Summer Time

It’s been a few months since I have posted on my blog but I have been keeping track of things that I would like to write about and share.  The reason I have not posted in the past few months is simply because we have been so busy.

I spend my  summers directing a ten week mission team of college students. I train the students and serve with them as to reach out to our local area and beyond through the avenue of children and youth ministries.  We had an incredible summer that I plan to share more about as I have time to process all that God did in us and through the team of incredible student missionaries.

We got to watch God change lives and pour His love out on so many people. I am reminded every day just how blessed I am to have a job that I love. I love investing in the college students and watching them discover their passions as they grow in Christ.

There were many weeks that it was overwhelming to be surrounded by so many adorable children and babies but God gave us both the strength we needed. One week in particular we had way more children than we expected, which was a great blessing, but I wound up holding and caring for all the babies and toddlers that were too young to be in a class. In the moment the Spirit gave me strength and the ability to be present to those children without even thinking about my own desire and pain. After I would get home or have a minute to think my heart would ache and questions would flood my mind.

However, it was healing to get to nurture the college students and invest in them. It was healing to hug, play with, teach, and love on all the precious children we got to see. It was healing to hold a few babies in my arms. It was healing to play tag and push toddles on the swings. It was healing to kiss a boo-boo and watch a band-aid make it all better. It was healing to hear the words, “I love you” from some of the sweetest children. It was healing to arrive at the location where we were serving and have children run to give me hugs. It was healing to get to teach children about how much Jesus loves them. It was healing to get to use some of my maternal instincts to help some teen moms by taking care of their babies while they enjoyed bible study and building relationships with their friends. It was healing to be able to be used by the Father to mother His children even for a few minutes, for a week, or for ten weeks.

The summer was filled with many lessons, hard days, great days, spiritual warfare, moments of joy, moments of sorrow, tons of laughter, a lot of tears, lots of rest, lots of work, great conversations, great time with friends, new relationships, new ministries, moments of growth, and lots of prayer. And I am thankful for every bit of it.