Along for the Ride

My second summer as an intern at Central Baptist in Springhill, Louisiana, has come to a close. Is it already September? I feel like May, June, July, and August have all slipped past without more than a passing glance. Time flies when you’re having fun, I suppose. Fun it has been, indeed.

God has been at work all summer. Let me start off by saying that He’s so good. He presents us with opportunities and guides us through them. He shows us His path for us if only we seek Him and His will over our own.

If you would have asked me in January if I’d be working at Central this summer, I would have said no. Having worked as the Youth Intern last summer, I felt as though I would be moving on. I originally hoped to be working at Centrifuge over the summer. For those of you who may not know what that is, Centrifuge is church camp under Lifeway that has numerous locations all over the US. However, I was placed on the wait-list and did not get assigned a camp.

Since that wasn’t what God had planned for me, I thought that it would be time to branch out on my own and get an apartment in Pineville. I decided that it was time for me to grow up and learn how to pay bills and live alone. After searching for apartments with no luck, it was obvious that it wasn’t God’s plan for me, either.

I started praying that God show me what He wanted me to do and where He wanted me to be over the summer. Low and behold, three days later Kevin Gray texted me and asked if I’d like to have the position of Children and Youth Intern for the summer. God has a funny way of answering you when you surrender the situation to Him.

That was in March, I believe. I finished out my sophomore year and came to Springhill. I was able to relax a few weeks before beginning work. However, being Children’s and Youth Intern was nothing like I expected.

Wacky Tacky Tuesdays, Sports Camp Thursdays, and a Children’s Bible Study on Sundays took up half of my attention. Wacky Tacky Tuesdays was a 9 am- noon program scheduled for preschool-aged children. With CDC (actual school program) going on during that time, it ultimately ended with the WTT being cancelled. During my time with those precious little darlings I had a blast.

I may have looked forward to Sports Camp Thursdays a little bit more than Tuesdays for obvious reasons. Sports! This day was for the 1^st-6^th grade students. Throughout the summer, we played softball, volleyball, and dodgeball. The free movie at the movie theater on Thursdays also became our friend when we didn’t have many kids or when I was out of town with the youth.  For the children that regularly attended this program there was a finale celebration at Magic Springs in Hot Springs, AR. It was quite the trip!

My heart is with these children that I spent the summer with. I’m going to miss them terribly. I became close with so many of them and I love them all dearly. I can’t wait to see how God is going to use them and work through them as they grow.

As for youth activities, I mostly just lived life with them! Having been around most of them during my short time in the youth group before college and as intern last summer, relationships have already been formed. I regard each of them as a little sister or little brother and  would do anything for any one of them. They’re each close to my heart.

We attended Centrifuge in Glorieta, New Mexico, this summer. Believe me when I tell you that it was an eye-opener! God worked in so many ways that week! Romans 8:28 says: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” It doesn’t say just good things work toward our good, but all things. Every good and bad occurrence works toward His plan. Everything that took place at Fuge worked toward His plan for each of our lives.

Thursday night at camp was another eye opener for me. It was the night that we took up the missions offering. The offering this year is going to the Karamojong people in Uganda. Just for a little background on the Karamojong, they believe in a god, but this god can only be reached through a witch doctor. They will listen to whatever the witch doctor tells them. If he were to tell them that their god needed a man sacrificed in order for the crops to be good, that’s what would happen. Through this, God confirmed the call to missions He has placed on my heart.

The next trip on the schedule was the annual mission trip to New Orleans. I pretty much summed up the trip in my last blog post. My heart still yearns to be with the children of New Orleans and I pray continuously for those we encountered, that the seeds that were planted fell on fertile soil. Join me in praying for them.

August came and went, bringing with it my transition back to LC and the beginning of my junior year. I’m a junior…in college. I still sometimes feel like I’m still a freshman. My classes this semester are Intermediate Spanish, 20^th Century American Literature, Creative Writing, Intro to Church Ministry, Public Speaking, and Adaptive Activities. If you know me, then you know my biggest fear this semester is my speech class. Praying that God will give me the strength and ability to make it through this class without stuttering my life away.

It’s been over a month since I’ve blogged and I plan on making it a much more frequent thing. Let me know if there’s anything that you need prayer for! May God guide you along His plan for you and draw you nearer to Himself.