Ortie was meeting with a young man who was incarcerated in the Juvenile Detention Center, showing up consistently, opening Scripture with him, and helping him see that his current circumstances do not define his future. That day she shared Jeremiah 29:11, and showed him that God has a plan for him, even while he is incarcerated. She encouraged him to read the verse and insert his own name into it to personalize and internalize that truth. Then she brought out index cards and asked him to write, “God has a plan for [his name].”
As the young man got up to take the card to his room he paused and asked another question that many teenagers wrestle with: “Do you think God hears me?”
“Yes,” Ortie replied, “God hears everyone.”
“So if I pray and ask God to let me out, will He let me out?”
Ortie told him she couldn’t answer that but that God was sure to have a good plan either way. She explained how God is good to the righteous and unrighteousness and that while we don’t always know what His plan is, He certainly does hear us when we pray.
She asked if he would like to receive Christ as his Savior but he said he wasn’t ready yet, and she respected that. Then before leaving the boy asked again, “Do you really think He hears me?”
“Yes” she reminded him again. “Not only does he hear us, but we can learn to open our ears and hear Him, because God speaks to us too!”
Now it was time for both of them to leave but right before Ortie walked through the door, someone changed the channel on the TV in the room. And for just a brief moment a voice was heard on the TV saying “God is a father to the fatherless.” Ortie froze and called the young man back. He came around the corner, and having heard the TV too he pointed to his ears and said, “I’m listening.”
This young man lost both of his parents at a young age. It was a powerful moment for him to hear a true word about God as Father moments after being taught that God hears his prayers and answers. God was speaking to the deeper need of this boy; the prayer behind the prayer .
On a later visit, she brought him a Bible, along with tabs and marked Scriptures she felt led to share with him. And at one point, he told the other boys, “You gotta be nice to my church lady.”
Ortie demonstrated the love of Christ through her consistency, patient listening, and loving encouragement from scripture. This is how Youth For Christ shows up for teens in pivotal moments. And through it God helped this young man take one step closer to trusting Him.
* the featured image above is an approved photo from YFC ministry inside Juvenile Hall but is intentionally not from this interaction due to the sensitive nature of the ministry site.