Recently, I was able to participate with an organization called YWAM, which stands for Youth With a Mission. For the first three months during class time, I learned about the character of God and how to have a deeper relationship with Him. We were discipled, so we could go out and disciple others as well, applying all the things we learned to the cities that we were traveling to.
While on the road for two months during outreach, spreading peace to all around me has been my focus. Mission work allows me to have a lifestyle of serving others in an incredible unconditional way that I’ve never experienced before.
Seeing diversity in people and knowing how to bring unity and peace to a community that needs it is the most fulfilling thing in this world. Often I find that the easiest way to connect different people, races, ages, and gender is to create a safe space of vulnerability, a place where no one is judged.
Trust creates peace. Fear destroys it.
Whether I’m in a worship service in a small town of Missouri, or I’m on the streets of downtown Chicago, I’m constantly, openly pouring out God’s agape love.
I’ve worked a lot with schools and the education system, and I’ve been a witness to real chaos. There is a lot of misunderstanding between teacher and student, as well as between student and student.
The words we use hold so much power, and often we don’t see that truth or consider what we’re saying or how we’re saying it.
I don’t believe you have to tear someone down to build them up.
Positive redirection can be used for a child in the education system. I’ve seen a lot of negative and reactive words thrown at students in an environment that should be peaceful and positively reinforced. I’ve done my best to get into these chaotic places and plant seeds of value there, reminding as many people as I can that each person, their co worker or their student, holds infinite value. None are better or worse than the other. If we can understand what that means, we can live our lives in a way that promotes peace on a daily basis by using encouraging uplifting words and then following them up with intentional actions of love.
I’ve worked with homeless men, women, and children, and I’ve see the pain in their hearts. I’ve seen the poverty in one home when three houses over, there is privilege. I’ve seen the desperation for hope, for something to love, for something to live for, and for peace in all these places.
Anger, darkness, and fear can be replaced with peace, love, and light.
It starts with you, with me, with us.
It takes one person to change someone else’s whole world! It’s simple and lovely. It’s unselfish. There’s a whole world full of people you can spread peace to.
It starts with the little things; it starts with you.
Guest Author ~ Madelyn Johnson, who recently completed her DTS at YWAM Tyler.
If you're wanting to discover how best you can spread peace to the world around you, come do a Discipleship Training School at YWAM Tyler. By discovering God's heart for the nations, you'll gain vision for your part in His story.
