When love is lost...and found again

The other day a friend of mine challenged me to think of one verse that tells us of Christ's love. I had a hard time thinking of one on the spot. I finally mumbled out Romans 5:8, but i had been really discouraged the last few weeks. I was looking all around me a the things that were wrong in my life, and it had blurred my vision from the amazing, breath taking love of God. Her question really cleared my vision a bit and showed me how meaningless the things here are. I realized that my skewed vision of the boundless love that God showers on us everyday was preventing me from allowing Him to use me as a channel to show His love to other people. Looking back i saw that the love of God that i used to have as a theme in my life was missing. I was treating my friends badly and caring only about myself, so I'm sorry. Love is something that never fails, and i did. Thankfully, my loving Father is teaching me again what love is. It's something that always welcomes you back with open arms.

Uncomfortably genuine

The two lessons i learned the most about at camp this summer was getting out of my comfort zone and just living a real life in front of people. God stretched me this summer in so many ways. I won't tell my counseling story again, but He used so many people and circumstances to take me from a place of comfort to a place of discomfort. I realized that no one who did anything great for my God did it while they were comfortable. Every great work for God was a stretching experience for the person who did it. It was when they were taken to a place where they didn't know how or what to do, and they let God shine through them and accomplish His will. The other thing i learned was the importance of being genuine. No one likes the fake stuff, but so many times we live our lives as fake people, fake Christians. The whole thing really reduces down to a fear of man battling within us with the fear of God. It comes down to who we care more about. Do we care more what God thinks or what man thinks? I don't want to live my life as an unapproachable person who seems to have all their priorities perfectly aligned, while the turmoil inside is tearing me apart. Real people have problems, but we also have a real God to give us real help for our real problems.

School started again

So, im a week or two into the semester, and im already feeling some of the wear and tear. Stressed does not begin to describe the way i've been feeling, but then again its the only one i can think of. I can't pull out the exact cause of my stress, but its been driving me crazy for a few days. Hopefully soon i can figure out what exactly is wrong with me :) As far as school goes (other than my stress attack), its been going relatively well. I haven't had any classes that made me want to die yet, unless its by boredom and of course i have some of that. It's also amazing to be back at my wisconsin church...i love the people here so much. And God is working so mightily there that i can see it on the peoples faces everytime we go. Wow...so i started this feeling like i could stay up for another hour or so, but now im exhausted...no worries, i have a long break tomorrow, and i'll try to post then...goodnight :)

Recapping my summer

I'm home...and home is good, but im kinda wondering if im going to survive here for the next 3 weeks. Camp was amazing...and the friends i got there are great. i learned a ton about God, about me, about working with other ppl, and so many other things. Its definitely and experience that i will draw from for the rest of my life. Let me give you a quick run down of my summer. I got to camp at the end of may. I found i was living in a very small trailer with 10 other girls...it wasn't the most exciting part of the summer, but we all soon became great friends and had a ton of fun. Our first week of campers was a junior week (3rd to 6th grade). It was a really good first week for us to get acclamated to camp life. I missed most of the third week to go to Chicago area for Amber's wedding. We had so much fun, and of course how much fun can you have without a little bit of drama?? I returned to camp for the first teen week, and started to get back into the swing of things. By the end of the week, I had a pretty good handle on everything. I started the second teen week like any other...but thats about the only part of the week that was normal. During dinner, the camp program director (also my old youth director) walked up to me and started to tell me how camp staff had to be flexible. I just kept filling the water pitchers i was filling until the words "and this week you'll be conselling" came out of his mouth. I didn't know the procedures, jobs, or expectations of being a counselor. I immediately left and went to get ready for this crazy week. It turned out to be a good week. At least i survived. :-) well i gotta go for a little bit but i'll keep recapping soon

Long time comin'

So here it is.  My first post in a very long time.  I am well aware that I have not held up to one post a week.  It’s been an interesting summer.  Camp has been fun and long.  I miss friends and family but I’m learning a ton.  I went to ambers wedding…it was so great to be back all together again.  This weekend is the staff summer party.  Which means a lot of fun and games.  Ive already been eliminated from the basketball tournament.  Big surprise.  Anyway, im here and im alive and ive learned a lot this summer which I will discuss at some later point when I don’t have things to be doing…so prolly when I get home…O and my computer is getting fixed so when I get home it should be working and happy again!!!

A different week

This past week was definitely different and it stretched me more than any week so far.  Monday night I was serving my aisle…I served the first bowls of food, collected water pitchers and returned to the kitchen to fill them.  It was then that Mr. Gustafson, the program director and my old youth director, walked up to me.  His first words were something along the lines of “Here at camp we are pretty flexible”  I continued my work and nodded…then I heard something that stopped me dead in my tracks.  “and youre going to be a counselor this week”  I tried to breathe…I had no idea what to do as a counselor and that is the moment God began His week long stretching process on my life.  I had 8 campers…they were very diverse, and I had to find a way to bring unity to the cabin.  I can’t say that by the end of the week they were best friends, but they finally began to communicate.  None of them seemed to make life changing decisions but there were small changes by the end of the week.  I loved it and it was a great experience…of course im not going to say the stretching didn’t hurt at times, but God taught me a lot this week.

First Day on the job...

So waitressing was way easier than I expected.  Campers are here and they are hungry…and Nana’s food is just what they want.  Of course, this is a low week, and I only had 3 tables…with great counselors (including charles) who got their tables in line pretty fast.  Next week we’ll have way more…over double, so the thought of that is pretty daunting.  I almost wish I could tell you some funny story of something really dumb I did, but at the same time, I’m glad I can tell you that no such thing happened.  Waitressing was really a blast.  I could tell you about the dive bombing bugs that attacked Kim and I last night at the pool, and made us run for the hills, but that’s pretty much the whole story on that one too.  O and there is a group from West Coast here who are traveling around helping camps…and one of the guys used to go to Crown with me…talk about a small world.  Anyway, I gotta run and get ready for the evening service…love and miss you all!!