I’ve had a love for teenagers for a long time.  Teenagers who “get it” astound me!  Eliza Capps is such an amazing young lady who seeks God.  I love her heart and I love all God is teaching her.  I’m excited to have her back on the blog again today.  You can read more from Eliza on her blog here.

Leading, stepping up, taking charge, sharing in front of large groups of people: not my forte. It never has been.

For months I knew that I wasn’t exactly where the Lord wanted me to be. Quiet, shy, inadequate me was supposed to lead, but what exactly did that entail for me? How exactly was God going to give me leadership opportunities when I didn’t have any of those attributes?

First off: He broke me down to the weakest and barest I had been in a long time … literally. I was on my way back from a trip which included a red eye flight, two hour drive home, a large time difference, and everything else that came with jet lag. To make things worse I would again be leaving the following day to help lead an event in a different city for a week straight, which involved me being fully back to central time within 12 hours. God truly stripped me down to my lowest place in order to bring me to where I needed to be.

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The Lord spent the next week breathing life into me. God carried me through that week and taught me to rely completely on Him. I walked into that week both physically and spiritually weak and God stood me up and brought me back to life. I hate to admit it, but for the past few months I had dethroned God and enthroned myself. I would look around and see that my spiritual life was far more advanced than many of those around me, so I must be doing alright. In reality I was just like the rest: lukewarm and trying to control my own life.

Through this season I was reminded of Galatians 1:10 – “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ.” For what seems like forever, I tried so hard to please both God and the world and it simply just doesn’t work no matter how hard we try to balance things out. The balancing act doesn’t work, people notice and life begins to crumble around you.

In months since, the Lord has set a fire within me that is in-explainable and uncontrollable. He’s taken back His throne and He’s doing what needs to be done. I have learned that stepping up and leading means taking risks and stepping outside of your comfort zone. It’s become a daily reminder that I am called to step up and step out. A perfect example is my youth group. When students began having a passion for Jesus that everyone could see and began leading (speaking, teaching, sharing) this fire began, this movement began.

[Tweet “The Lord has set a fire within me that is in-explainable and uncontrollable.”]

All we need is Jesus. It’s as simple as that, yet we try so hard to over-complicate it. When you let God use you there’s no limit to what He can do. Wouldn’t it be incredible if we all started simply spreading His word through our love, our words, & our actions?