As someone who was a youth pastor for years, this post resonates with me. I choose to believe my labor was not in vain. One image I have held on to all my life came from one of my professors in seminary. He said think of your ministry as a number line. Your job isn't to get someone over some imaginary line of salvation. Your job is to help move people in a positive rather than a negative direction. After interacting with you has someone inched closer to God or farther away? That's the question to ask. I find that image gives me great peace and a sense of direction.