I want nothing but to rest my soul

It's funny how my feelings towards certain people never change no matter how long it's been. I don't know what to do in this instance, but what I would like to do is to grab my adopted sister and hug her. I've known Rosie for four years now even though it seems like it's been ten. A lot of the time, I took on the role of her protector. Sometimes it seemed like I was a stand-in mom... I love that girl more than I love a lot of people. I would glady give everything and do anything if she could be okay. I felt that way meeting her behind our cabin at camp four years ago, I felt that way three years ago when she lived with me, I feel that way now and I always will. In some odd way, she kept me whole. We went through a lot of drama together and a lot of chaotic things, but she was my best friend and along the way became part of my family. I just want to go get her... I want to bring her back and sit her on my bed and talk. Hand her Bunny Foo Foo and listen to anything she needs to say. Or hold her like I have hundreds of times before. I just want to keep the world from damaging her anymore. I want to stop her from hurting... I wish I could. It's frustrating that I can't.

Serenity, confusion, happiness, loss

This has been an interesting past week and a half... I feel like I've lost my resolve. I am not sitting with God throughout my day. He's always with me, but I'm not there. Definitely not checked in. These past few days have been far from my best. It's frustrating to say the least. I almost feel overwhelmed in a way..? But I'm not sure why or where that's coming from.

I wrote that part earlier, left it and now I'm finishing I guess.



So, I got my official acceptance letter into The Internship with MC4. It made me excited for this upcoming year and for God and growth. I still feel overwhelmed and I still feel like I'm standing back a little too far, but hopefully it'll fade quickly.

I have decided, I have resolved, to wait upon You Lord

My rock and redeemer
Shield and reward
I'll wait upon You Lord

As surely as the sun will rise
You'll come to us
As certain as the dawn appears

You'll come
Let Your glory fall as You respond to us
Spirt reign, flood into our thirsty hearts again
You'll come
You'll come

We are not shaken
We are not moved
We wait upon You Lord
Mighty deliverer, triumph and truth
We wait upon You Lord

As surely as the sun will rise
You'll come to us
As certain as Your word endures

You'll come
Let Your glory fall as You respond to us
Spirit reign, flood into our thirsty hearts again
You'll come
You'll come

Chains be broken
Lives be healed
Eyes be opened
Christ is revealed

You'll Come
This is Our God
Hillsong




I just reread my blog from last week... Mainly the last paragraph and the prayer following. I can definitely say God moved. I watched four hundred students pour out their hearts and cry out for our God and say that they needed Him. I felt myself being transformed throughout the week. It's funny because we had a talk some point during one of the leader's meetings last week about how we're here for the students, but why can't we get anything out of it. Exactly my thoughts. I don't feel like camp is just for those kids. Yes, we are there for them, the experience is created with all of them in mind. But if the leaders can't be filled and changed as well, what good are we to the students?

I, for one, feel lighter in a bunch of different ways. I guess the word 'free' would be a great way to describe it. I didn't fully realize it until I was in with the two year olds on Sunday morning. Past times, I've felt a little weird. Like the things we were doing were embarrassing or that I thought I looked ridiculous. This week, I didn't care. I had the majority of the kiddos playing peek-a-boo with me on the slide for at least ten minutes. I didn't care how silly the hand motions may have looked when we were playing their worship tape. It flat out didn't matter to me what everyone who wasn't in that room thought. My actions speak towards those kids. They follow what we do and how we act... If I hold back and act embarrassed, they will too. I don't want them to ever feel ashamed because they're living for God or because they're worshipping Him. Ever.

One of the best things about our God is that He meets us where we're at. I saw the transformation from the first day with the high schoolers who had their walls up and didn't let God move to the final days when you would watch them and know God had shown up and changed them. I am SO proud of the group we had. Especially the MC4 kids. Holly, to me, seemed unsure when we first got there. At the end, her wall was down and she was encountering God. One of the first days, April told me she wasn't going to bawl. I told her that as soon as she puts God in a box, He cannot get out of it. She told me the next day that I was right. Watching her throughout the week, I could not help but smile. There were a few times where I just stopped and watched her worship. She was so on fire and it just seemed like she couldn't get enough. This week, she's leading the junior highers. So is Holly, actually. Jessica realized the changes she needed to make when she got home with the relationship she has with her mom. How she needs to let her be more of a mom and not just a best friend. Lamaiah... Sweet, sweet girl. Her sixteenth birthday was on Thursday. It was the first time she'd been away from her family for her birthday and early on, she was not happy about it. She felt like she didn't fit in and that she was missing out from being at home. She and I had a talk on Tuesday night during pre-service prayer about where she was at and how she was doing. One of the things she said to me was that she was going to miss the traditions for her birthday. How every year, she wakes up and there's a present at her feet. You'd better believe we made that happen for her (: She woke up with the present at her feet just like every other year of her life. We also sang to her about three different times throughout the day! Nick Glenn. Oh my word. He came this year also as a new leader... Wednesday night I made it a point to say how proud of him I was. I remember him four years ago when we first met. I remember how he wasn't really sure of himself. I know in those four years, he'd walked away from God. This past week though, he was ministering to kids. Reading through bible verses with them, spending time with them and mentoring them. I feel like the words were from both myself and God.

