“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:4–5, NKJV).

I find it amazing to consider this verse, especially along the lines that I was chosen “before the foundation of the world” by the Almighty God. As I ponder upon this, I am reminded of what was done for me before the foundation of the world. Jesus, the Lamb, was slain! (Revelation 13:8). Jesus and His Father loved me and had a plan for me before I was created (John 3:16).

God has clearly chosen me, and all of us for that matter, but have I chosen God? (Joshua 24:15).

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Ps. 23:1, KJV).

My favorite verse in the Bible is Psalm 23:1. I know I am safe if God is my Shepherd. I will always have what I need. Many times, however, when I experience trials, I easily forget this promise and start to distrust and despair. I need to trust God when difficult times occur, and rely on this promise to keep my heart calm.

God saved my life when I was baby. As a premature infant, I weighed only three pounds at birth. The doctors didn’t expect me to live. They also thought that, if I did live, I would only have half of my heart and be unable to walk. But God saved me and sustained my life. If it weren’t for the Lord, I wouldn’t be here today—totally healthy and strong.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor” (Eccl. 4:9, NKJV).

This verse is one of my favorites because it encourages teamwork. I like working in groups and working with my friends on projects because it’s fun! We learn so much from each other.

Have you ever done a group project and the other person won’t work with you? How does that make you feel? It probably makes you feel sad because you’re the only one working. My teacher assigned a group project in school, and I was excited to work on the project, but my teammate didn’t want to do much of the work. I tried to talk to him and encourage him to work with me on the project so that we could finish it and it would not be a lot of work for both of us.

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

Last April, Kate Sharbaugh, now 13, and Emma Schartner, 12, opened a pop-up pantry distributing food and toiletries in a lime green china cabinet outside a local church on Friendship Avenue in Pittsburgh. They have since opened another pantry outside Pennsylvania Conference’s Carnegie Simple Way church.

Story by Lisa Krueger

“Would you help us pray for WGTS listeners?” This was the question then-Sligo church Youth Pastor Terry Johnsson had for several of the station’s volunteers and local church members. Johnsson was doing a weekly call-in show for teens in 2008. Following the show, he would pray with a dozen or so listeners who would call. After an on-air promotion, the number of calls reached 100, and that year during the station’s spring fundraiser, 500 listeners called for prayer in just six hours. Johnsson says, "That’s when I realized we should make prayer available all the time."