I am finally home from Silver Birch Ranch in Wisconsin where I was able to experience life-change, fun, and excitement alongside a few hundred Middle Schoolers. I was a counselor and leader for CCC and though it completely exhausted me, it also was 100% awesome and worthwhile. My girls and I made shirt, had crazy hair days, had a party, did all sorts of activities, and just had a blast with each other. I gave more piggy back rides and braided more hair than I think I ever have combined in my life. I personally grew from the experience! God was really teaching me how to love unconditionally and have faith. First off, love unconditionally means no ifs ands or buts about it. Not everyone will connect with my personality, not everyone is going to say the right things, or respect me, but I need to just love on them and demonstrate God's love. This proved challenging at points when I felt like I just needed some "me" time :)! Second was faith. Though I may not have realized or acknowledged it, often times I suffer from a lack of faith in God's abilities. I begin to think about how far away people are from God or how unlikely it is they will change, or how they don't listen to a word said during church or chapel etc. I just assume there is nothing I can do and no matter what I say or do they won't change, but the reality is I am completely and utterly wrong. Where do I go off thinking that the God of heaven and of earth who created everything and everyone in his own image can't soften hearts. God is working and no matter how far away someone is God can change lives. He did with mine. It was great to even get to see this in action. A girl I probably wouldn't have expected to turn her life to Christ did so. She realized the need and took genuine action. Only God knows what else is stirring in the hearts of my girls right now as they are falling asleep. That is why prayer is essential.
My cabin girls were
Maddie Lydick-great girl, sweet heart
Morgan Windau-close with family, shy, fun
Rachel Simmonds-great potential, fun-loving, similar to me at that age
Maddie Petit- funny! wants to be loved
Chloe Rojas-smart, sweetie
Roxanne Prigge- dare-devil, very helpful
Lexus Finn-funny, caring
Melanie Kohout-so kind, stunning personality
Grace Iglehart-athletic, full of joy, talkative
Each of my girls taught be something new and were specifically put in my cabin for a reason. I thank God so much for the cabin I received. They were so easy to handle, great to me, and just soooo much fun. They were a bunch of crazy girls just like I am. Each of them has so much potential to shine for God. My prayer is that maybe this past week lit something on fire in them that would burn for the rest of their lives.
Well, throughout the trip I woke up early and worked on the Matthew study I had been doing before. I did it in my journal and I am debating whether I am going to copy it into here; probably not. I will start it off again tomorrow night :)! God's been teaching me a lot. I am very thankful for the spiritual leaders God has placed in my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment