Filling Your Void

A couple of years ago, a friend and I were chatting about how far some fans were in their obsession with certain celebrities. We had just a short chat on the subject, and I gleaned a few bits of information concerning what I thought about the subject.

Fast forward a few years, up to sometime last week, and a couple other friends and I were discussing the newest “rage”; Pokemon Go. One of them mentioned how, at times, she just couldn’t believe how infatuated most of the fans of the game were showing themselves to be. It didn’t compute how some people could be so obsessed by different people, ideas, or things. This reminded me of the previous conversation, and the thoughts I came away with. They are listed below. Enjoy  ❤

• People in this life can get obsessive towards people/objects

The term “fan girl” or “fanboy” is given to those who have an obsession with a person, place, or thing. People who basically live, breathe, and eat for this object. But one doesn’t have to go this far to be controlled by this object. If this object keeps grabbing your attention, if you spend your free time predominantly gathering information about, playing, or talking about this object, I would say it’s gone too far. Your life is being controlled by something it shouldn’t be.

•  Most Christians I know don’t cross over into “fangirlism”

I’m not saying they don’t have strong interests, or that they aren’t controlled at times by something other than their relationship with Christ. Or even that Christians aren’t susceptible to becoming obsessed with something. But I am saying, from my personal experience, that the likelihood of a Christian succumbing to letting their life being controlled at all times by something other than Christ seems to be happening less and less as their relationship with Christ grows.

• I believe God created us with a void that leads us to want it to be filled.

It’s not a coincidence that all of us want to latch onto something and are apt to let it control our lives. I believe that’s because we were all created with that empty space already in place. When you have an empty space, it doesn’t last too long before being filled. The choice is yours, to fill it how you want. With the world, focusing on a person, place or thing, or with God, and a relationship with Him.

• I believe that space was created to be filled by God, and a relationship with him.

There’s a reason God gifted us that space- He wants us to fill it with a relationship with Him. He wants to be at the center of our lives, weaving throughout our daily life, forming us into a representation of Him and for us to give Him glory. God doesn’t force us to fill that space with Him. But we need to recognize that we need Him. We also need to follow through with asking Him to fully enter our lives. We can do this by reading His word and hiding it in our hearts.

David is a good example of a believer who recognized his yearning was for Christ.

 Psalm 63:1

“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,”

Psalm 143:6

“I stretch out my hands to You;

My soul longs for You, as a parched land.”

Psalm 42:1-2a

“As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So my soul pants for You, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;”

Psalm 119:81

My soul languishes for Your salvation;

I wait for Your word.

God offers to make us full in Him. He tells us that He can end our yearning to fill our empty space. This offer never ends; It is offered to everybody, and Jesus promises we will never thirst again.

John 4:13-14  Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

• In conclusion…

What does this all lead to? Well, basically, the conclusion that all humans are created with a void in their life that yearns to be filled. Believers fill it with Christ and a growing relationship with Him, and non-believers fill it with something else- games, books, movies, celebrities, etc.

What should you with this information? I would suggest examining your heart/life.

What leads you everyday?

What do you lean to to fill that void, satisfy that craving?

What’s the common theme in your thoughts?

Does any of your interests take precedence over your relationship with Christ?

Temporary Home

This is our temporary home, it’s not where we belong

Windows and rooms that we’re passing through

This is just a stop on the way to where we’re going

I’m not afraid because I know

This is our temporary home~ Carrie Underwood, Temporary Home

While I lived up in Auburn for my job at camp, I never thought I would spend the rest of my life up there. No matter what plans I made up there, they were never permanent. Whether or not it would be for schooling, life, or family, I knew that I would eventually move and not be living there anymore.

While I sometimes remember with fondness my memories of the place and people I met and worked with up there, I don’t have any real longing for my residence.

I moved down from Auburn back to my hometown of Woodland WA, and ended up finding a place at my friend’s house, moving in a little over a year ago. Now I knew that it would not be a permanent residence, but I did not know when I move from my temporary lodging. I actually ended up moving again a couple of weeks ago, about a week and a year after moving in. I had a better idea this time of when I would need to leave, but again, did not know for sure what date and time it would be.

Just as I knew that those were my temporary home, that those would not be my forever home, so we as Christians are called to consider earth our temporary home and not our forever home. We are entreated to consider ourselves foreigners and aliens on earth.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.~ John 15:19

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ~ John 17:16

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. ~ 1st Peter 2:11

The three verses above mention how we are not supposed to consider ourselves part of the world. We are supposed to live apart from the world, to be alien to the world.

