Taking Life to God

I have been reading a book lately, This Present Future, and struggling with its implications on my life. I am being challenged to rethink my vision of church and what exactly it is I am calling my college students to give their lives for. Is it to become really good church members who do a lot of good church work, or is there something else I should be casting before them? In my reading I came across this quote:

"Helping people grow, particularly in the arena of spiritual formation, is about unpacking life: challenging our emotional responses that are destructive (envy, hatred, bitterness); challenging our biases (racial prejudice, social and economic elitism, intellectual snobbery); challenging our assumptions ("my needs are the most important"); challenging our responses; unpacking our frustrations, our hopes, our dreams, and our disappointments; bringing life to God rather than teaching about God, somehow hoping to get him into our lives."

I really love the idea of taking our lives to God, taking our struggles and fears, our joys and brokenness, and allowing God a firsthand chance to work in us rather than just talk about God and hope that somehow He shows up. I know that in my own experience, I often leave God stuck in places where I can see and understand, in my head where I can be rational and logical about Him, and often leave out the mystical, experiential part, the heart part of my faith. I hope that the students I work with will see me grow in my ability to take my life to God and to show them how to take theirs to him as well.