Way back again!

My goodness--I should be doing something more productive than this, like cleaning my room. It's gotten worse, and I just cleaned Saturday morning. I really dispise cleaning. Ok, enough of that.

I go back to camp in 57 days. That's really soon, and it makes me happy. I'm already starting to pray for everything that God has in store for this summer; I know He has BIG!!! plans for us as a staff, for the campers, and for each of us personally. The mountain is amazing. That's why all my friends are tired of hearing me talk about it.

The first night back last summer, I wrote the following in my journal "There are fantastic things that happen on this mountain. It's a comforting place, a healing place. It's free from the world's distractions, free from the world in general. I love being here."

The end of the summer, I wrote, "How do I explain how it feels to have a girl finally hug me right before she leaves on Friday, and to have one ask me to sit by her bed at night? How can I explain that I give my summer out of pure love? Yeah, its a sacrifice, but I gain back so much more. How do I explain the way I feel when I serve, when my grils don't even notice all teh work I'm doing? How do I explain the change in me?" and "I am not the girl I was when I left for teh mountain this summer. I can't explain the changes in me just yet, but I know they are there. God used me to touch lives this summer, and I'm forever grateful for that. But moreso, I'm grateful for the way He used my girls to change me. I was forced to grow up....God has showed me that I am beautiful, not because of how I look, but because He dwells in me. I know, I know. I should have already realized that. And on some levels, I had. But this summer, I had a chance to teach it every Monday. And each time, I would have grils tell me just how ugly they thought they were. It's so hard for me to see just how caught up the world is on surface appearances. What's inside is what really matters. My point to all this is, while I still look pretty much just like I did when I left for camp this summer, my inside looks much more beautiful. God is good!"

I said all that to say this: camp has touched me. I've learned many lessons there. And yet, it's important that we go out and find our own place to grow. And it can't just be a place during the summer. My growth from camp comes from the fact that I actively seek God when I'm there. It's easy to get caught up in everything going on in our lives, and to just expect others to cause us to grow. That doesn't work. Much of our growth comes from within. I do believe in fellowship, but I see that there is more to being a Christian than hanging out and eating, or whatever. I want to get out and find God more...He's everywhere...we just have to acknowledge Him!!!

"I don't want to go somewhere
If I know that You're not there
'Cause I know that me without You
Is a lie.
I don't want to walk that road
Be a million miles from home
'Cause my heart needs to be where You are.
I don't want to go."