in light of who God is.
Devin grabs the spare moments she has to be available for her party-going friends. She doesn’t go to the parties, but she knows God may use her connection with her friends when the timing is right. “I want God to use my story to change more people. God sees me for who I am in Him and not what I’ve done. That blows my mind," she says.
DROP
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:6-7).
Kirsten harbored anger toward her dad because of his abandonment. "At first I blamed myself and wondered what I had done that caused him to leave. Now I blame him,” she says. “At Blaze I’ve taken a big step forward in forgiving him. I took the paper on which I wrote out my sins and ripped it into shreds. That impacted me!"
God dealt with Isaiah’s sin in a personal and powerful way. He did the same with Kirsten through song. Megan, a Dare 2 Share worship leader shared her story of Dad’s abandonment through song.
With tears streaming down her face, Kirsten resonated with the lyrics. Broken, she realized that forgiving her dad would have to be a daily step of grace. "It is like Megan wrote that song just for me,” she says. “I have a heavenly Father who will never let me down.”
ROLL
Then I heard the voice of the LORD saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8).
When Brett considers sharing Christ with his football and baseball buddies, he starts by establishing a relationship with them. “I want to get to know the guys on the team and get within their trust circle. Then I invite them to church,” he says. “I know they’re watching me, so I have to constantly think, If Jesus were right here, would He approve of what I’m doing or saying?”
After Isaiah had examined himself and dropped to his knees in the presence of his Creator he was ready to go, serve and share about his God. He finally had the right perspective: It is all about God.
During Blaze, Brett also was encouraged to go door-to-door. “As I collected canned goods and shared my faith, I thought about the influence I could have working at the grocery store and my daily interaction with people,” he says. “We forget how easily we affect and change people’s lives. Let’s lead them toward a Christ change.”
All over the country teens are joining Devin, Brett and Kirsten in surrendering their lives to Christ by stopping to examine their hearts, dropping to their knees, rolling up their sleeves and going door-to-door to share Christ. Wanna be a part of a wildfire? This fall begins Dare 2 Share’s Revolution tour. Make sure you don’t miss it!
“I’ve experienced a chain reaction in my life,” Devin says. “God forgave me, I’ve been renewed and now I have this fire within me that I want to share!”
GET MORE ON DARE2SHARE’S REVOLUTION TOUR.
