Every year, Grace in the Wilderness Ministries hosts a teen conference towards the beginning of the year for girls 5^th – 12^th grade called, Empowered Jesus Girl. This has been a growing success over the years and a great source of unity among local teens from various churches, backgrounds, and communities! It has been such a blessing to watch teen girls forget about their worries, worship freely, and grow closer to God at this event.

Years back, we charged each teenager a fee for food and worship. It wasn’t the best scenario, but at the time it was the only way the event could go on. A few years back, we prayerfully decided to step out on faith and make this a FREE event. We reached out to the community and let God lead us in the direction HE wanted us to go. Within a few weeks, we had the event booked, a band and speaker in place, and multiple volunteers to assist wherever there was a need. We trusted and God provided.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

From then on, we have had a vast variety of volunteers that help with decorations, food preparations, registration, light/sound crew, music, and speaking. It’s amazing to see the provision God has blessed us with over the years! He has used this event for His glory and allowed it to grow every year!

The first time I spoke at Empowered Jesus Girl, we had around 50-75 teen girls. A year later, we had close to 100, then about 150, and last year we had over 250 attendees! God is using this event to reach girls around the Upstate and start a revival that only He can direct!

If the Lord wills, we hope to grow even more in the coming years and reach more teens for the glory of God!

Usually, the only cost for this event from the ministry is the pizza. As you know, teenage girls love their pizza and feeding 250 teenagers gets pretty expensive. So I’m asking you to help me help others! No matter your age, no matter your connection to Empowered Jesus Girl, you can make a difference in the lives of others! Every penny counts and every penny is one penny closer to allowing someone to join this event, learn about Jesus, and get a FREE meal at the same time!

Save your change to make a change!

One way you can serve it to simply save your change to make a change! We all end up with pockets full of change and pennies without purpose that sometimes fall to the wayside. I ask you to set out a jar somewhere in your home and write “Empowered by Change” on it. Over the next few months, clean out your pockets, old pocketbooks and bags, and maybe even look under the couch for lost coins, and toss them in your jar. Over time, your jar will start to fill up and you’ll see how quickly your change can make a change!

When your jar is full or you would like to make a donation to Empowered Jesus Girl 2020, you can contact me or one of the ladies from Grace in the Wilderness at the information below.

Kayla Rampey: KaylaRampey@Yahoo.com 864-915-8094

Sharon Hawkins: Sharon@wildernessgrace.org (864) 380-2358

Grace In The Wilderness Ministries, PO Box 14848, Greenville, SC 29610

We are also looking for youth and adults to help out as volunteers, photographers, and advertisers. If social media is your thing, contact me directly and I will gladly sign you up to help us out! Whatever your spiritual gift may be, we would love for you to join the crew as we serve the Lord!

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1

We are all called to serve God, and if you feel like this would be a great fit for you, contact me today and will add you to our list! You can email me at KaylaRampey@yahoo.com or text me at 864-915-8094.

We ask that you pray specifically for God to provide the wisdom and direction for 2020s event, the financial means to keep this event Free for everyone, and the volunteers that will step out on faith with us to share His word!

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13

Thank you for your prayers!

May God bless you and show you His grace every day!

-Kayla Rampey

After about a month of teaching Released Time at Pickens Middle School, I’ve learned a lot about middle schoolers. I love my job, and I love working with teens and sharing God’s word during the school day, but there are just some things I will never understand about this age group. (and yes, I’m sure my mother said the same thing at one time) The top random things I’ve learned about middle schoolers include:

One, VSCO girls are basically girls from the 90s…which I once was. They wear Birkenstocks, scrunchies, chokers, oversized shirts and leggings, friendship bracelets, and apparently are super worried about saving the turtles. They also hiss and make ridiculous noises at each other for no apparent reason randomly throughout their conversations. Yes, I feel 100 years old…but nope…I don’t get it.

Two, TikTok is the #1 obsession with middle schoolers right now. After hearing about TikTok every day for one month straight (and hearing that Facebook is only for old people and parents), I decided I would look it up and see what it was all about. I’ve heard about it but really never had a desire to check in to the obsession until now. I have to say, when I first downloaded the app, I had no idea what to expect. I knew I would see dance moves, because all of students are “attempting” to mimic them, and I knew it was a little out there, but what I didn’t know how addictive it really is. As I scrolled through clip after clip, my mind was taken over by the culture that we live in. Not all of the clips were bad, but the majority of them sent the wrong message to young minds and since they were such short clips, it was easy to see things you shouldn’t be looking at in between the clips that aren’t so bad.

In the 30 minutes or so that I was hooked on the app, I saw multiple clips of teenagers videoing their parent’s reaction to them shouting cuss words from a popular song or hearing dirty jokes, boys putting on makeup, young girls dancing in shorts way too short to be showcased for anyone to see, boys showing off their muscles and dancing trying to get attention, a lot of Git Up dance challenge clips, several videos of guys trying to get a date, and other videos of teens just saying things they should never say, plus randomly odd videos of couples singing to each other, and even tutorials of how to make it look like you’ve been cutting yourself. Yeah…this was all in just a few minutes. Just be careful what you post – you may think it’s private and it’ll never be seen, but once it’s out there, anyone can find it.

On the other side, there were some adorable videos of dog voice-overs, funny dance moves, Christian kids telling their testimonies, hairstyle tutorials, surprise military homecomings that made me cry, and a few other cool things, but in my opinion…is it really worth all of your time?