Full Definition of alien

1 a :  belonging or relating to another person, place, or thing :

b :  relating, belonging, or owing allegiance to another country or government :  

2 :  differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility

Alien seems like a good definition for believers. We belong to Christ. We owe allegiance, if you will, to God, following His commands He gives us. And when we follow His commands and live our lives His way, we will show ourselves to differ in nature from those in the world. Our fruits will give witness to the difference.

Because this is not our forever home, we know that means that we will eventually be transported to our eternal residence. There’s a small thing we need to know first~ no one other than God the Father knows when that will happen.

42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” ~ Matt. 24:42-44

Mark echoes this sentiment in chapter 13;

31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. 32 But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 33 “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.~ Mark 13:31-33

And then a little further down;

37 What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’”~ Mark 13:37

These scriptures tell us that this earth will pass away, be no more. But not to worry, as we will be in our forever, eternal home. We will not know when we will ascend, however, as “no one knows”, not even the angels or God the Son. We need to be on the alert for we do not know when we will be called to heaven and no longer live on this earth, our temporary home.

Why Sending Thank You Notes is Important

After I graduated from high school, my dad’s mother, Grandma L, informed me that my graduation present was in the process of being made, and that it would contain memories and info of our family.

It took a few years, full of twists and turns, but eventually, soon after my recent birthday, it was finished and mailed to me. 

One of the most exciting presents I’ve opened. This album contained precious glances into my grandma’s history, my family’s ancestry, and a grandma’s love for her kids and grandkids. Pictures were shared from my dad’s early years, my grandma’s parents and grandparents, my parents as a young couple, and pictures of me through the years.

Doesn’t my daddy look cute as a baby?

One of the last pages had a few memories of letters and drawings I sent my Grandma, and I could see how much she treasured the efforts I made to reach out to her.

I felt like all those times Mom kept on me to send thank you notes, and drawings to my grandparents and aunts and uncles paid off, and I understand now why she has us do those things.

I feel embarrassed every time I remember groaning over the “chore” of writing thank you notes for gifts given by family members.

Keeping in touch with your family, specially with grandparents and those who live farther away, is so important, especially with thank you notes for when you receive gifts from them. You might never know for sure how much your grandparents treasure them (and you!), but it shows them how much you appreciate and love them, and there’s nothing wrong with that! 🙂 ❤

How often do you reach out to your grandparents/family members? What do you do to show them you love and appreciate them? 

Spirit vs. Letter

While at my aunt and uncle’s house for a holiday with the relatives when I was like, 9 or so, most of my cousins and I were down in the basement watching the newest Veggietales movie my cousin Rel had brought with her.

I don’t remember when I was told, but I do remember was being told to go take a shower after the intermission silly song. I was reluctant, but rushed upstairs and took the shower. However I thought to save time so I could go down and finish watching the movie. So all I did was take my hair out of the braid after the shower.

When I got down to the basement again, the movie was almost done anyway, to my disappointment. My cousin took one look at my hair and said “Did you even wash your hair? Go back up and wash your hair.” So I again went upstairs and this time washed my hair as well.

 

As I look back on that occasion, I can clearly see it was an example of obeying the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. When one obeys the literal interpretation of the words, but not the intent of the command, one is only obeying the letter of the law (or command), but fully disregarding why the law or command was given.

The Pharisees showed themselves to be examples of following the letter of the Law rather that the Spirit of the Law, when they put the actual laws above the intent of the Law.

¹⁹ Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made….²¹ Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law….23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. ²⁴ Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

The law was given to show us how much we needed a Savior, that we couldn’t be perfect on our own. To lead us to the fact that we needed Jesus Christ, who fills us and helps us become more like Him. Once Jesus was crucified, once he died and took all of our sins, we no longer needed the Law to get to eternity with Him. 

Yet the Pharisees held on to the written law, keeping it close to their minds and closing their hearts to the knowledge that Jesus was foretold in the Old Testament, as the spotless Lamb who would open a gateway towards a lifetime (and more!) with Him.

When we obey a command, whether spiritual or from an earthly authority, we need to make sure we are obeying the full spirit of the law, not just the letter of the law.

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Enjoy the silly song from the movie my cousins and I were watching.

