By: Jill Meyer | Parent Life Staff
“Don’t you get discouraged working with teen parents who have been in so much trouble, Jill?”
Of course, I do. I hate it when I find out one of the moms is using drugs again or that a dad is back in jail.
Two things keep me going. I know that no one is impossible for God to reach! I also have seen some amazing positive life changes: changes that can only come from God!
“Yolanda” met the father of her baby in jail. He was bad news, and when I started mentoring Yolanda, I encouraged her to break things off. Yolanda became a believer and several months later she led her boyfriend to the Lord. They have since married and are very involved in their church.
“Laura” was a drug dealer by age 11 and pregnant at age 12. After giving birth, she served a year of a three-year drug sentence in prison. When I met her in a half-way house she was an angry, bitter 14 year-old and an awful parent. I only became her mentor because she asked me to and I didn’t want her to experience another rejection. That reluctant relationship turned into a wonderful friendship!
Last year Laura became a Christian and also became the first person in her extended family to graduate from high school. She has also become a wonderful mom. Laura is attending junior college now on her way to becoming an elementary school teacher.
These two stories are just part of the reason that I believe in Christians becoming mentors. God uses those close, non-judgmental relationships in wonderful ways. He infuses them with his Spirit and amazing things are often the result! Please pray for us to have more and more of these life-changing mentoring relationships with youth in the Denver area!
Thank you for being a part of the ongoing conversation with youth in our city and helping us share God’s story. It’s our honor to be the storytellers on your behalf who meet kids right where they are and give life to their story.
Providing young people in our community with the opportunity to make an informed decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ and become part of a local church.