Today, I am sitting at my desk surrounded by cards and pictures and notes I received throughout the summer. Some are about my baptism, some are encouraging me, some are handmade. Regardless of what they are or who they are from, they all instill a sense of melancholy in me. This summer was outstanding in ways that I am still learning and realizing.
So today I decided to take a little trip into the past.
Way back to advance crew (which was from May 1 - June 21st). Advance Crew is basically the people who will be serving on summer staff that want to come early and help prepare camp for the summer. It is a great time that allows people to really connect together and get to know one another. It was also, for me, a huge time in the growth in God and my relationship.
On June 6th there was a camp open house. basically during this time we opened the doors to camp to 1500 people. From babies, to moms and dads to grandparents everyone was invited to come and enjoy our beach, our challenge course, and our food. It was a crazy day. It was also the day that I called the first ambulance of the season. There was an older lady that came and had diabetes that didnt take her insulin that day. In other words, her blood sugar was through the roof. I remember while I was waiting for the ambulance wondering how in the world this would allow us at camp to better minister to people. I didnt understand how God could be present through the stuff like this.
At the same time, my best friend had just gotten to camp a week earlier. Let me start by telling you that I love this girl so much, through everything. But she also suffers from moderate to severe anxiety and depression. Moving to camp was a big deal for her and I was super proud of her, but when she got out here, she basically flatlined. She refused to get out of bed, she wouldnt eat. I poured a ton of energy into praying with and for her and trying to motivate her. After a week of that, I was really downtrodden. I didnt understand what God was doing. Why he called her out here, just to see her go through this. Why he kept telling me to put effort into it, when she wasnt responding to anything I did. I just didnt understand how God could be present through the stuff like this.
Both of those things were made very clear to me that day. It was almost like God was waiting to show me how great he was. The lady that had to go to the hospital lived on the mainland, but since she had to stay at the hospital she wasnt able to go home that night so her family ended up staying at the Guest House (which is a house owned by the camp used for situations just as this). The next morning was sunday so we all went to church and surprise, the lady that went to the hospital and her family were at my church. I was pleasantly surprised, and even more so after they came up and personally thanked me as well as the pastor from their church back home. They were awesome and then said that they were planning on financing a couple children from their church to come to camp this summer. It made me realize that God uses everything for the good of the people that he loves.
That was also about the time that my best friend finally started to engage in camp and start to open up. This taught me a HUGE lesson that I used many times throughout the summer. Not everything is about me. In fact, very little is about me. My best friends suffering wasnt in any way there to teach me anything besides to love unconditionally. This struggle was her fight and fight she did. She ended up staying the whole summer and touching so many lives here and in the beginning all God was asking me to do was to love her, and love her unconditionally. How many lives did my love affect through her? I may never know the answer to that question, but I do know now that the love I found and gave this summer was not started in my heart, instead it was started by God loving me first.
What has your love done?
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