When Life gives you Lemons…

Sometimes when life gives you lemons, you throw ‘em back.
Other times you hold on to them for dear life, and stain your clothes.
Or you squeeze them and make lemonade.

You ask for some sugar.

You go around to other people and give them free fresh lemonade.

You help those around you who are standing there with their lemons wondering what to do.

You become friends with the person you helped.

The two of you start helping other people.

And then all four of you help others.

Soon everyone is giving advice to others and helping them with their problems.

Soon nobody has lemons for long because they have friends helping them make lemonade.

Soon you live in a country where everyone is sick and tired of lemonade.

So Life starts throwing grapes.

~Ellie T.

Circa 2013

Guarantees and Promises

During my time at college, I took several art classes. One of these classes, 2D Design, was easy enough that several times we just ended up conversing with each other over our projects. Two of the guys, Daniel and Sam, apparently worked at competing sandwich stores. Daniel worked at Subway, and Sam worked as a delivery boy for Jimmy John’s. Daniel was a pretty laid back guy, but Sam showed he could get irritated if pushed too far.

One of the phrases Sam stubbornly used over and over to show the superiority of Jimmy Johns over Subway was “Guaranteed delivery in 5 minutes in a 5 minute radius.” Daniel and I couldn’t stop laughing at the last part. We hoped they would be able to make it in 5 minutes in a 5 minute radius.

What Jimmy Johns was doing was making sure they could fulfill their guarantee, so they didn’t promise more than they knew they could for sure deliver on.

Guarantee: 

an assurance for the fulfillment of a condition: as

a :  an agreement by which one person undertakes to secure another in the possession or enjoyment of something

b :  an assurance of the quality of or of the length of use to be expected from a product offered for sale often with a promise of reimbursement

God gives us several promises in His word. In Deuteronomy 31:8, God promises that He will never fail us. He will never leave us. We may try to leave His presence, but He is omnipresent. There is no place on earth (or in space!) that we cannot go to truly get away from Him.

⁸ The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” NASB

In 1st John, God promises to forgive us our sins. If we confess, He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from our unrighteousness. We don’t need to worry about being rejected when we humble ourselves and confess what we did and ask for forgiveness, He will follow through to “forgive and forget”.

⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  NASB

Now for my favorite promise: John 3:16.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” NASB

If we believe. If we only believe in God, recognize His all-powerful, omnipresent, righteous majesty, and admit that we are sinners, that we deserve the punishment that His Son took on for us, we will have eternal life in heaven, with Him. That’s the best promise of all. We know where we’re going after we die. We know who we will be with. We know for certain, because God gave us this promise.

And God keeps His promises.

Promise: 

• a statement telling someone that you will definitely do something or that something will definitely happen in the future

• a reason to expect that something will happen in the future. 

What’s your favorite promise from God? 

Treasures in Heaven

One of my weekly chores to accomplish is laundry. This week I managed to get most of it done on my day off, but I ended up finishing this morning. As I was folding my clothes, I came across a huge orange t-shirt. I’ve had this orange t-shirt for awhile. I received it my first summer working at Royal Ridges Retreat. I was a size small at the time, but the only sizes they had left for staff shirts at the time was a large. It was like a tunic on me at the time, and only slightly less so now.

At the end of my time working there, the girls who were camping that week decided that it would be fun to leave messages on each other’s shirts, and soon got some of the staff involved as well. I thought it was a nice souvenir of my time there that summer, so I joined in. The girls and almost each of the staff ended up writing something on the back of my huge orange t-shirt, and I returned the favor to many of them.

Almost all of the message were fun “I’ll miss you!”s and “We had fun!”s. Several of them referenced an inside joke that had gone around that week. Each of them made me smile. Fun little phrases with no real deep meaning. Except for two different messages from two of the older staff members.

After I went home, I had to wash all the clothes I had brought from camp. The first wash did nothing to the messages, and I wore a few times in the days to come. It went through the wash several times. I don’t know when exactly it happened, but eventually, all those meaningless messages faded away and only those two remained.

Message One:

Message Two: 

Every time I do laundry, this shirt makes me chuckle at what I conceive to be the irony of the meaningful messages lasting for now over 3 years while the others have long since faded away.

Matthew 6:19-21; NASB

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; ²¹ for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I memorized this passage of scripture during one of my years participating in AWANA. Putting too much stock in those things like clothes, jewelry, cars, even money, won’t last in the long run. These things don’t travel with you to the other side.