Just so I don't forget, I guess I should probably go through my week. Monday night we started off with a bang. haha Kids were on their knees crying out and worshipping and the leaders were laying hands on them. I kept praying one thing over kids as I moved throughout them and made my way to the front with the MC4 kids and that was "New breath, new life". After Chad was done speaking and was dismissing the ladies from the chapel, I went and talked to him about it... He asked me to find him the next night and share it. So Tuesday night I found him before worship and asked if he still wanted me to speak. He said yes. Worship was over, he was settling everyone down and asked me to come up. I really don't have a clue at all what I said. I spent about ten minutes during pre-service prayer that night praying about my speaking-- not to be nervous and to let God's words flow through me. I once had someone say that typically when you can't remember your prayers, it's because God was speaking through you. Whether or not that's true, I guess what I said impacted people. I remember challenging them to open up and let God move... I remember saying that Jesus died so we had the chance at a new breath and a new life. That I felt like that's what the week was about-- finding that new breath and new life in God no matter where you were already at. Wednesday night we prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. God being God, he sent me girls I had never met before :D Later we got into small groups and prayed. We were supposed to pray for our friends and then interceed for the nations. I had two girls in my group. One I didn't catch the name of, the other was Heather. As I was moving into the intercession ((by the way, I apparently became a praying fiend because I used to find it so nerve wracking and now I'm a-okay with it. Good job God!)) Heather passed out. I had my eyes closed, but I felt her slump to the floor. She woke up about fifteen seconds later and I immediately walked her out to Kimmer's. Luckily, she didn't hit anything, she just collapsed. Kimmer says it was the heat, I say different. lol Either way, I was glad she was okay and she and I spent the rest of the ten minutes or so of chapel time outside on one of the picnic tables talking. Thursday night during pre-service prayer, we got into prayer groups again. This was to just pray over each other for anything we needed... I was asked to join a group of three. The boys names I didn't get ((Jeez I suck at that! I should probably work on it...)) the girl's name was Sara. I started asking what they wanted prayer over-- one of the boys wanted prayer for his back pain-- but I stopped, turned to Sara and started speaking into her life. I prayed over her for about ten minutes and then she went to the back to her cabin leader. Later that night, I prayed over a girl during worship. I could hear her and felt this pull, so I went. We ended up moving her outside and talking to her and whatnot. She looked like she came out of it with a weight lifted off her shoulders. Friday night I spent talking with Kimmer about a bunch of different things. During pre-service prayer for Friday, though, I got a chance to talk to Sara again. She told me how much what I said on Tuesday night meant to her as well as the prayer the night before. She said she left that thinking that I was the kind of person she wanted to be and then asked me to mentor her. I've talked about this to a few people and I still can't quite wrap my head around it. It was my favorite serious moment about camp that week. I gave her my name and my number so we'll see if that goes anywhere.

Now to some amazing funny moments. The best one of all was Friday morning. Leaders are ALWAYS allowed in whenever. I was hanging out in the chapel before the kids were let in for morning service and suddenly I see all these leaders flooding in; most of them guys. Drew and Riley were two of the games people for the week and they had gotten out this large bag of dodge balls. As the guys started huddling in, I walked over. I was handed a dodge ball and then I started walking around them. I somehow moved myself into the center of this gigantic circle we had going on with all the guys surrounding me and the majority of the rest of the dodge balls on the ground in front of me. We crowded in as best we could and tried to make it seem like a huge prayer group. So, they started letting the students in and as they were doing so, Riley's in the front telling everyone to be respectful of the prayer group in the center and to keep quiet. I'm finding this so hilarious that I could not stop laughing. We're sitting there strategizing about how to best hit these kids in the face with the balls and how to spread out as quickly as possible. Dave actually did begin to pray, but they were things like 'God, please aim our missiles directly at the students. Jesus give them power and accuracy' or 'God I pray a shield of protection around the leaders' It was amazing. Luckily, my voice was so gone that, to everyone NOT in the circle, my laughing sounded like I was crying. I'm huddle over this pile of dodge balls so that the crafty kids who are starting to stand on chairs so they can see what's going on can't tell. I was shaking from laughing so hard and I actually snorted a few times. Drew at some point got on the mic and told everyone to squish up to the front so that people were pretty much lumped together in a mob. I guess my 'crying' was convincing, as I was told by a few people later on. People had started to calm down and were actually fairly quiet when Riley shouted 'NOW!' and we all opened up and started hurling the balls (: It lasted for about five minutes back and forth and I could not stop laughing.
Another was Tuesday when we played tug-o-war.. My group of girls, along with humungous Oak Harbor boys and a few other girls cabins, won :D The last battle was my team as well as half of the MC4 boys. We beat! It was great.
There was a shaving cream fight on Wednesday.
Thursday we had an AMAZING thunder storm :D I literally had been praying for that.
We had to cancel the mud pit on Friday due to the colder weather. Ironically, it had warmed up around the time we would've been doing it.

