Last Tuesday as we were working on our homework, Carlos jumped out of his chair waving a paper in the air… “I’m going to college, I’m going to college!” He ran to show me that his standardized test scores showed he is college ready! We celebrated with a little dance and some high fives before he said “I better get back to my homework so I can stay on the right track for college!”

The next day, D4T came in to present. Carlos walked in, sat down and asked if we were going to talk about college again. He turned to his friend James and said “Did you know I’m going to college? I’m going to go to Belmont. You going to college?” James responded with, “Yeah, I’m going to go to Belmont too” this lead into a long conversation about their dreams and goals for college.

Our kids frequently hear they are bad, stupid, mean or won’t amount to much. It is amazing when they are called out as God sees them: smart, capable, beautiful, beloved. This affirmation of their identity as children of God motivates them to remember through God they can accomplish, they can succeed, they can overcome. Pray that our students will have identities rooted in God and that it will motivate them to honor, glorify and worship God through their future.