What Can You Do With a 19-Year Old Super Chick?

Who says God doesn’t use young people to do great things?

When I was 19, I went on a short term trip to El Salvador. During the second week of our trip, Ruth, a 19-year-old poor Salvadoran girl who didn’t speak a lick of English was our “evangelist” for the week. I have to admit that I was a bit bummed at not having Lili, the 30 something Paraguayan woman be with our team. But I put on my optimistic face (and yes, I DO have one!) and waited to see what the week would bring.

I can’t say that anything super extraordinary happened during that week as far as the team and the ministry went. But I know something super extraordinary happened with me that week. God showed me that He uses ANYONE to accomplish His work – anyone who is willing. Ruth was willing to be used by God. She led 21 high school students who didn’t speak her language around her country hoping to touch someone’s life with the love of the Lord. SO many things could (and probably did) go wrong. The group was obnoxious. We were sick of eating tuna and cheese sandwiches. People had diarrhea. Michael put on a skirt and climbed a tree in public. We didn’t learn our new skit very well. I almost sent Sheila to the hospital by giving her prescription medicine that was too strong for her. We had NO clue about acceptable social behaviors for El Salvador. Not to mention that Ruth grew up in a poor area, and my best guess is that the Christians there were really conservative, making us even more offensive to her.

That week, I saw how God took Ruth – a 9th grade educated girl who was exactly two months older than me, and used her to tell people about the Lord. True, many of the people who we came into contact with only came to see the gringo freak show, but there were those who were truly touched – much more by the Salvadorans in our group that by the hueros. I felt God ask me if I were willing to do something bold for Him. I thought I could NEVER be in a leadership position like Ruth was. Then He reminded me that Ruth was 2 months older than me – NOT an acceptable excuse that she’s older and wiser.

God used young people in the Bible. He called Samuel into His service at age 7 (hmm, there’s a striking coincidence). Timothy was apparently a teenager or maybe early twenties (?) when he was a preacher. And, some of the people that I most look up to are younger than me. Leah L., my “mentor” during my first senior year of college is two years younger than me (although she’d humbly deny that she played an important role in my life!). Jenny K. is a year younger than me, and she taught me SO much about my worth in God’s eyes. Michael "hermanito," a huge inspiration to me in accepting God’s call to be a missionary, is 4 years younger than me. Elsy, my encourager to keep pressing on toward the goal God has for me, is slightly younger than me. And Ruth, my age, showed me that God will use people of any age to do weird and scary things for Him if they are willing!!

¡Gracias Rutti por tu animo! ¡Sigue adelante sirviendo el Señor con todo el corazón! Dondequiera que estás, tengo fe que Dios vaya usarte tocar las vidas de miles de personas. Nunca vas a saber el impacto que estabas en mi vida.

(Originally written by Jessica - January 2004)