Third Time's a Charm

In my recent post about VBS, I wrote that I went into the event not really expecting God to work, and by the end, I was humbled again by the way he moves. This past week, Rob and I and one more counselor took nineteen students to Jenness Park, a camp up near Sonora. I wish I could say that I had a great attitude going into it. Afterall, I had just learned a valuable lesson from the VBS experience. As you can imagine, I did not. I did not have a good attitude nor did I have high expectations of what God was going to do. The first night and the first day were tough for me, and an hour didn't go by when I wouldn't ask myself why in the world I came. Rob could have easily gotten another female counselor, one who actually wanted to go. I felt like I was a waste - I wasn't getting any of the many things on my to-do list done (clean my house, organize my pantry, decorate my classroom...you know, important things), and I also wasn't serving with a good attitude. I started to wonder how I could make it through the week. Even though no one would have noticed that I was struggling (I still led my group during our discussion time, I still had a smile on my face, I still participated in the events), I could feel inside of me tension and anxiety, even anger.

By the end of the week, I was completely surprised by God. A change started to take place late Tuesday night and continued through Wednesday, and it seemed God just spoke louder and louder to me. I finally heard him. I thought I was going for my husband, to do him a favor, because he needed me there. But I came to realize it wasn't Robby who called me there, but God. God was allowing me to be used for his kingdom in ministering to students, but he also was speaking to me personally. He wanted me there. He had something for me to learn. I went thinking I was doing Robby a favor (one that I would never do again), and came away knowing it's not about Robby or me. It's about God and what he wants to accomplish.

So, I am humbled (again). I am amazed that God wanted me, the person who would rather re-organize her pantry than go to camp. But that seems to be what God loves to do in order to reveal his glory. There is no doubt in my mind that it is the Holy Spirit who changed me, and this is glorious.

Here's a glimpse of our week:

Two of the nights were themed as 70's and Sporty. You can imagine the chaos of fifteen girls dressing up for these, sharing hair spray, clothes, make-up, and one mirror. But the outcome was super cute. Here we have a bunch of tree huggers. My 70's contribution? A glow stick necklace. Not sure if they had these in the 70's.
Sporty night was a little easier, and even I participated in this one.On Friday, all of the teams competed in a "Mega Relay", which is basically a chaotic mess of completing at least a dozen relay activities. The students take this very seriously. Ours made shirts and painted their faces.Even I got into it, sporting the awesome shirt a couple girls made for me.In our heat, two adult groups, an 11th/12th grade group, and a college group all competed. And the winners...
The week wasn't all fun and games. There were worship sessions, Bible studies, group talks, and church devotions. This painting that a group of our kids did captures the main concept of what was learned. In the painting, there are four things represented: fire, thorns, cross, fruit. The fire represents the "hot times" we go through, and the result is our thorns. They rise to the surface, and we see the ugly parts. Through the cross, however, God can take that trial and those thorns and turn them into fruit.

Maybe next time I will expect the fruit.