High school students tend to believe they are invisible when they write essays. They don’t realize that, even in the simplest essays, they reveal themselves to the reader. I recently tagged a student who did the best she could to do the least possible for a class assignment. She laughed when I caught her. She was surprised to see that she was so readily transparent.

The teacher assigned an essay about overcoming adversity. The point was to prepare students to write for scholarships because they are seniors. The teacher knew her students and me when she assigned the task. The outcome was stunning. I was somewhat prepared because I taught students in the public school system for thirty-three years. The common outlook is that these are just kids. What kind of issues can they have. The truth is that they are fighting wars that would daunt and overcome many adults.

You might expect to see health issues, broken family issues, and peer pressure issues to name a few. You would not be prepared for the depth of the pain or the harshness of the suffering or the extent of the dilemmas. It is most important for me to see the person inside the dilemmas they face. These are precious people, children the Lord has created, people who did not choose the hand they were dealt, youth who are discovering the rules of engagement and the strategies of battle. They are young, but they are warriors. I’m very impressed with them.

I am learning to see the Lord everywhere and in everything. I am learning to listen to others and spot the Lord where they are in their lives instead of just telling them what I think or feel. I could see the Lord in these young people, in their courage, in their determination, in their hunger for something better than they were given or even knew was possible for them. They were reaching up, beyond their experience, beyond their environment to something they believed was better. All their hunger was a call of God for them to come to Him for what He wanted them to have – love and a future with Him.

I have fought and walked out of addiction to alcohol. Stopping the drink is the easiest part of the challenge. The hard challenge is facing yourself, day after day, forcing yourself to get up and fight again, against your own habits, your peers, your influences, and all the structures in your life that make it easy to fail. These young essayists had that vision, that courage, that every day determination to face and fight. The Lord has given them a hunger for success, a drive to go forward, a vision of life beyond what they have been given. He is alive in them fighting for their freedom and teaching them how to get it and maintain it.

I see the Lord in them and their testimony. I see them in their moving toward His call. I am impressed and find my heart cheering and screaming from the sidelines because I see the greatness being birthed in them. The Lord is alive and well, dwelling in the hearts of all who will hear His voice calling them out of the pain of this world and into His plan and presence.