Trying to trust God to work things out... my whole world is changing! I'm the youngest of my group of friends at camp and everyone's moving on from camp and I'm not. It's going to be sooooooo different without them there. Who will be there to notice when I'm stressed out? Who's gonna be my devious partner in crime and help me prank people? Where will I go when I need godly advice and encouragement? All the hugs and smiles and shared jokes and incredible times are just memories now. Next year all of us will be in college and living our busy lives. I wonder if our friendships will last... they say that there's those special friends who will always be in your heart wherever you go. I think some of my camp friends are those special people. Even if I never see them again, I will never forget the impact they had on my life. I'll never forget how they brought me closer to the Lord and how inspired I was by their faith in Him. I'll never forget when I was crying and they were there for me with hugs and sympathy. My most intimate experiences with God were at camp with those people. They are the the greatest friends anyone could ever dream of. They are faithful, loyal, kind, loving, generous and honest. They reflect Jesus in the most vivid way you could possibly imagine. I will never have another group of friends as amazing as my Camp Good News family. So even though my heart aches at the thought of everything changing so much, I am grateful. Grateful for the light they shone in a depressed, unhappy girl's dark world. Grateful that thanks to Jesus' abounding grace and mercy through them, I'm never going back to that darkness. Grateful that I'm the person I am today, living for my Lord to the best of my ability and trying to be an example to others, because they first were an example to me. So I continue with life-- tears in my eyes, but a smile on my face. Knowing that God has great plans in store for my camp friends and I, wherever we may go. And knowing that someday we'll have eternity to spend with each other, reflecting on God's goodness and playing silly pranks on the other citizens of heaven. Thank you God for making my high school summers the most beautiful times of my life so far.
"If you have children someday, when they point to the pictures, please tell 'em my name."
Beautiful Shannon!!!! "Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened."I had to remind myself of that after every week of camp was over. God is always gonna be with you even if we aren't.
ReplyDeleteLove you dear!
Jess