encouragement

hey guys, it's been a while for me since i've posted. it's been really tough since i've been home from sky ranch. i just got done with TCU's Frog Camp, a camp for incoming freshmen to come and have a good time and get more comfortable about college. Being a counselor for this type of camp is a lot different than Sky Ranch, but in a lot of ways I found parallels. It was really cool to be focused on my campers and to be there for them, and God proved Himself yet again bigger than I give Him credit for. I know this post isn't about the passage for today, but I want to share this with all of you...

I went into Frog Camp somewhat excited but also really sad. I had to leave the last week of Sky Ranch because of Frog Camp and I didn't know how I felt about that. We can't really talk about religion or our faith at Frog Camp and I knew it was going to be hard to switch gears. I went into it though with the best mindset I could manage, and kept telling myself that God can work anywhere...He is mighty to save and can do big things anywhere. We just sometimes think He can't. And the past 5 days were proof that God works everywhere...He never is at rest.

I've done 5 Frog Camps over the past 3 summers, and this was the first camp that I embraced the ministry opportunities that came my way. I wasn't afraid to talk about Christ and what He did this summer at Sky Ranch with my fellow counselors or my campers. When I got home from Sky, I began wearing a key around my neck because of the key that Madi wore around her neck-- God is our ultimate father, the key to our lives and our hearts. It also symbolizes that, in reality, it is just a key. What is important is the meaning behind the key, what it means to me, what God is to us all, who He is.....and that's what I realized about Sky Ranch. When I left 2 Saturdays ago, I was devastated. I remember everyone going to worship that morning and me going back to my cabin to load my stuff and just breaking down in sobs in the bathroom. I couldn't believe this amazing part of my life-- definitely one of the best, most incredible experiences of my life-- was over. But I have to remember that it's just Sky Ranch. It's just a place. What matters is what happened there, what God did there in me and through me and in you and through all of you. I can't keep holding on too tightly to things, and rather hold on tightly to God and who He is and the works He has done and continues to do.

I probably had about 20 people at camp ask me about my key and Sky fish. Seriously. And because of those 20, I'd say an additional 20 people heard about what they meant to me as I told them what I just wrote above. People would crowd around me in huddles to listen. I told them about Madi and her key and about Sky Ranch and what God has done and how He is everything, the key to life, and people were mesmorized by it all...1) that a 14-year-old girl could be so strong and have so much faith and understanding, 2) that God is so amazing and so big that He could move as much as He did in Quest this summer, and 3) there were people at Frog Camp I have known for years that told me that I seemed different, that I seemed to have a joy and a peace that I had never had before...and y'all, I attribute that to the Lord! And also to all of you. Quest truly changed my life...and I got to tell people at Frog Camp about it. I was able to witness to 30-40 people. What?! It still surprises me when I think about it, because none of it was me. It was God placing Himself there and allowing me to be a vessel for His kingdom in a place where I thought it couldn't happen.

One of my campers in my small group named Christine pulled me aside for a one-on-one the first night, asking me about how she can keep up her faith in college and how she can not be tempted or fall away from God. I got to talk with her all weekend and have been texting her since she left about the Lord, praying for her and helping her through this transition into college. It blows my mind, you guys. It's like Sky Ranch came to Frog Camp, like God brought parts of it there. Never did I think I would have a one-on-one with a frog camper about God...!

And here's the biggest kicker of them all-- on Sunday morning at camp, I was walking to my staff meeting at 7:30 am when I saw a group of about 15-20 freshmen gathered around a big stone, and there was a freshmen student leading a small bible study/church service for them all. You guys. This. Is. Huge. That has never happened at Frog Camp. This student passed out fliers on Saturday night at camp letting people know that he was holding a church-like service on Sunday morning...think about that. Think about it-- a new student at a new college, not knowing anybody, with enough faith and courage to be the church and know what he believes in and make it happen. He had no fear. It amazed me deep to my core.

All in all, God is at work in all places. We can't contain Him to Sky Ranch alone...He is evident and present everywhere. Allow God to work in you and through you in all places and circumstances. Recognize His ability to move mountains in the darkest of places. He is real and active and living...