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A lot of times when we hear that God created us for a purpose, we instantly look to the past and how we don’t qualify. 


Growing up, I was very shy and extremely insecure. I couldn’t even look someone in the eyes and talk to them.

 

I didn’t grow up a Christian, but when I was 17 is when I found God and made Jesus my Lord and Savior. Shortly after graduating high school, God spoke to my heart (not with audible words, but in my heart) and told me I was going to be working with teens. I accepted that right away. 
 

However, when God called me to start the UncommonTEEN and the UncommonTEEN Podcast, I fought back hard…making all of these excuses as to why I wasn’t qualified.


It took the shut down for my eyes to be opened. That first Wednesday night that we didn’t have youth ministry, and we had to do church online, I was crying out to God because my heart was breaking for you all. I asked God, “God, how can I reach these teens if we can’t even see them.” 


And God so gently spoke to my heart and said, “You’re not just holding yourself back. You’re holding these girls back.” And that was all it took. 


Jeremiah was also a teenager that was called by God, just like Esther was and just like you are. We see when Jeremiah is called, he too, pushed back against God. 

 

Jeremiah 1:5-8 says, and again this is God speaking, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born, I consecrated you (I set you apart for a purpose); I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 

 

God is saying this very thing about you. Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, God knew every little detail about you. He understood your personality, He created every detail so perfectly, He knew every decision you would ever make and He still chose to make you and just like with Jeremiah, He set you apart for a specific purpose as well. 

 

In verse 6, we see Jeremiah push back. He says, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 

 

Just like with I did; Jeremiah is making excuses for why he can’t do what God has called him to do. He’s looking at his past and saying, “don’t you know who I am? I don’t even know what to say. Why don’t you pick someone else. I’m just a teenager. There have got to be people who could do a better job than I can.”

 

 But listen to God’s response in verses 7 and 8, He says, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.”

 

 Just like God is telling Jeremiah, He’s also telling you, “Don’t look at your past. Don’t look at all those things you see as flaws. Don’t look at why you don’t qualify. Don’t make excuses for why you can’t do what I have called you to do. I will be with you.

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