This guest post was written by Lauren Bowen, rising senior at James Madison University in Virginia. Lauren has been a volunteer Young Life leader for the past three years at Spotswood High School. This video below is incredible! It takes Cardboard Testimonies to a whole new level. If you’re a YL leader, please watch it!
Letters From A Young Life Leader
Letters From A Young Life Leader from Christopher Velazquez on Vimeo.
I first heard the song “The Valley” by Ellie Holcomb back in March on my way home from a spring break trip with my two best friends. I replayed the song over and over again, (since my two girlfriends were sleeping in the back) and I was continually crying while listening to the lyrics. The Lord spoke to me in that moment that I would use this song for His purpose.
I’m a volunteer Young Life leader in Harrisonburg/Rockingham County, Virginia. We live among beautiful mountains, and we call our connecting areas as a whole, The Valley. This song represents so many girls that I know where I lead YL at Spotswood High School. They are living in the darkness of The Valley and crying out to Jesus to make them whole, whether they realize it or not. In April, my housemate forwarded me a post from Ellie’s blog that described the meaning of the song when she wrote it. You can read her post here. Her words encompassed the same heart behind what I felt for my Young Life girls and the girls in The Valley who are longing to be rescued by Christ.
I prayed that the Lord would speak the significance and purpose of this song through a dream. He gave me a vision the very next night: a vision of the female Young Life leaders in my area speaking truth to lost and broken girls in The Valley through a video. All of these stunning girls in this video wrote their note with a specific girl at their school in mind. I am lucky to call them all my best friends and partner with them to share truth. Personally, I want to speak truth to a specific girl who is a dark situation at home. Her father is not in the picture, and she turned to cutting herself in order to deal with the pain. I want her to know that Christ can make her whole and heal all wounds.This video is speaking to so many girls who have been lied to and told that the world has so much to offer. I want to share that Jesus offers them so much more life.
The Lord revealed so much to me during this time, and the beautiful thing about this is that it was always His vision. God wants to use this video to reveal how He sees his daughters everywhere, and to build support with prayer and finances to send the girls in The Valley to Young Life camp. My gifted friend Taylor and I recorded this special song to use as the background for the video. With the help of incredible and talented friends, teammates, and staff, the video was filmed.
Now I am asking you all—friends, family, and the body of Christ everywhere—to share this video to help fulfill this vision. Please help Jesus bring light back into The Valley. If you desire to support our mission financially, then please visit harrisonburg.younglife.org, click the “give now” button in the bottom right hand corner, and write “Light in The Valley” in the sponsoring line. The funds raised will supports kids in our area to go to Young Life camp for the first time and encounter the love of Jesus. Thank you for your willingness to support this mission and to reveal the Lord’s heart for his lost daughters everywhere.
In Christ,
Lauren Bowen
