Our first day of camp was centered around the darkness and the light. How the sin in our lives put us in total darkness, unaware of where we are or where we are going, unable to understand the weight of our sin. Light resembles Christ and how he sheds light on our sin so we can see what it's doing to us and be set free from it by receiving salvation. The second day focused on the power of the light and of God, but I missed the second day so I can't elaborate. :( The third day focused on the cost of following Christ, and what it means to be a true disciple. Today was a very big day because the lesson Kristen and Kristy taught us (leaders of the girls group) focused on salvation. They gave all of us a chance to share testimonies and talk about some of the things we go through as Christians, and that's where things really took off.
The first person to speak was an older woman who grew up in church as a preacher's daughter, but she didn't follow Christ at the time. She thought she was a Christian because she was brought up in church all of her life, but she wasn't involved in the right kind of things outside of church. As she got older, she realized she didn't have a real relationship with God and gave her life to Jesus. This got our whole group's attention, and all eyes were on whoever decided to speak up next. The second person to speak was one of the very timid and quiet girls in our group, and she shared with us some of the pain she went through from her parents divorce. She shared how Jesus came into her life through her hard times and changed everything. After her, another girl spoke up and shared with us how she was in church a few years ago, but she fell back into sin, stopped going to church, and then her father died. She felt like God was punishing her for not going to church and getting involved in bad things, and she thought that it was her fault her dad died. She said she didn't understand the bible much, and she also shared with us she hasn't been going to church. After that, she started to cry, and you could feel God moving. Kristy and Kristen began to assure her that it wasn't her fault, and shared with her God's love for her, how He can help her get through this pain and move forward into the plan He has for her life.
After that, my sister and I shared our testimony, and Megan preached it! God put it on her heart to talk about the way He helped her overcome her insecurities. She remembered asking God for the strength to overcome her insecurities, and admitted that she had no idea how He was going to do it, but she believed He had the power to do so. Now, insecurity isn't even an issue for her. She also began to talk about how we are brought up in a society that focuses on material things or outward appearances, but we can't fool ourselves into believing in them. We can't fool ourselves into believing that our self worth comes from what we own or how we look. God says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, that's what's up. It was so good. Kristy ended our time together with verses from scripture that set out God's plan for salvation.
It's encouraging seeing churches take time to reach out to their community and spend time with each other. That's how church is suppose to be! We aren't meant to keep ourselves in a building for an hour, then go home and that's it. It's about living in community with each other and inviting people who don't know God's love for them, for those people to be able to experience that kind of love. It's not like that today, though. Most people stay away from churches because they feel judged, looked down upon, and they feel unwelcome. I think we should reevaluate where our focus is within our churches, because I feel in my heart it's not for building relationships. It's for building bigger buildings and larger numbers on the rosters.
The first person to speak was an older woman who grew up in church as a preacher's daughter, but she didn't follow Christ at the time. She thought she was a Christian because she was brought up in church all of her life, but she wasn't involved in the right kind of things outside of church. As she got older, she realized she didn't have a real relationship with God and gave her life to Jesus. This got our whole group's attention, and all eyes were on whoever decided to speak up next. The second person to speak was one of the very timid and quiet girls in our group, and she shared with us some of the pain she went through from her parents divorce. She shared how Jesus came into her life through her hard times and changed everything. After her, another girl spoke up and shared with us how she was in church a few years ago, but she fell back into sin, stopped going to church, and then her father died. She felt like God was punishing her for not going to church and getting involved in bad things, and she thought that it was her fault her dad died. She said she didn't understand the bible much, and she also shared with us she hasn't been going to church. After that, she started to cry, and you could feel God moving. Kristy and Kristen began to assure her that it wasn't her fault, and shared with her God's love for her, how He can help her get through this pain and move forward into the plan He has for her life.
After that, my sister and I shared our testimony, and Megan preached it! God put it on her heart to talk about the way He helped her overcome her insecurities. She remembered asking God for the strength to overcome her insecurities, and admitted that she had no idea how He was going to do it, but she believed He had the power to do so. Now, insecurity isn't even an issue for her. She also began to talk about how we are brought up in a society that focuses on material things or outward appearances, but we can't fool ourselves into believing in them. We can't fool ourselves into believing that our self worth comes from what we own or how we look. God says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, that's what's up. It was so good. Kristy ended our time together with verses from scripture that set out God's plan for salvation.
It's encouraging seeing churches take time to reach out to their community and spend time with each other. That's how church is suppose to be! We aren't meant to keep ourselves in a building for an hour, then go home and that's it. It's about living in community with each other and inviting people who don't know God's love for them, for those people to be able to experience that kind of love. It's not like that today, though. Most people stay away from churches because they feel judged, looked down upon, and they feel unwelcome. I think we should reevaluate where our focus is within our churches, because I feel in my heart it's not for building relationships. It's for building bigger buildings and larger numbers on the rosters.
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