Back from the mountain...and some thoughts along the way

We are back from camp and are (mostly) caught up on sleep.. it's amazing how exhausting a week of camp-counseling can be!

A few highlights from the week:

• Quality time spent listening to God's Word taught--challenging both campers and counselors alike to live our lives for the Lord.


• The theme of the week was "Narnia" --so each evening lesson was focused on the spiritual applications of the movies.

• At least one person accepted Christ as their Savior last week!


• Great times of getting to know and bonding with the teens in our cabins and on our teams.

• My team (ORANGE) got 2nd place in the week's competition; Tony's team (BLUE) got 3rd place.


• Our cabin showed their "appreciation" for us by t.p.ing our beds!

• Despite much thick fog and rain, we were still able to go on with the activities as planned.

• No tick bites and just a few mosquito bites!


• I had a great co-counselor to work with (April)

• Catching up with my sweet friend Rachel on the last day of camp

To be completely honest, the week started out very difficult for me...at one point I asked, "Lord, how can I be a counselor and help and encourage these girls, when I myself am going through so much?" I was feeling very alone and really having a hard time being there--for the first time since Alethia Joy passed away, I was in an environment for an extended period of time where most people around me had no idea what Tony and I have been through. I was missing my baby girl so much.

I contacted some close friends and family and asked them to pray for me.. and I know their prayers (and the prayers of others as well) helped tremendously. The Lord showed me that "His strength is perfect when my strength is gone."

Throughout the rest of the week, many of the girls in our cabin shared with us openly and honestly about many of the struggles and pain that they are facing back home. One night during chapel, we watched a portion of "The Passion of the Christ" along with scenes from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" showing the tremendous suffering and pain that Christ paid for us on the cross and the allegory of Aslan representing Christ.

It just hit me how incredible the price was that Jesus paid for us, as the sins of billions of people were laid upon Him and as His Father turned His face away from Him while He carried our sins.

The pain, suffering, and trials that each of us endure in this life do not even compare to that of Christ on the cross. I should have been the one on that cross! He took MY PLACE!

And though we cannot comprehend or understand what Christ is doing in and through us through our trials, He will ultimately receive the glory and the victory!

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18)

As I read in a devotional book this week,

"Even when the world seems to be trembling beneath my feet,

I must seek protection from the One who cannot be moved."

"You and I need to interpret our circumstances by His love, not interpret His love by our circumstances." (A. G. Lotz)