Gracie Girl Blog

I think everyone who knows me, and some who don’t, know I’m involved in Young Life. I talk about it, I post about it, all my shirts have it written on them. And I think most people assume that I was born into it, have always done it and will always be involved in it. If only things were that simple.

My first young life campaigners (campaigners=bible study), I was a scared little freshman, semi-forced by my mom to attend this before-school event where I knew no one. I remember texting my friend Marin like a million times to make sure she was coming too.

I met the leaders: Mike, Rachel, and Alli. Marin and I were the only freshmen for a while.  Everyone was nice, but I didn’t know many people and it felt like this thing my mom wanted me to do, but I didn’t know if I liked this Young Life thing.

My first fall weekend rolled around and this time it was just me, my friend Noelle (fellow freshie), and our leader Alli going. I didn’t know anyone else on the bus, but I clearly remember everyone on the bus belting out every song ever on the three hour drive down to Rockbridge.

I didn’t know it at the time, but that first fall weekend changed my life. I had so much fun zip lining into freezing water, going on the giant swing, and most of all spending time with Alli and Noelle. What amazes me the most is the way Alli cared for us. She stuck by us the whole time, showed us everything, and pushed us to do scary but fun things.

I walked away from that weekend feeling loved and content, and wanting more of my friends to come and experience that I did.

I went to camp that summer, had a blast and made friends I still keep in touch with today. I had never experienced making friends so fast or getting to know people on such a deeper level.

Sophomore year was a year of building Fairfax Young Life. We had a couple leaders leave, and Scott, Mary, Gina and Anthony joined the team. We had campaigners weekly with a small but consistent group.

The goal was to start club sometime that year. Club is mostly games and singing fun songs, and at the end a leader will stand up and talk for about 10 minutes about a guy named Jesus and how he’s shown up in their lives. Club is good to invite friends to because it’s fun and there is no pressure at all to believe in that Jesus guy at all, but everyone is welcome to come week after week.

We didn’t start club that year, which was a bit of a bummer. We grew together, we learned a lot about ourselves and Jesus, and it’s hard to imagine my sophomore year of high school without Scott challenging us to go love the people in our high school a little more every week.

The middle of sophomore year is when I learned we’d move that summer. That meant a lot of things, but one of the hardest to accept was it meant leaving my Fairfax young life family.

Y’all it hurt so bad and if I’m being honest it still hurts. To have been praying for my friends for two years (if not more) to come to this thing so they could experience more joy, then learn God was taking me away from it before my prayers had been answered was crushing.

I went to camp that summer, too, and it was a blast but I also vividly remember crying to Alli (also known as Kreech) because I just wanted more of my friends to be there. I wished they all could have come on that one trip because it was my last chance to go with them.

Fast forward to the beginning of my junior year, at my new school, and I didn’t even know if I wanted to keep doing Young Life. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to jump back into inviting people to something when I’d already done it for so long.

There wasn’t one point where I decided to continue doing Young Life, but as the weeks at my new school went by and I got to know people, I knew these people needed more joy in their lives just like my Fairfax friends.

So, I’ve continued to participate in Young Life in my new area and at my school. Not because I always want to, or because it’s easy, but because I believe we all need Jesus and I’m here to help people meet him.

I didn’t first meet Jesus through Young Life, but I’ve seen him everyday in my Young Life leaders. Mike, Rachel, Alli (Kreech ;)), Gina, Mary, Scott, and Anthony all changed my  life for the better. They love recklessly, Jesus is changing lives through them.

Friends I have prayed for for YEARS have started  figuring out more about who Jesus is through Young Life. Sometimes it KILLS me to have to watch from a distance, but I am so thankful they are there whether I am or not. Thankfully Fairfax isn’t far away, so I go back every once in a while.

I live with one foot in my Fairfax world, and another in my current community. It’s not the easiest to balance both, but this is where God placed me.

Young Life isn’t just Jesus camp, or a cult, or something exclusive. To me, Young life is a safe and refreshing place in the midst of a chaotic high school lifestyle.

Whoever you are, know you’re invited to the party. 

To my Fairfax Young Life family- thank you for loving not only me, but my friends so well, and for constantly showing up. Thanks for welcoming me back every time I visit, y’all feel like home. I could never have asked for  better people to enter into my friends’ lives.

To my Cville Young Life family- thanks for welcoming me into what you guys are doing in our community. Special thank you to Alyson for making sure I knew I had a place here when we first moved and I wasn’t quite sure.

To my RINGFIELD Young Life family (Josh, Jack, and Becky) – Excited to work alongside y’all and watch this community  be changed by Jesus’ love. You are not only already making my friends’ lives better, but you make my life better.

now for some pictures:

MY FIRST FALL WEEKEND, Freshman Year, 2015

MY FIRST CAMP, SUMMER AFTER FRESHMAN YEAR, 2016

FALL WEEKEND, SOPHOMORE YEAR, 2016

LAKE CHAMPION CAMP, SUMMER AFTER SOPHOMORE YEAR, 2017

FALL WEEKEND JUNIOR YEAR, 2017 – first trip with western fairfax young life

LAKE CHAMPION, SUMMER AFTER JUNIOR YEAR, 2018

FALL WEEKEND, SENIOR YEAR, 2018

It’s pretty rare to have been able to take all these trips every year with Young Life. I’ve been so blessed to be given leadership roles and new experiences. ❤

so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

1 Thessalonians 2:8