Praying.

So I go to the Crisis Center at least once a week when I am in town. I have started going for a short time on Sunday to do a Bible study with whoever is interested. I bring my guitar and/or something for the kids to eat or do and love on them. It is really fun because I don't have to be in charge of them and enforce any rules. It is kinda like being an auntie or grandparent - all the love and not responsible for the discipline. Perfect. Things have been going well lately, but as I drove in last night I prayed and asked for a significant conversation. It just seemed like it had been a while since I had had a real heart to heart conversation with a kid, and that is fine, but it is nice to be able to really connect with them, too. Boy, did God hear and answer that prayer (or maybe he had me pray it so I was ready for what he had me up for!) One of the girls who is great and works hard on making good decisions was worked up about a meeting she was supposed to have with a potential placement. She was determined that she was going to walk in and tell them she wasn't interested. I volunteered to go with her if she wanted and so I tried to help out by asking questions that would help her make a good decision. (Like if this was a group home or foster home, what a regular day would look like, who else is in their home...) Turns out that she was really excited by the end of the interview and felt a connection with the "mom." And she is 13 (which I didn't realize how young she was - I wouldn't have known what to ask at that age and would have been scared, too!) Then one of the guys who has been there for a LONG time (they are only supposed to be there 30 days and he has been there for months and months) says he needs to talk to me. Turns out he sits down and starts asking me serious questions about what I believe and why. He has been coming to my Bible Study and was heavily involved with a Jehovah's Witness group before, so he is very familiar with the Bible. He was asking all sorts of great questions about the church, the Bible, why I trust Jesus (see my Memorial box post if you haven't read it - I shared that story and a couple of others with him), about sexuality and sin... It was a great conversation, right in the middle of everything else going on. He even went and got one of the Bibles I had given him, and another kid came up and asked if he could read this kid's Bible - and this kid told him he could just have it. "Beccy has stacks of Bibles, she can just get me another one." He is hoping to get permission to go to church on Sundays and is planning on reading the Bible now that he has finished a different book. I left smiling about these kids and answered prayer. I never know what to expect when I show up, and I love being there. It is a privilege and joy being with them!