Oh what a crazy past two weeks it has been. I can't fathom that we are starting week 6 today and I will only have one last week after that. The summer has flown by faster than I can fathom. Flashes of children's faces, laughter, staff silly moments, and tears I've cried in moments of panic float through my mind. There is no doubt that this summer has changed my life forever. I've learned more than I can even put to words.
One thing I've learned these past two weeks is the value and power of prayer. We have had such a huge need for campership funds and funds for the capital campaign. Because of the economic state our needs have been huge. More and more families are out of work, and therefore don't have enough money to send their children to camp. Yet this week after a parent program a man walked up to our executive director and handed him a check for $5,000! What a mighty God we serve and put our trust in! The Lord has also answered my prayers for strength. Last week I fought getting sick all week long, and vividly felt the attack on my body on a few occasions. Satan knows that if I'm sick, I can't fully pour out into my staff and campers. But I prayed harder than ever that God would shield not only me, but the entire camp from sickness. I unfortunately sent my first two campers home this week because they were sick. I also sent two staff members home because they were sick. Satan was working overtime to cause us to be disheartened, but our God is mighty to save and redeem us from the clutches of sickness. God provided healing, God provide strength, God provided funds, and He gave us his love to sustain us when we didn't think we could go on.
At this point in the summer my head is so full of tiny faces, and names it is so hard to sort them all out. I was thinking the other day as I was at canteen and I had multiple children around me asking "Miss Faif, look at me" or "Miss Faif, listen to me" -they can't all pronounce Faith, and it comes out as Faif- and I realized I couldn't remember about half of the kids names around me. My mind can't keep them all stored up, but what shook my world was to think that God not only knows all of my campers names, he knows everyone on the earth's names as well as everything about them. And better than that, he loves us all and give us all equal attention. So although there are days when I feel very stretched among the 80+ day campers all vying for my attention, the Lord never feels stretched. He never ignores or says, "Faith, just wait one second sweetie". He answers immediately when I ask for his attention. In fact he never takes his attention off of me. It is almost more than my mind can fathom. Psalm 8:4 states "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" (ESV) Who am I that God even notices me? Who am I that he hears me; cares for me; loves me? I'm not anyone important, but the Lord knows my inside and out, he knows every hair on my head, and every word that will ever come out of my mouth. He catches my tears, and defuses my anger, he holds my hand, and strokes my hair and says "Faith, I love you, wait on me. " I will rest in that knowledge this week as I enter what will be my largest week of Day Camp yet, with the most inexperienced staff, with no assistant. It will be tough, but God is mindful of me and has brought me here to camp to succeed, not fail. He is my salvation, my strength, my song, my peace, my everything. Week 6, here we come!
No comments:
Post a Comment