All in all, it was probably the best week of camp I've had. I cannot wait for next year and I'm extremely excited for God to keep moving in the days to come (:

Take my life, I lay it down

At the cross where I am found
All have I give to You oh God

Take my hands and make them clean
Keep my heart in purity
That I may walk in all you have for me

Oh here I stand
Arms open wide
Oh I am Yours
And You are mine

Take my moments and my days
Let each breath that I take
Be ever only for You oh God

Oh here I stand
Arms open wide
Oh I am Yours
And Your are mine

My whole life is Yours
I give it all
Surrendered to Your name
And forever I will pray
Have Your way
Have Your way

Arms Open Wide
Hillsong


Worshipping at home versus worshipping at church or in a church setting is interesting. You're not in an established place that you KNOW is all about God. It's just your home. Although, maybe your home is all about God. I cannot wait for that... I think worship at home is just slightly more beautiful in a way. All worship is incredible and beautiful, but there's something about CHOOSING to not be in a church or church setting... To be in your car or on the bus or at school or in your home worshipping God because it's what you want to do. I love it. I feel like my worship is most meaningful outside of church. I feel like I get more God out of it because I don't have a hundred other people around me that could be distractions in any form. I'm in my room, nothing's going on that I'm not fully aware of, I'm worshipping God. It's a great feeling.

This song is one we'll be singing this week at camp. I'm very, very excited for it. For this song, for this week at camp... All of it. My favorite part in this song is My whole life is Yours, I give it all, surrendered to Your name. And forever I will pray have Your way. It just says a lot. I've had issues every year about turning away from God, struggling to come back, struggling to get closer... It's odd, but I feel like I'm finally getting it. I'm finally grasping this whole thing and learning what it means to truly give my whole life.

I have a feeling this week at camp is going to be unlike the others I've been to before... It doesn't really have much to do with my stepping into the leader role and not being a camper with the senior highers, it has more to do with this feeling about God and His presence. In previous years, Friday nights have been the big ones... They're the ones where people get saved if they haven't been already, people get spiritual gifts, they start speaking in tongues, they feel God more than they've ever felt Him before. There was one exception and that was last year... Last year's big night was on Thursday rather than Friday. Friday was still just as great, but we were in the chapel until about eleven... Maybe even midnight on Thursday. Either way, I feel like this week is going to be a bunch of those in-your-face God nights. I pray that it is. I can't speak for the other churches because I don't know where their kids are at, but I know students of The Young need a good week long smacking in the face from God. I know I do as well... That's always the funny thing. Camp's about the students, but the leaders need the stretching as well. It'll be interesting for me to be on the other side of things and to see how I grow this time. I can't wait... These six days are some of my favorites in the year. I'd live them over and over again if I could.


God, I pray that You show Yourself to these students in a new way. I pray that You push them to their limits and help them to grow. Not only do I ask this for the students, but for the leaders as well. For the speakers who are coming in, I ask that You give them a fresh voice and a keen ear to hear what You want them to teach. I pray that lives are changed in a more permanent way. I pray coming home and readjusting to life outside of a constant controlled atmosphere isn't hard on us all; that what we learn this week sticks with us longer than a month. I pray for lasting changes God. I pray that You reveal plans You have for our lives and that You correct an uncertainties we may have about You or the life You have for us. I pray this week isn't like the ones we've had before; rather that it be so apparent that You are with us at all times, holding us when we need it, pushing us when we need it, speaking words and breathing life when we need it. I thank You for this group of people that is coming together to draw closer to You. Thank You for the opportunity I have to be here once again.