God's Children-from Lauren

1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 says, "You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory."

And so, we went to camp with the older group of kids this last weekend, loving and encouraging them as if they were our own children. They are God's children. We are God's children.
I was excited for camp this weekend. Although, I was not excited for the walk up to camp..in the dark. Because of the rain, we were going to walk up to the camp after a full day of beautiful home visits and playing with the kids. Yet, we were more than thankful that we were still going to have camp. The rain held off long enough for God to say, 'Alright Lakeside group, my love is pouring out for these children...take them to camp and love them like I do."

As the bus headed to the dirt trail up to camp, it was pitch dark. But, as we reached the road, the bus kept going..and climbing..and pushing. That night, we did not have to walk in the dark. God was gracious and good. We prayed that we would be able to go to camp despite the rain. Not only were we able to go to camp, but we did not have to walk up in the dark. Somehow, on that dark night up to camp, God's light shown bright and brilliant.

The next morning (on Saturday), I got up and ran around camp. It was a beautiful morning and beyond perfect weather. Though we had a week of rain and trials, God's love was showing through that sunshine. And as the older group of kids arrived at camp for the weekend, they greeted us with hugs and kisses. After a full day of playing and hanging out, we had a beautiful service where young teens accepted Christ and cried with pain and joy. As I looked around the room, I prayed that these teens would see and know Christ. And some, for the first time that night, said, "God, please be my heavenly father." We are His children.

I can not explain in words all that has happened on this trip, because it is unexplainable. We have had so many tests and trials on this trip, that by the end of the day on Sunday night, after another small mishap (we have had more than plenty), we just laughed. We laughed with joy because God has done so many great things over this trip and over this past weekend. We smiled with joy because God can and does get us through every mishap, every frustration, every language barrier. He is soooo good.
And like a child, we come to him and say..
"Here I am Lord, Send me. I want to live a life worthy of you."