One down, Ten to Go!!! Leggo!

Hello Blog readers!!!

How are you? Well, week 1 is complete! I cannot believe it. One of the strange things about camp is that the days are long but the week is short. Like I cannot believe that I am down to 10 weeks left of camp. What a week it has been! There are so many things running through my head, that if I told you all of it, this blog would turn into a book longer than the Harry Potter Series.
First, a nice pleasant surprise was how much fun it was to recognize families. My first summer I was so overwhelmed I didn’t remember any of the families when I returned my second year, but here at my third it was so much fun to jump on opening day and recognize the families driving up. It was so much fun to get to see them and spend time with them, it makes me look forward to the rest of this summer for sure.
Second, I LOVE working with my brother. I cannot tell you what a blessing and how fun it is to work with him. It has been such a privilege to sit back and watch him with families. So many people came up and told me how blessed I was to have him for a brother, and I couldn’t agree more. Thankfully I only name dropped him once, but the kids weren’t even paying attention so it was all good.
Third, this is going to be quite a summer… Last year our camp director asked us what was one word that we would use to things we want to work on. And I may have mentioned it before but my words for this summer are “dependence” and “confidence/comfortable”. Dependence because I need to be more dependent on the Lord, and other people. I love being and independent young woman. And if you were to ask me if I need anyone I probably say no… my family is about the only thing that I need. But the Lord has slowly begun to show me the wonderful benefits of living in community and being vulnerable with other believers. And to be totally dependent on Him. Its kinda funny, because I am exhausted. Like, the thought of doing this for 10 more weeks is slightly overwhelming. I keep thinking to myself “I can’t do it, I can’t do it” and all the while I hear the Lord saying, “of course you can’t. Rely on me”. Its crazy how this year I have to rely on the Lord not only for physical endurance, but a lot of my job requires a lot of grace. Something I find in short supply when I try and do things on my own. Its crazy that there are things that happen and suddenly people look to me to respond it a way that is appropriate and wise. It is in these moments that I recognize that I cannot do this job without the grace and working of the Lord through me. I’ll be honest. The though of being so dependent is scary. I find myself naturally thinking that I can do it on my own and I would rather not rely on anyone, not even the Lord. But I know He is faithful and I’ve asked Him to break me of it, no matter how terrified I am.
One thing I hope is that the lessons I learn will transfer to my life away from camp. I love working at Pine Cove because it is an environment in which I am surrounded my peers who are striving to be more like Christ along with me. The result is that we encourage each other and hold each other up when we’re tired. But the true test is being able to continue this pattern outside of camp. A pattern that I did not continue last year, but I desire to continue this year.
In my word “confidence/comfort” is the desire to be confident in who I am and comfortable with who God made me to be. I firmly believe this is something the Lord wants me to learn because before I left for camp my dad encouraged me to meditate and firmly believe the truth written in Psalm 139 and this week alone I’ve had 2 other people at random remind me and encourage me to read Psalm 139. This is great for me, but so hard. In a way, I know who I am, but there are several areas where I am not confident and I’m unsure in myself and those are the areas of guys and leadership. And the Lord is making me deal with both. The hardest is trying to figure out who I am, and trying to lead out of who I am. The example I have to follow for my position was such a great example, and he had a great many traditions that I enjoyed, but I’m trying to learn how to be myself and not a carbon copy of him. Because the Lord blessed him with special gifts and the Lord has blessed me with special, yet different gifts and I need to learn to accept them and be proud and content with them. Know that I say all this to you because I recognize my need for it, but I’m having trouble carrying it out in actions and believing it for myself. But the Lord has brought TONS of encouragement my way.
Well, I should run. Thanks for reading and I’ll try and write more later.
Learning lots...
Raychel