God is Our Maestro and We Are His Orchestra

by Jaclyn Rowe

One of things I’m learning as I continue to grow in my faith is it’s not unlike God to push us outside our comfort zones and really stretch us and even encourage and motivate us to think outside the box when it comes to reaching a lost world for his kingdom. One of the things I’ve been privileged to do for the last few years is work with a local coalition that is actively seeking to reduce drug use in our county. It’s a coalition made up of members of the healthcare system, the health department, the hospitals, and the school district. As part of that coalition, there is a drug prevention education program through a third party organization. 

I was asked years ago if I would be interested in presenting that program to middle and high school students. After praying and considering that, I agreed to it and now have the privilege of being in our public schools speaking to every eighth grade student in the fall semester and every seventh grade student in the spring semester. It is a ten-week program presented every week for ten weeks per semester, and I get to share with them tools for how to make good decisions, set healthy goals, have healthy relationships, communicate . . . all kinds of things that are principles based on God’s Word. 

Yes, it’s fun and exciting, but it’s not the best part. 

The best part is that through programs like this that are outside the church, God has a way of giving us platforms where we’re able to be very real with people, with teachers, and with students, building relationships with them, and truly meeting them where they are instead of inviting them to join us at our churches. We’re able to actually go and try to be light and salt in a very dark place for a lot of kids and speak truth to them. 

Just this week we were speaking about alcohol and addiction and alcoholism in the sixth-hour class that day. As one of the young girls and I talked, the conversation turned to how she couldn’t understand why God would allow people who are addicted to suffer. We had just talked about how addiction causes suffering for many people, not just the addict, and we continued talking after the class. Because of God’s divine intervention, two girls who attend our church were also in that class and overheard the conversation. They gathered around us encouraging her and me and were a part of this conversation about who God really is and what the Bible says. 

Through that conversation – again by God’s providence – I just so happened to be teaching the high school and middle school girls’ Sunday school at my church this week! I haven’t done that in many years, but I’m filling in Sunday and invited this young lady to come, and she said yes because she wanted to know more about our conversation topic and other questions. 

Miracles like that remind me that God puts people in the world for a reason, and sometimes we need to be open and looking for opportunities he might be setting up just for us to reach someone who may otherwise never be reached 

Pray for this young girl and for me as I continue this undercover ministry in the public school system and that God would open doors for relationships with students that when they see me out and about at the grocery store and football games, they don’t hesitate to approach me because they know they’re able to talk to me about personal things and point them to Christ. 

God is the orchestrator of all things and it’s fun to be joining him where he’s working. That’s my encouragement to you.