Finding boots that fit

Finding your place in God’s big story can be like trying on a pair of shoes – it’s all about finding the right fit. 

Growing up, Ruth Amos attended many camps. She saw them as opportunities to grab onto, until one particular camp. 

It was a survival camp, requiring campers to “go out into the bush and rough it”.

Her friends were excited for the “character building” and the pressure to go on this camp was immense. But Ruth wasn’t keen. 

“I needed to pray long and hard before I felt that God said I didn’t need to go,” Ruth recalls. 

“Those ‘active, hard, survival’ boots didn’t fit me and God was okay with that.”

It wasn’t until years later when she attended an SU Family Camp that she found a camp that better ‘fit’ her personality and needs. 

“Even though it wasn’t rough and hard and physically difficult, it was still character-building in a great way, and I still learned a lot. I just learned in ways that fit me.”

This became the basis of Ruth’s book ‘Boots that Fit’ and her talk at a recent SU fundraising dinner in Tasmania.  

“How to find ‘boots that fit’ is about finding your calling, how to serve God and the community around you according to the gifts that you have received,” explains Stephanie Sebastian, Area Manager in Tasmania. 

For Ruth, it was clear that survival camp wasn’t going to be the character-building experience it was meant to be. But perhaps for her friends, it was. 

“What we need to do is find the boots that fit us, the ways that God wants us to serve, and to walk with him in those boots.”

SU Ministries are creating opportunities for young people (and the young at heart!) to find ‘boots that fit’ and be a part of God’s big story. Through their journey with SU, they are equipped and released to serve and lead using their unique gifts and skills. 

To find your ‘boots that fit’, visit su.org.au/get-involved to start exploring your God-given gifts with SU.