Following God’s Word, doing good deeds for others, taking care of widows and orphans, reading scripture daily and learning truth from His Word, these are the things that will last forever. These are things that will strengthen your relationship with God, that will bring you closer to Him. These are things that will help you lay up treasures in heaven.

Where do you store up your treasures? In heaven? Or on earth? 

A Fork in the Road

It’s been probably a few months since I’ve posted, and I apologize. There were/are some things going on, and I wanted to wait until decisions had been made before saying anything.

About 8 months ago, one of my cousins and I had a good talk about growing up, goals in life, and where my spiritual life was at. It was a good talk, and at the time, I didn’t know much about what I would be doing after June, when I graduated from Clark with my Associates Degree. The summer and life after held endless possibilities.

Well anyway, she suggested that I apply to work in the kitchen at her camp, since they needed more help, and I didn’t have a clue what I would be doing. I took her advice, and applied. I started the first week of July, and enjoyed almost every minute working at the camp. For the first four weeks, I was stationed up at Buck Creek, a lovely spot up near Crystal Mt Ski Lodge. It was beautiful up there, and I did some growing in both spirit and life. About this time, near the end of July, I learned that there was the possibility of me staying on and having a year round job at Berachah. I decided to wait until I worked down at the main camp before talking about staying on. I knew that working in the food services was the only job I’ve had where even on the bad days, I still enjoy coming back the next day. This time was exciting as I had never considered camp ministry as a year round job occupation.

After working half a week at main camp, praying about it, and talking it over with certain family members and friends, I decided to go for it-and I got the job! I was so excited. New things were happening, and it was looking great. I moved away from home, away from close friends and family, for the first time. And it is hard. It is very hard to move away on your own, away from a place where you’ve lived for almost half your life, to a place where you only have 2 or 3 friends.

It helped that my cousin Rel was also working at the same camp, and we’ve become very close over the last 3-4 months. She’s been my immediate go-to for advice, as well as my hang-out gal. I’m so glad God blessed me with my first away-from-home job to be at the same place as my cousin. Anyways, she’s been a good mentor, and a great advice giver.

After I arrived back “for good”, fully moved in, I knew that my first month here would just be volunteer work to pay for housing. Here’s how this works; Because I’m part time and living on site, a.k.a they are providing housing, I volunteer for the cost of room and board, about 16 hours a week. Anything I do after 16 hours I get paid. Because my boss had already scheduled September before she took me on, she could only make sure I got enough hours to pay for housing. I inferred that meant I would be getting more hours, and therefore get paid, starting in October. Well, that hasn’t been true, mainly because we haven’t had enough groups for provide more hours to be paid for. But it’s okay, things are picking up here and I do have enough money put away to provide me with 4 more months of living without income. I’m doing just fine. A little rocky, but just fine.

Now to the harder part. I have learned more things about the leadership here and the administration, as well as the financial situation and history of the camp. Things aren’t looking good. The people in charge of the camp are not good at finances or learning from their mistakes, and sooner or later this camp, I believe, will go under. Unfortunately, those up at the top are unwilling to share things with the staff, so many of us are in the dark about things here. Now, don’t get me wrong, many of the staff here, including those in leadership, are nice, lovable people, and I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, that they’re all villianous types. Many of them are also pretty strong Christians. Right now their only flaws are not relying on God, and not learning from their mistakes.

And now here’s what I’ve been building up to. I’ve decided that pretty soon it will be time to move on. I don’t know if the camp will last a year, five years, or only a few months. I just know that it’s time to start thinking about moving on. I’ve struggled with feeling like a failure, since the first job I took as turned out not that great, but I know that something not turning out well does not make one a failure. Rejection is not failure, it’s redirection. As for the redirection, here’s what I’ve come up with.

I’m pretty sure I want to keep working in camp food service. I think that it would be a good idea for me to take part in an internship at a camp. Most good internships will have you work/train in different areas of the camp, learn what fits you best. Some of the internships are paid, but most are unpaid, and you’d have to raise support or pay to attend. I plan to stay here hopefully till May. Then I plan on getting another job until going in for an internship. Things may change, but that’s my skeleton plan. Whether or not that’s what happens is all in God’s hands.

I’m looking into a couple different internships, one located at Crista Camps, in Washington, one in Wisconsin, and one in Texas. I’m also looking into a job down in Catalina, California, in the food service at a Christian Camp down there. Right now there’s no hurry, and I am enjoying those I work with and the work I do. I’ve already talked about it with my parents, and they, thankfully, are very supportive and helpfully encouraging. 🙂 I am so thankful for my parents, who have raised me in a household of God, and are willing to let me find who I am as an adult and as a Christian.

