.:: overflow ::.

Where on earth to BEGIN?!?

I went to my first Crosswalk summer camp this week. In fact, it was my first summer camp of any kind if you can believe it :) I don't even know how to explain all the great things that God did in my heart and in the heart's of my peers and leaders. I apologize if this post is discombobulated and generally all over the place- I'm still in that "post camp fog", haha. I'm sure you've all experienced it at one time or another. But I'm just so pumped that I couldn't save this post for later. I had to do it now. So here I go.

Can we just talk about how wonderful our Savior is for the rest of my life?! I've been to a lot of retreats and camp type things before so I had a general idea of what it would be like. I've been so excited to grow more with Christ this summer, but I wasn't quite sure how that would look specifically AT summer camp. My expectations were at par. I was excited to see God show up, I just didn't expect Him to do it in all of the awesome ways that he did. I could sit here and talk about my fabulous leader, Erika, my rocking cabin (SPIRIT CAMP CHAMPS BABY), my youth pastor, etc. etc. etc. But I think a sharing a highlight story from this week would draw you at least a small picture of God's activity at camp. So, let the story time begin.

Our speaker was challenging us to surrender things that were holding us back from fully chasing after God. We were looking at the example of Peter and how he experienced situations of doubt and fear… He let those things hold him back. So the question was posed, "What is God calling you to do to get out of the boat?" Leaders were there to pray with those that wanted to. I didn't have a strong feeling that I needed to go up and pray, so I contented to reflect and think. The next part happened in approximate a fraction of a second. ***HOLD ON TIGHT because this is where things get good and God gets even more awesome and its like a dance party in my heart right now*** God told me to go pray for a younger friend of mine who was kneeling on the ground waiting to be prayed with. I tapped her on the shoulder and asked if I could pray for her. And then her tears just poured. She had JUST prayed that God would show His presence to her and at that very moment I came up to her. It was 100% God. I would have never come up with that on my own. God completely gave me that and He gets all the glory and credit for that, hands down. I continued to pray over her, and it was awesome. I can most certainly say God was giving me words because they flowed so easily and effortlessly- it was Jesus. I remember a phrase I said to her. "Because I have been poured into I can pour into you, and then you can pour into others." She told me that hit her hard. Djay challenges us to live a life of overflow. AND GUESS WHAT?!? She was able to then pray for someone in her cabin who was hurting! She told me she never would have been able to do that before. But she felt empowered and filled with courage that could only come from Christ. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH God is SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD! Way too good to me! And folks, that was just one of MANY incredible highlights. What a fabulous way to start a summer, wholly focused on Christ. And from there there's no going back. We are at war against the enemy every minute of every day. We must be on our guard and fighting back! But guess what. The war is already won. We're just fighting in the battles. And we have Leader who just so happens to be the ultimate Warrior and King. So that's awesome. :D

As I fight these battles I am so encouraged because with Christ, the only way is up. And it's just going to get better from here.