Last summer I worked at a Christian camp in North Carolina. I found out about the camp through one of my close college friends, K-10. She was always talking about the camp and telling stories about the kids she worked with there and I just became really interested in the place.
After thinking about it for a while, I eventually worked up the nerve to ask her how I could go about applying to work there. At the time, I didn't really think I would apply but I was keeping my options open. I ended up applying and I guess you could say I had an interview. It was actually more of a tour of the camp and getting to know the man who would eventually become my boss and teacher.
Before the interview, I pretty much had a feeling that I would have a job there because I just felt that the camp was where God wanted me to be for the summer. I was thrilled when I got the job and I just couldn't stop smiling and I felt such a surge of joy and hope.
Some of you might wonder why I say I felt hope. I felt hope because I was in a dark place before I went to work in NC. I felt like all the worries and burdens of life and my family and friends were weighing down on me and I just wasn't living life the way I should have. I wasn't giving these things up to God. I wasn't trusting Him to take care of it because I had drifted away from Him. I still turned to God for things I still knew He was there for me but I thought I could handle some things on my own. Those things just snowballed and I let them come between my relationship with God. Although this happened, I slowly started finding my way back to Him before I started working at the camp but I still wasn't where I needed to be.
Knowing that I love to work with children, God placed me in an environment where I could do just that. I went to work at the camp so that I could teach the children there about God and share His love with them but it became so much more than that. God truly blessed me through those children. I absolutely loved working with them and sharing God with them. Being able to share God with them not only helped them to grow in their faith but it also helped me to grow in my faith.
I truly believe that God put K-10 in my life to help me get on the right track. He put her in my life to introduce me to some of the greatest people I will ever know. I learned so much from the people I worked with last summer and they really helped me grown in my relationship with God. I learned so much about God and myself. I learned things that I never knew or fully understood before last summer.
My boss told me that he felt that God wanted me to pour myself into the children I worked with and my burdens would be lifted. That's exactly what happened! The moment he told me that, I began to feel my burdens start to lift and I haven't been the same since. I don't worry as much as I did and I trust God so much more than I ever have. I have been truly blessed!!
I will be working at the same camp again this summer. I'll be leaving in a few days to go there and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me this year!!!