I would appreciate prayer that I am following God’s will, and that He would show me where and when to go. Also, prayer for God’s direction for my coworkers would be greatly appreciated as well. Many of those I talk with are starting to assess their positions and what their future holds.

I know that this is a long post, but it’s an important one. Thank you so much for reading, and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! 🙂

Sincerely,

Michelle

From beginning to end, Me, My mother and youngest sibling reading at the library, shots of my sisters at the library, and a pic of my youngest sis during lunch with my parents, sisters, and cousin. 🙂

His Grace Sustains Me

Hi Everybody! Long time no read.

First off, my life has been busy busy busy. Last week, my family moved from a 2 story, 4 bedroom 2 bath house, to a 5th wheel. A trailer, that comfortably fits mm, maybe 5. There’s 8 of us. Really squished, but we only had all 8 of us for 2 nights. Not that bad. Plus, now the boys have an outside tent, so there’s less of us in the trailer. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Last Saturday, I came home from Buck Creek really late, and went straight to bed on my comfortable mattress. I didn’t get up early enough to say goodbye to my brothers, but they went off on their adventures at Boy Scout Camp, I believe it was Merryweather. Or Merriweather. Either way. Sunday morning was church, then afterwards a meeting for those helping with VBS. I had offered my services to the music department pretty late, so after the main meeting, Karina, our wonderfully awesome leader, stayed behind to show me the motions she and her team had put together for the songs.

Then came lunch break. I had planned to stay and decorate, but was NOT looking forward to doing it by myself. Here is where the first GGM (God’s Grace Moment) came in. He provided help through my awesome friends, Rachel, and then later, Roshell. Rachel and I went to Safeway for lunch, and then came back to decorate, while Roshell got there just minutes after. We strung up  lots and lots of caution tape, hung up a string of flags of different countries, and then utilized the kids hanging around (our pastor’s precious and helpful kids) to be our models for “chalk” (tape) outlines. We posed them in interesting poses on the floor in our hallway and foyer. The kids had a blast, and were really good models. After we were done with all this, people started trickling in for evening service. I attended that, and then went home and relaxed.

The next day was VBS. Because we didn’t have as many volunteers this year, I was asked if I could be a team leader as well. I was assigned the 7-9 year olds, our country was India. 🙂 I love those kids. I had on average 9 kids each day. The regulars were Layla, her younger brother Breck, Jonathan, Hannah, Rhea, Colby, Naveah, Jayson, Carlie, and Payton. They all did pretty well the first day, those of them that were there, and I, while tired out that day, enjoyed having them in my group. The next day, Tuesday, has my 2nd GGM. We had some extra volunteers, so my friend Dan ended up helping me with my group. We went through our rotations just fine, and then we got to teaching time. Now, the weather outside was cloudy, and then during teaching time, it started to thunder. No rain, no lightning (as far as I know), just LOUD thunder. I thought it was so awe-some, but apparently one of my kids was severely afraid of thunder. But, because I had a helper, Dan was able to comfort and take care of the poor guy, and managed to keep him calm, while I could focus on the other kids. Or rather, on the girl that was claiming that she was feeling like she was going to throw up. I am so thankful for God’s timing. And thankfully, the girl never threw up.

The rest of the week turned out really well for VBS. On the other hand, in the afternoons was packing time! I managed to get my belongings down to a certain size, and then packed in our personal big totes. We were pretty on schedule until Wednesday, and somethings came up and put way behind schedule. That night was youth group, and so then I asked for help the next day packing and cleaning our general areas. Here’s the 3rd GGM. He provided a few of the youth/young people that were able to come and help pack and clean. We worked in the afternoon till dinner time, and got a lot done. Enough so as to cause my Mom to believe we were back on track. Friday morning was the last day of VBS, and went really well. Well, except for the run-through of the VBS program for later that day. We weren’t able to have the kids practice the whole thing before they had to leave, so we sent them on their way and prayed for the best. Mom ended up having to take my sister Anna and I to her doctor appointment in Salmon Creek, and so Anna and I ended up buying lunch at Albertsons and then eating it in a park like area while waiting for Mom. Next stop- Macy’s at the Vancouver Mall. Another instance of God’s excellent timing; I was able to procure a skirt that was good quality and out of my price range, because it was on a 1-Day Only sale, something I didn’t know about before arriving. God’s timing left me in awe and wonder, and very grateful. We got home only to find that we were behind schedule again-but this time, more drastically than before, as we had to be out of the house by 9pm that night! We started rushing around like organized chickens with their heads cut off, rushing to pack and move. Mom saw that we needed help, and had me call one of our deacons, who got right on it and started making the calls. We then saw the arrival of the amount of help we needed, and, by the grace of God (GGM #4), were out of the house about 10-20 minutes before the deadline.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The program for the VBS Parents night went swimmingly. Our prayers were answered, the kids did great, the parents enjoyed it immensely. (GGM #5)

