Rejoice

My name is Rejoice and I live in Lagos, Nigeria. My childhood was difficult because my siblings and I were raised only by our father as my mother and father did not live together. After my father’s death, I lived a very rough life; a kind of life my family and society viewed as unacceptable. I had no choice but to return to my mum's house, but due to my ungodly lifestyle, my mother sent me away. However, it was during this time that I came across Young Life. When everyone else seemed to have given up on me, my leader continued building into my life. She even took me in for a time and encouraged me to enroll in a fashion design school on the weekends in order to become a better person, in spite of my continued rebellious ways. My leader remained close to me and always tendered prayer requests for my transformation. Finally, the miraculous happened. During an outreach camp I decided to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It wasn't easy at first, but with the help of my leader, I began to hate my old ways of disobedience, and began to love Christ more and more. By God’s grace, I developed an unending love for teenagers and have totally surrendered to being a volunteer leader and reaching out to lost kids. Since then, my life has been a source of motivation to other kids, and most of my neighbors are now willing to involve their children in Young Life too. Now, as a Developing Global Leader, I am studying computer science at Covenant University. While in the DGL program, I have a goal to make a positive impact in the lives around me and to grow in my spiritual life while reaching kids.