Janaya Hall is living proof you’re never too young to be ‘souled out’ for Christ.

The 18-year-old has been involved in ministry activities for as long as she can remember.

Still, she had no clue how much her service was impacting others until she was honoured with the Spiritual Leadership Award at last month’s Outstanding Teen Awards.

The accolade really opened her eyes to her spiritual potential.

“Finding out I had won the award for Spiritual Leadership made me realise just how many people I am capable of reaching spiritually,” the Warwick Academy student said.

“My parents and the people I’ve grown up with at my church, Calvary Gospel Chapel, were all very proud and congratulating me.

“A lot of the staff members at school were as well, which I think is really cool because I never thought I’d be able to impact their lives in any way.”

Janaya is the kind of girl who can count on one hand the number of times she’s missed a Sunday morning service.

She grew up in a spiritual household and began attending church “straight from the womb”.

But that doesn’t mean her faith always came easily.

“I remember saying the salvation prayer several times as a kid, convinced that it was conditional and I’d lose it if I didn’t keep reminding God about it,” she said.

“It wasn’t until a few days after my ninth birthday that I feel I truly understood what Christ had done for me, and the poor job that I was doing at demonstrating my gratitude.

“My dad showed me a music video that had been played at a WOL Superbowl event. It was a snippet from The Passion of Christ to the song It Wasn’t Easy by CeCe Winans. I cried a lot that night, trying to figure out why a perfect being such as Jesus would die for and love an imperfect being like myself, and even though I never answered my question that night I decided it was time to start living like I truly believed in what I heard every week.

“That was the night that I feel I actually accepted Christ as my personal Saviour.”

Now that she’s a teenager her faith is being tested more than ever. This year in particular there were a few moments that made her realise how vital her belief system is to her. “I can’t claim to have a perfect relationship with Christ, but a verse that has been very applicable to me as of late is Philippians 3:12. It says: ‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.’

“My goal for the rest of this year, and my reasoning for attending a Bible college next year, is to make my faith more personal and strengthen my relationship with the Lord.”

For many years Janaya has been heavily involved with her church and also active with Word of Life Bermuda, a youth discipleship programme.

However it’s been more challenging recently to balance her school work with her extra-curricular activities.

She still attends her church youth group when she can, helps out with a small performance group called Youth Impact and volunteers to help out in Sunday school every other month.

However she said she understands why so many young people venture off the Christian track during this season of life.

Many teenagers and young adults are not being challenged or encouraged to make their faith their own, she said. “Especially in a place like Bermuda, where everyone goes to church at one point or another, it’s easy to think that by some magical process of diffusion, you can get a copy of your parents’ or grandparents’ faith,” Janaya explained. “If our relationship with Christ is communal instead of personal, we won’t have the resources (as in Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit) to make it through daily trials.

“I’ve witnessed a lot of people wandering away for this reason. It’s my goal to get my relationship with Christ to a level where my automatic response in a situation I don’t know how to handle is to turn to Christ and depend fully on Him to direct me in whatever path is best.”

Being thought of as a role model isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. She said sometimes she feels the pressure of being constantly watched, and giving others advice or guidance.

But she’s still committed to doing her best.

“If I’m to truly be a role model for other believers, then when they look at me they should see someone who is always looking to God,” Janaya said. “I want to show my peers that it’s difficult, but not impossible, to earnestly seek out God in a world that doesn’t always approve, and that by simply being honest and transparent in their relationship with Him, they’ll impact more people than they ever knew they could.”

Janaya plans to attend a Word of Life Bible Institute in the autumn. She’s not sure exactly what career path she will choose, but she’s hopeful that God will reveal His plan for her.