Reflections of the past week are full of so many thoughts and emotions I hardly know where to begin. It was a hot week at camp with a couple water balloons filled with tears thrown in.
Studying the Beatitudes and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount really challenged us to check our ‘tudes (attitudes). I don’t know how anyone could return home without a deeper understanding and desire to make some personal changes.
I was especially challenged with the Lord’s Prayer. Our speaker acted out a dialogue between himself and God. As he was praying, God kept interrupting with comments and questions. This illustration was to prompt us to seriously think about our prayers. Some questions I have asked myself are:
When I pray…
Do I really esteem God as Hollowed or Most Highly Honored?
Am I more concerned about myself than others?
Do I seek my will or “Thy [God’s] will” to be done?
Do I genuinely forgive others in the same way I want God to forgive me?
These questions definitely are causing me to pause when I bow my head.
Now for the water balloons filled with tears. Early in the week with camp not yet half over, I received two texts alerting me of not one, but two family tragedies. The first was that my son-in-law’s Mother had a stroke, and the situation was very grim. She has not even celebrated her 50th birthday yet! The second message declared my cousin and baby both died due to complications with childbirth. This dear girl leaves behind a husband and two small children.
My heart breaks for these families, and there was and is nothing I can do except pray. This was my opportunity to practice what I was encouraging my Jr. High girls to do. Always go to God first! Then if you need to do something or talk to someone, go. Too often we run to our friends first, but God wants to be the first one we take our troubles to. Pray, I did! With the reminder that life can be snatched so quickly, I was all the more diligent to make sure my camp girls understood that Jesus came to save the lost, and we are all lost to sin until we accept his forgiveness and let him be Lord of our life.
Although the past week had some tear-filled water balloons thrown, God is still the same yesterday, today and forever. May He be glorified!
homespun happenings 