Back to School

Here is a great article I found from the girltalk blog:

School days are upon us again.

There will be broken pencils and slow computers, late night study-sessions and pop-quizzes, classmate conflicts, “light bulb” moments, and more than a few tears.

And there will be lots and lots of reading.

But there’s something more certain than all the predictable aspects of the school year:

“Surely [not maybe] goodness and mercy shall follow me all [not some] of the days of my life” (Ps. 23:6, emphasis mine).

"With God these qualities are not merely solid and dependable” explains Derek Kidner, “but vigorous--for 'follow' does not mean here to bring up the rear but to pursue.If you are a Christian, goodness and mercy follow you “always” says Charles Spurgeon: “the black days as well as the bright days. Goodness supplies our needs, and mercy blots out our sins.”

Goodness is shadowing us, in the halls of school or the kitchen table at home, to provide all we need—strength, wisdom, perseverance and patience—to help us glorify God.

And Mercy’s right behind, to pick us up when we fall: bringing pardon for our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ.What a promise to take with us into the first day of school--and all the school days thereafter!

Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound!

Story of God's amazing grace at Camp Westminster:

Senior Session. Middle of the week. What does that mean? Exhaustion. Frustration. All the fun is catching up, at least to me. Tuesday night I'm super excited about going to bed, one more thing to do then I can rest my weary body. Bible study. We had just heard a really good sermon on sharing the Gospel with the world. During the middle of Bible study, one of the campers said, "Umm...I don't think I know exactly what the gospel is. Could some one explain it to me?"
Immediately I did not feel tired at all, and started bouncing on my bed raising my hand saying "oh! I can!" After Bible study, all the girls were going to bed and Savanna and I went outside and sat on a rock. I explained the Gospel to her as simply as I could. Savanna is fourteen years old. Plenty old enough to understand and take responsibility for her sins. I could see the point her eyes lit up and she seemed to really understand what I was saying. She asked me to pray for her, and said she wanted to think about all of this. Then, she went to bed, simple as that. Wednesday comes. Worst day of the whole summer. I don't even know why it was so bad. Everything was just annoying and exhausting that day. Supper was two hours late, a little on the burnt side, and mostly gone by the time I got through the line. At supper, I learned I wasn't the only miserable one. Other counselors were having a super bad day too. Finally, we got to Vespers late, but the sermon was great that night. Really refreshing after a bad day. As soon as it ended, I was ready to go straight to bed. Didn't want to talk to anyone or do anything but sleep. When I got back to the cabin, I learned that Savanna realized that she needed to become a Christian. We, along with the two counselors in my cabin went out to the girls bonfire area. We talked for a while about what it meant to be a Christian and about her family life. That night, under the beautiful stars, she committed her life to Christ.
I tried so hard to get girls interested in the Gospel all the days leading up to that one. Nothing ever seemed to work. The one day (/week) I was tired of trying, frustrated, too tired to care was the day God chose to work. It doesn't matter how good we are at sharing the Gospel. It doesn't matter how much we feel like doing Kingdom work. God is sovereign over salvation and can use even the weakest vessels!
The next morning at staff Bible study, I heard an almost identical story from one of the counselors who I had been complaining with the day before! One of her campers came to Jesus the night before as well.
Here are some of the, extremely appropriate, verses we read in bible study that day:

"Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing I desire on earth besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

(selections from Psalm 73)

What GOD Did!

God showed His power in amazing ways--some that I can't even think of words to describe! Here are a FEW examples

God:

• convicted us (me, other staff) through the preaching and teaching of His word and many humbling experiences with campers
• showing us His beautiful creativity through amazing sunrises, sunsets, His creatures, etc...
• filling our hearts with peace through reminding us of His promises through Scripture, songs, a rainbow
• Giving us great joy as we sang great truths at the top of our lungs during Vespers
• Providentially blessing me through relationships with godly brothers and sisters who constantly encourage, build up, convict, and love me
• Provided strength and energy when the heat and exhaustion totally took over
• Carried us through physically and emotionally when we our bodies were done (daily occurance!)
• Rewarded our labors with the joy of hearing kids give testimony at Friday night bonfire as to what they had learned about God
• brought campers to Himself, opening their hearts and saving them (I'll share some specific stories later!)
• restored the health of an ill counselor (I'll share this story later, too!)

Name above all names,

You are Worthy of all praise,

and My heart will sing,

how great,

Is our God!

What I Did

In the first half of summer, I had staff training week and three sessions of camp. At the end of the third session, we had a week off. At the end of that week, all of the staff went back to camp. I went to Honduras. My trip was from July 3-13. My dear friend, Kara, got married on July 11th; it was such a blessing to get to be in Honduras and apart of her beautiful wedding!
As soon as I got back from Honduras, I washed my clothes, then repacked and went to camp the next day. Even though I had a wonderful trip to Honduras, it was really hard to miss one and a half sessions of camp. Going back was great. I was rested and refreshed, and super excited to be back. The sad part was, there was only one and a half sessions of camp left! At the end of camp, we had a staff banquet and bonfire to reflect on the summer and say goodbye. A couple of days after that, Friends of Refugees came to do a camp and use our facilities. Some of the staff stayed for an extra week to help run some activities for them. I had to go home to coach basketball camp for three days, but I did go back for the final days. The day I went back to camp, the staff went out to play broom ball one night. I gracefully managed to get a concussion. That wasn’t much fun, but the worst part was having to sleep and rest while everyone else was out doing camp! I stayed a couple of days, then said my good-byes and came home. Back at home, I once again, unpacked, washed clothes, and then repacked. We left two days after I got home for family vacation in Florida.
Obviously, it was a very busy summer! I’m finally home, unpacked, and getting ready for school to start in a few days!

Where I've Been

Ok, so I obviously have not updated my blog much this summer. I’ll use this post to fill you in on what I’ve actually been doing, where I’ve been.
I spent the summer months (from the end of May to the end of July) working at Camp Westminster in Conyers, GA. Camp Westminster is a Christian summer camp for kids (ages 6 and up). The kids come and stay from a Sunday to Saturday, having lots of opportunities for outdoor activities such as horses, high ropes course, archery, swimming, paintball, etc... The main purpose of Camp Westminster is that “they might see Jesus.” The children participate in bible studies, attend daily Vespers services, and are constantly being pointed to Christ in His creation.
My official role at camp was “wrangler.” It was my job, along with four other wranglers, to daily care for the horses and teach the five activity sessions of horses (basically the kids come every day for an hour and we teach them how to ride). In the evenings and at night, I got to participate in the normal events of camp with my cabin. I personally think wranglers have the most fun at camp, but I’m sure others would argue with that! :-)

Earlier in this year, I began praying about options for my summer. I was looking into working at a Children's Home, or something of that nature. In April, one of my friends contacted me telling me about Camp Westminster. He had worked there last year, and knew that they were desperately in need of a wrangler for the summer. Within a few days I had an interview and within a couple of weeks, I was pulling into camp, ready to start! I was expecting it to be a good summer, but I never could have imagined all that life at camp meant...

I'm back!

Well, I have reached the end (sadly!) of a very busy and super exciting summer. I am currently unpacking (without plans to repack immediately!) and settling back in to life at home. I cannot wait to tell everyone all that God has done and all of the fun that I have had this summer. But, that will have to wait until I put all my clothes away, clean my dusty room, and prepare for the fall semester.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him." Psalm 28:7