to pay it forward and love kids whom others have given up on. I can’t tell you how many times I have said or done something that made me feel like I was not worthy of God’s love and certainly couldn’t do anything to make a difference for Him.
It’s easy to stay in that defeated place, but it’s not where God wants us to be. He never expected us to be perfect. That’s why there is opportunity for repentance and starting over each day. His mercies are new every morning. He loves us and wants the best for us. I am so grateful we serve such a loving God.
Blessings,
Sharon Dunn
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
—2 Corinthians 5:17
For my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, counselor, king and friend
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Panic invaded Sierra Monforton’s nerves as she sprinted through the brush that led to the lakeshore. Trevor Bond, a troubled fifteen-year-old boy from the youth group she headed up, had not been on the road where they’d agreed to meet.
As she stepped to the edge of the brush, a fog rolled over the lake and crept along the rocky shore. The calm of the night sky twinkling with stars stood in opposition to the fear that hounded her. Trevor’s words from their phone call less than half an hour ago pounded in her brain. “Miss M, I’m here at Fishermen’s Crest to get drugs to sell. I don’t want to go back to using, but sometimes everything just seems so hard. Help me.”
She’d talked him out of his plan and agreed to pick him up. He had ridden his bicycle out there and would not be able to get away fast enough before the drug dealers showed up. Depending on how deep Trevor was already in with these dealers, he might still be in danger once she got him back to town. But she’d deal with that when she had to. Right now, she needed to get him home safe with his younger sister, Daisy, and foster mom.
And now Trevor was nowhere to be found. A hundred violent images crashed through Sierra’s brain as she scanned the beach. What if the drug dealers had shown up early and been angry about Trevor’s change of heart? What if Trevor had run away out of shame and would end up back on the streets of some city?
She ran along the rocky shore, calling out Trevor’s name. Silence answered back. She didn’t know exactly where the drug dealers
