Camp is Awesome

      Some of you know that I live, work, and play at a residential summer camp in Ohio year round. (www.phoc.org) Pleasant Hill Outdoor Camp is my home and it has been my privilege this last week to share that with teenagers. We just finished our Teen Week here at camp and this year I was able to teach the craft class. I was extremely nervous about this but excited at the same time. 

     I struggle with some low self esteem which is a holdover from my K-12 years. I am still unsure of myself around kids sometimes, especially teenagers. I went into this week excited to teach crafts. I am confident in my ability to do so. That is no issue. But I was struggling with the, 'Will they like me? Will they like the crafts? Will they find me just as weird as my classmates did?' 

     Now, to clarify, these were not the sole reasons my classmates didn't like me. It was mostly because of my Christian faith and my loud mouth about my faith! To some it was seem endearing in a third grader, to my classmates it was simply annoying. They did cruel things that hurt my self esteem and it is a continuous struggle to find it. I have an amazing family and a wonderful life and God has blessed us so much! So why the struggle? 

     God has a plan for my life and it is always amazing to see Him work. I was so blessed this week to participate in camp. I saw kids transformed! Some kids found joy in the crafts like I did. One young lady is now thoroughly addicted to Zentangle and it even helped her process through some rough times this week! Wow! Not my plan but God's! And it is always amazing to me to see how He works all things together for His good! I thought I was just teaching some fun crafts. Instead, I taught a young lady how to creatively process through pain. Thank you Lord for Your plans and Your direction! I can hardly wait for the rest of the summer.