Ignited Once Again
By Kalista King

Greetings, friends! I realize it has been quite some time since I have written an article, almost 6 months to be exact. I could come up with several excuses as to why I ever stopped writing to you, but to be quite frank, it all comes down to laziness. I can honestly say that I am a busy individual, and I could probably argue that my time on writing articles is very limited. However writing is a passion of mine, and when I began writing to you back in April of 2012, it brought me great joy to inform you on the wonderful things that were happening in the youth of Darke County. If you have read my articles before, you should know that I believe there is a tremendous revival going on in the hearts and lives of teenagers throughout the nation. If you have not read my articles, you will soon find out this is true. As a teen, experiencing this in my own community, I cannot help but be overjoyed to share it with anyone and everyone that I can. 

Now in all honesty, over the summer I began to lose sight of this miraculous revival that had been getting me so fired up all this time. It was as if the business of life consumed me, and took away the perspective I once had on life. I will not say I lost all sight of the blessings that continued to pour out on the youth in my community, but I became less and less a part of it because I allowed other distractions to enter my life and detor my focus. Thankfully, I recently came out of this phase in which I was so lethargic toward anything that had to do with revival. I knew with or without me, it was happening, but I did not want to be much of a part of it anymore because I was focused on other things.

Life gets pretty boring when you spend it going through the motions from day to day as I was doing. Sure some days were exciting, like after church or a youth event that lit a spark in me, but it was only temporary; nothing seemed to permanently ignite the fire I had before I entered this state of apathy. I cannot say it was a huge earth-shattering event that brought me out of this state, but it was a gradual process in which I did not really even notice happening. After recently coming to a point where I finally realized I missed the fire and the energy I had in the past, I prayed that God would give me a hunger for revival again. Sure enough, it did not take long before the colors began invading my black and white mind. My eyes developed a focus that was not there before, one that helped me realize things that had been right in front of me the whole time; I had just been too blind to see them.

Coincidentally, Mr. Robinson became my Communications teacher at Edison Community College this fall, where he asked me why I had stopped writing articles for him. The timing of this could not have been better because my passion was creeping back, and I decided I was more than ready to begin writing again. I sure have missed this. I cannot express how pleased I am to be able to encourage you again with the news of our youth in Darke County. I will begin to do so in my next article. You may not hear from me every week, but Mr. Robinson gave me permission to write whenever I can. I look forward to keeping you up to date on this revival. If you are reading this, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so. I pray this blesses you as much as it has blessed me.