Saturday was the day of moving in and unpacking slightly in the trailer. And I had a wedding to go to. 🙂 My wonderful friends Jessica and Matt got married in a beautiful ceremony in an air-conditioned church, and I had a good time. I got to basically follow my friend Rachel around, and met her brother Josh’s wife, Debbie, (a wonderful gal), and some family friends. Came back to the trailer, and helped Mom with stuff until dinner at the Hansons, our hosts, which was definitely filled with laughter!

Sunday was back to work, this time at the main campus of Camp Berachah. I’ve been fully integrated into work and play, with help from friends at Buck Creek who are now also working at Berachah. Andrew also has been able to go back into the swing of things. A quick GGM #6, I had been “running myself ragged” the week before, and was given two days off Tue and Wed, and was able to relax and basically, become a full fledged introvert to gather my energy back. I ended up going to a rodeo Wednesday afternoon and evening, and had a blast hanging out with my friends Rachel and Ruth and Marjorie and her boyfriend Dale.

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Now, for the moment you all might have been waiting for.

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I have felt, over the summer, that God wants me to work at a camp. Working at camp has so far been the only job where even on my “bad” days, I still want to come in and work the next day. Recognizing that working at camp can be a full time, year round job has lifted a before-unknown burden off my shoulders. Camp Berachah has a daycare like program called Berachah Club that they run during the school year. They have holidays off, as well as Spring breaks and such. Basically, we follow the school system. I have applied for one of their job openings, and am now praying that if this is were God want’s me to work, whether in Berachah Club, or possibly in the kitchen, that He would swing open wide the doors leading up to it. And if not, that He would soundly slam the door in my face. A little drastic, but I need definite answers. I know that if He wants me working there, there’s no one who can stop it, in the same way, if He doesn’t want me working there, there’s no one and nothing that can stop that either. I have been praying almost non stop about this opportunity, and I would appreciate if if y’all could pray with me.

Long post, but there was so much that God’s been doing in my life, and I didn’t want to forget any of it! 🙂

Love y’all, and thank you so much for reading and for caring.

Ellie ❤

 

What the music team normally looked like. 🙂 Photo courtesy of Summer Steenbarger

The last day of VBS was crazy day. Of course, the music team had to get in on the craziness! 🙂 Photo courtesy of Summer Steenbarger

An example of our “chalk” outlines. Photo courtesy of Summer Steenbarger

Continued Update till July 18th.

Hello everybody! 🙂 Nice to talk to you all again.

First things first, the Internet was down for the good first part of this week, and then we were really busy, so this is the first time since the Internet being back up that I’ve had time to sit down and type this.

So.

This week was REALLY busy. First week of Camp Leo, which was about 60 kids and 40 staff members, plus about 10 of us Buck Creek staff. Camp Leo, for those of you don’t know, which I would assume would be a lot of you, is a camp for diabetic kids, to try and give them the experience being away from home at a summer camp, and yet helping them stay on track with their diabetes, and also, for the younger kids, teach them how to learn to portion their meals, making sure they match the amount of insulin with the amount of carbs they will eat for lunch. They bring in their own counselors, a HUGE medical staff, about 5 campers per nurse/doctor, and some recreational staff. We, Camp Berachah, provide some rec staff, and kitchen and housing. All staff are volunteers, and most are diabetic. While Camp Leo is not a Christian camp, there are some Christians in the staff, and one of them was the kitchen helper that Camp Leo provided for us. Her camp name is Chopper, which ties in to her job, which is mainly chopping up anything that we need chopped, like fruit or veggies, to help provide more time for meal prep for the rest of us. Most, if not all, of the CL staff are very willing to help if you ask nicely.

