It was my first time joining the National Youth Day. It was a quick decision for me to join it 3 months ago since I assumed that I got everything in control. Little did I know, I will face multiple challenges approaching the anticipated activity.
I am a candidate for this year’s graduation. Establishing my college life did not go easy, as I was able to make it in the other half of my journey. In the last semester of my college life, I planned to do everything within my timeline so that I can confidently serve and participate in mission work and the NYD. However, my academics got rough as the activities were approaching. It led me to a long process of discernment, whether to show up for God or to remain in what I have established in my education already. Long story short—I chose God. It was really a big leap of faith for me. I attended activities with pure energy, but deep inside, I was anxious and afraid that my decisions would fail me.
I was worried about going to NYD 2025 at first, knowing that I’ll be leaving unfinished business without the certainty to achieve it before their deadlines. I want to keep it a secret, since I was embarrassed that my classmates would see me escaping my responsibility as a student nearing her graduation. And this is where my NYD experience entered. I never knew that saying yes to encounter God through this would lead me to intercede and bring the prayer intentions of my classmates, my family, and my fellow MFC youth. I only made a single decision, yet my yes, with God being the ultimate reason, overflowed and poured out to the people around me, making me a bearer of his hope. This led me to spend the whole duration of the NYD to see everything in the eyes of God. And what I saw was a beautiful crowd of God. Young people danced and shouted their praises, waved their devotion, and knelt their intentions. I realized, all of us went to the NYD 2025 carrying our respective crosses and burdens, yet we chose not to stay in those, but to bring them to God, having this hope in our hearts that in surrendering, He will console us, direct us, and ultimately, win us.
God was right all along. There was never a time that He failed us. All it needs is a single yes, a single step, and God will take the rest. I remember questioning God during the NYD, “Lord, do I deserve to experience this?” but He just quickly responded, “What reason is there to say no?”
What a great reminder to all of us as we carry on the mission he entrusted us. This year calls us for a greater mission, not just to make all youth know Christ, but, in the most mundane way— to be a bearer of hope. To let the young taste and see how the Lord is so good in our lives. He is there, always. Watching you from afar and cannot wait to say to you, “you’re home, my child!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ate Kaena Maceda. A mission volunteer for MFC Youth Mindanao.
