Liz's Story - Thriving as Co-Laborer

Have you ever questioned your value? Your worth? Have you ever questioned if God could really use you or if you’re too broken, too inadequate? I can speak from personal experience and say that if you have asked these questions, you’re not alone. Often when we question our worth or our value, when we question whether or not God could actually use us for a great purpose, we connect that with our performance. We work so hard to get others to like us – to get God to like us and be proud of us. When we succeed, we feel great. But when we fall short, we find ourselves in despair. I know this cycle is all too familiar to me. And then Jesus invites us to “Come and see,” to spend time with Him and see life through His eyes. I think God is on a mission to dispel in us the myth that our worth is somehow connected to our performance.

This summer God chose to send this great and mighty message to me and many others through the humblest of packages. Liz is a 20 year old bundle of infectious energy. She is always laughing and

joyful and lives life with simplicity and spontaneity. This summer I had the privilege of being at Young Life camp with Liz twice. In July Liz and I went to North Bay for seventeen days where she served on summer staff. Liz served on the waterfront bringing kayaks in and out from the shore and helping campers with their life jackets etc. Liz loved every minute of her time on Summer Staff. She quickly became the favorite among most of our camp staff. Liz also grew tremendously in her relationship with God through her summer staff experience. One evening as the Summer Staff were gathered Liz brought everyone to tears as she shared – “sometimes things are hard for me. I see my friends getting their driver’s licenses, having boyfriends, going to college and I get jealous. I sometimes struggle to understand in school and that makes me really frustrated.” You see Liz was born with developmental delays, and her brain has not fully developed to that of a typically-functioning 20-year-old. “But,” she paused, “then I pray to God and he reminds me – ‘Liz, you are who I made you to be.’” What beauty and power in such a simple statement! Liz had just shared the Gospel in all of its power and simplicity with our whole summer staff full of college students who needed to hear just that – “You are who I made you to be.”

A month later Liz and I headed to Rockbridge where we brought a total of 61 campers, leaders and buddies to experience the best week of their lives. Having grown so tremendously at North Bay and demonstrated such maturity, Liz served as a buddy with one of her friends from her high school, Emma, who had never been to camp before (and who absolutely adores Liz). Liz had a vision for what it would look like to be a good friend and buddy to Emma. Liz did everything Emma wanted to do throughout the week, and she made sure Emma was always included. At the end of the week Liz met with Emma one-on-one and shared her testimony with her. Liz shared how Jesus had given her hope and brought her out of a dark period of her life where she struggled with anger. After their time together I was so excited to hear from Liz how it went. In all honesty, I was skeptical about letting her have this conversation on her own. (After all, shouldn’t a trained, more knowledgeable person like myself be there just to make sure she does it right?!) “How was your time with Emma?” I asked. “It was great!” Liz said shouting from across the sidewalk “Emma says she would like to be friends with Jesus.”

Liz co-labored with Christ to welcome her friend Emma into the Kingdom of God. Even though Liz couldn’t explain to you the difference between pre-destination and free will, she does know that God loves her tremendously and that he sent his son to die on the cross so that he could be with her. And her life looks different because of that fact. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” – 1 Corinthians 2:2.

I am so thankful for Liz and how God is using her as a co-laborer in his kingdom. Just as God is using Liz, he desires to use each of us, regardless of our abilities, disabilities, strengths or inadequacies. God’s ability to use us is not at all contingent on our own performance or abilities. Often times it is the very things that we perceive as weakness that God desires to use the most, because it is then that we are able to see his power and majesty displayed most clearly. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” – 2 Corinthians 4:7. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers and work which are enabling students like Liz to see her true value, worth and necessity in the Kingdom of God.