Because of the amount of dishes from CL, the amount of time in the kitchen increases, and the breaks between shifts are shorter. We started our shifts of days off, and mine was actually today, hence the time to type this all out. 😉 There wasn’t much time for activities during free time, and most of my free time involved naps or laundry. I did get to meet more of the CL staff, including a couple of counselors, Elmo and Baloo (from the Jungle Book). Elmo apparently can perform the annoying red puppet’s laugh, but thankfully he’s never done in my hearing. Other than that, he’s a really nice guy, I’m pretty sure he’s my age, and he loves working with kids. Oh yeah, and he reminds my of my mom, because he doesn’t quit something just because he failed the first time. This I saw when he tried to climb the hard aisle of the rock wall, and finally made it to the top after about 8-9 failed attempts. Baloo is a very nice talkative 19-year old guy, who also loves kids. He loves to swim, and definitely loves laser tag. I could tell he didn’t like having to skip on playing laser tag because he had to be the counselor waiting for the kids at the starting place, but he had a good attitude. Unfortunately I didn’t get to know any of the female counselors very well, as it always seemed like I had to work when they were doing rock wall or laser tag.

I did however, get closer to one of our female staff, our lifeguard for this week, Lilo. (Think Lilo and Stitch). She is a sweet gal who recently moved from the Philipines, and is both still discovering American culture and growing in her faith. If you could pray for her, that would be great, as she struggles with  random bouts of depression. She (and I) don’t yet know why, and they only seem to last for a few hours.

Unfortunately, I ran into some tension problems with one of the other staff. I had been asking the Lord for help with being patient, and, being the Wise One that He is, He has given me plenty of opportunities to exercise being patient. I thought I had been doing well, and then I missed one day of Bible reading and messed up pretty good by not handling a situation well. I have since apologized and been forgiven, but of course am now dealing with the consequences.

Also during this time, I have developed a cold. It started with a slightly sore throat on Wednesday, grew to a stuffy nose and tiredness yesterday(Thursday) and today is going away, but still have a stuffy nose. Thankfully God has managed to give me a “second wind” during my shifts at work, and I of course had today off, which has helped greatly. As well as this, tomorrow is a light day, where we only feed CL staff, and then Sunday I have the day off as well. Having a cold could not have come at a better time, in my opinion so far. 🙂 God is good, and His timing is perfect.

It has been wonderful to see His timing in hindsight, watching how He led me through certain spiritual subjects and life lessons before working here, and now being able to use what I’ve learned so far to help or advise others here at camp. It is easier here, without distractions, to read my Bible every day, and yet I’ve still missed a few. Those days are actually the days when it is harder for me to treat others well, and how God calls us to treat them. This is an interesting time for me spiritually, and I am truly excited to learn what He has in store for me the rest of the summer.

Now for a confession: I have NO clue what I’ll be doing after August. No clue. At all. And this is both freeing and weighs me down. But somehow, the knowledge of me having no idea what I’ll be doing is helping, I think, to draw me closer to Him, and yes, there’s a wee bit of excitement to see where God is leading me.

This post was a wee bit more personal than the others, but it’s what’s on my heart right now. 🙂 I miss you all, and love you, my precious family, both immediate and Brothers and Sisters In Christ.

Quick prayer request: One of my friend’s younger sisters is going through a tough time right now. This is what my friend posted; PLEASE pray for Katelyn. She went to the clinic and the Dr. there sent her to the ER immediately for further testing. She has high white blood cell count, bladder & kidney infections. Please, share with your friends so as many people as possible can be praying for her. Update from her mother:

Just wanted to put out a quick update because you all have been so awesome with your kind words and offered prayers. It blesses my heart SO much to see you all care enough to take a moment to pray for my children. the body of Christ is a beautiful thing Katelyn is doing SOOO much better. she is perky today, even ate breakfast, finally her fever is down without tylenol and motrin. her meds are wor…king. the hospital called this morning to check on her (totally impressed with Legacy and their ER pediatric staff) and to say that her cultures still haven’t come back so we don’t know any new news on her kidneys, but she LOOKS so much better and is smiley and wants to play that I know she is doing well. and she’s keeping food down. she lost 10% of her body weight in just this short time, we think it may have been festering for a couple of weeks which explains the random fevers. anyways, just wanted to let you know that she is on the mend and to thank you all again for being such beautiful caring friends.

Thanks for reading my post, and for praying for little Katelyn.

Adios!

Ellie ❤