Student Blog Written By: Eli McFadden, Fellows
When I came to Impact I had been a believer for a long time. I had grown so used to praying, reading my Bible, and doing Christian things. Although I believed in God, I lacked real relationships and trust in him.
I remember this became evident on the international trip. We were teaching a class, and minutes before we were supposed to start we were informed we would be teaching for 3 hours more than we had prepared for. We had nothing planned for those hours, and we were scrambling to figure out what to teach.
We ended up teaching through the gospel twice and sharing testimonies. God used this to save a young woman that day. I was dumbfounded. I was so surprised that God would use a “mess up” to bring someone to Christ.
That’s when Lesleigh, a Resident, came up to me and asked, “Why don’t we expect God to move through things like this.”
This hit us both in a profound way. I had been acting as if the pressure of teaching and planning out the day was all on me, and I lacked relationship and trust with God.
There was another moment recently. We were on our way back from a pool party on a bus, and I had been struggling recently with feeling very distant from God. That was when I sat next to Gabe, Elijah, and Graham. That ride we talked about how God is present, how He has met us where we are, and how he has moved in our lives. This was so life giving, and it is a small picture of what the Impact community is like daily.
I am going back to my old community after Impact and I plan to immediately begin to find a discipler and disciple others in my community. I also plan to start to influence my old friendships by showing them that I am no longer going to make the jokes they will make.
If I could say one thing to my donors I would just say that you are a massive part in my spiritual transformation and I can’t thank you enough. I really can’t see my life without this year as it has completely transformed my way of thinking, living, and acting in relationships. Thank you.
We believe that when a student is rooted in truth, they become a catalyst for the Kingdom wherever they go. Help us continue to forge disciples who possess the resolve to stay faithful and the tools to make disciples. Your investment in the Multiply Fund makes this transformation possible.