When the going gets tough I want to run...

I am so burdened today from conversations of things that I felt that we had gotten past with some of our Glenwood girls. Conversations about gangs, about violence, girls afraid to go to school, girls tearing one another down instead of sticking together and building one another up.

I let go and cried today because on so many levels I am sad.

I am sad because this hits so close to home. I know what it feels like to want to be loved and not knowing why or how or what. Trying to validate ourselves in our friends, in our schools, by some boy who cares nothing about us, by some gang who could care less. I am sad because they act one way with us and then they go home and they act like someone else to survive. Most so naive who think that choosing to be in a gang is a simple choice. And all coming on the heels of other girls they know who are in prison at 16 from the same choices. I am frustrated because I know about a God who wants to love us and heal us and protect us but I can't make them choose him. I can't make them make the right choices!

I am scared for them.

And then I am selfish too! I am sad because I realize I have been on the outskirts of things for a long time because being involved is so hard. It hurts, it makes me sad and sometimes I want to just do the simple things and leave the heavy to someone else. When the going gets tough I want to run!

By Jeremy Camp

I know the journey seems so long
You feel you’re walking on your own
But there has never been a step
Where you’ve walked out all alone
Troubled soul don’t lose your heart
Cause joy and peace he brings
And the beauty that’s in store
Outweighs the hurt of life’s sting