TikTok is like a trance that if you let it, it will take over your mind and basically brainwash you with whatever you are watching. We live in an instant gratification society. TikTok is instant. The clips are so short that after watching one you can just scroll down and there are endless others to watch. You can’t just stop at one either. It’s like once you see one, you have to scroll down and see the next one. It’s just a few seconds, so what’s it going to hurt? But then an hour later, you’ll realize that a few 5 second clips cost you an hour or more of your day.

Some clips are good and some are bad, but since they are all mixed in together, you never know what might pop up. Like I said, we live in an instant gratification, no filter, society. Just be careful what you are putting into your mind. If you fill your mind with filth, eventually you will start to be ok with whatever you are watching. One by one, things will start to look more common and your desire will be to fit in more with the society you live in. You’ll start to accept the sins that you know are wrong, just because you see them so much.

When sin saturates your mind, your mind starts to find satisfaction in the sins it’s filled with.

The #1 excuse for people not spending time with God is, “I don’t have time.” Well, here’s my answer, “If you have time to watch 100+ clips on TikTok and check all of your other social media sites and somehow text and facetime all your friends all day long, then how do you not have time for God?” Maybe you just need to prioritize. What are you willing to give up for God? What’s more important that the One who created you and sent His Son to die for your sins?

I’m not saying I’m perfect and I spend all day every day serving the Lord and reading my Bible and praying all day long, but I am saying I try my best to stay focused on God in all that I do.

If you constantly fill your mind with junk, eventually junk will come out. I called out a few of my students for saying the Lord’s name in vain in my class the other day, and one of them came to me after class and apologized. She said that she didn’t even realize it was in the song she was singing. Apparently there’s a TikTok song that’s catchy, hilarious, and gets stuck in your head after seeing it 100 times a day. Another one that gets stuck in your head is the one that kids are shouting cuss words just to get their parents’ reaction. Whatever it may be, don’t let it distract you from following God’s Word.

You have two directions that you can be going in life. One, you are moving closer to God and seeking His will for your life. Or two, you are moving away from God and closer to the sins you know are wrong. You are never standing still, living in the middle between good and bad. You are always moving one of two directions.

What about you? Are you moving closer to God or slowly moving away from Him?

Evaluate your life. Prioritize your time. Refocus on what matters most.

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3

May God Bless you and show you His grace every day!

-Kayla Rampey

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭

God’s creation is a constant reminder of His power, His provision, and His passion that He has for His children. Only God has the power to create all things. Only God can provide the means to sustain the earth for centuries to come. Only God is perfect. 

Day 1: God brought light into existence simply by saying the word. 

“Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:3

Day 2: He created the atmosphere that would hold the very earth we live on in its rightful place.

“Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:6-7‬ ‭

Day 3: God created separated the land from the sea and created land and plants. His order of creation is so significant because each step provides for the next. By creating light and atmosphere to adhere to the heavens and earth, God created the land sea and plants to provide for each other. Without the land and sea, the plants would never spread across the earth, but God knew what was needed and provided with His power and His perfection, everything that was needed to sustain His creation.

“Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:9-12‬ ‭

On Day 4, God created the sun, moon, and stars to separate the morning from evening. His power is seen each day when the sun rises, sets, and the moon and stars hang in the sky exactly the distance He knows we need. The sun is far enough away from the earth that it doesn’t incinerate the earth but close enough that it warms the land and helps the plants to grow and seasons to change. The moon is set in the sky to light the night and support the wildlife that will come to be in the next few days. He controls the waves, the rotation, the times that only His power can control.

“Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:14-18

On day 5, God created the marine life and birds. With plants already on the earth, the birds had a place to live but what would they eat for nourishment? The marine life created a food chain from large marine life to small fish that would become meals for birds and larger fish in the sea. Each creature was created to reproduce. The plants, the marine life, the birds, all had everything they needed to survive because God provided for them and gave them a purpose.

“Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.””
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:20-22‬ ‭

On day 6, after all things were ready and prepared for the next creation, God breathed life into the first man, Adam. Only the breath of God could breathe life into a man from the dust of the ground.

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:26, 31‬ ‭

He created man in His image, the image of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He knew His creation would not be perfect forever, but He also knew that one day every knee would bow to His name. He is all powerful. He provides for our every needs. He is perfect in all that He is. He is the One and only God.

On the same day, day 6, God created animals that would provide food, wealth, for mankind. His creation shows His endless power. His provision is showcased in His skillful development of each step leading to the next. His perfection is seen when He ends each day and says “it was good.”

On day 7, God rested. He didn’t rest because He was tired from all He had done.

“Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.” Isaiah 40:28

God rested to show the significance of the completion of His creation and to remind others to set aside a day for rest and reflect on the beauty God had made. On that day, God’s creation was complete. Each step led to another, provided for reproduction, and exalted the power of God.

“By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2:2-3‬ ‭

Often, we overlook the glory of God’s creation and the importance it has on our lives. We let it go, take it for granted, and forget the steps that God took to provide for His children before He even breathed life in to mankind.

Today, reflect His power, His provision for each and every aspect of existence, and His ultimate perfection that no other can achieve.

Thank God for all He has done. Know that from beginning to end, you were on His mind. Never forget that.

May God bless your and show you His grace every day.