grow - tamara lloyd

3rd October 2011 by MORE

Hey, I’m Tamara Lloyd and I attend The Salvation Army’s School for Youth Leadership. This year I’ve been growing in all aspects of life. I moved in with nine other people and this was a challenge in its own. But I was blessed with a fantastic room-mate, who has become one of my closest friends in my life. Not just because of proximity, but also because I was able to share much of my story, fears for the future, and just the ability to be real with her.

The school is like a hot house for plants, the environment just makes you grow much faster than expected but I feel privileged to be given this opportunity. I really feel that this is where God wants me to be. The first few weeks were all about learning who you are and what God has called you to be. We were given lots of opportunities to question why we do things, are the things we do our own, are they passed down from our parents, or are they learnt when dealing with situations? We discovered, agreed, and disagreed sometimes vigorously on the conclusions we came to.

But the most important thing I think I discovered at the school wasn’t anything new about my character but of the character of God and the amazing amount of love he has for us.

A normal day at the school starts with quiet time from 8-9am, which is set apart to pray, study, or worship God in our own way. From 9-9:30am we do either intersession, Bible mediation, or worship which is run by one of the students. It’s been amazing to see all the different ways you can worship; it’s really opened my eyes. We’ve done all sorts of things like Jesus dance party, building cubbies, writing our own psalms, D-Jing with worship songs and much, much more. Then we have class, morning tea, class, lunch, cleaning the house and looking after what God has given us, afternoon tea, class, and then dinner.

The school is an amazing place of learning. We have learnt how to preach a compelling sermon, how to deal with conflict and come out with the best result, how to run small groups, youth work stuff and much, much more. But what I have found to be most helpful have been the conversations and accountability which you get by living in a fully Christian environment.

I am currently on my practicum which is like a really long work experience, and I’m learning lots, but I am itching to get back to the school to learn more and be back with my friends.

Comments

Christine Canty

October 07, 2011 at 8:55am

Hey Tamara, Great to read about what you have been up to and the amazing things God has been doing in your life. Bless you heaps. Chris

Reply