Being an Example

July seems like it is always a busy month. Aside from Christmas, I think that consistently July is one of the busiest times of my year. As much as I love the activity, I think it's safe to say that I'm ready for August to get here and for things to calm down a bit. :)

Last week we had Camp with the youth group.  It was AMAZING.  Last year's Camp was great, but I was still at the beginning process of getting to know the girls, and learning to be a youth pastor's wife.  This year I had relationships better built with them and knew better what to expect.  I think it was definitely a "bridging" week for me in the youth ministry as I learned to take more of a leadership role than a chaperone role.

I LOVE our teens.  God has blessed us so much with the group we have!  They truly have a heart for God and want to know Him more which is so so cool!

 Of course, He not only spoke to the teens, but also to us "adults."  As I mentioned earlier, this Camp for me was one of the first times I've really taken leadership over the girls... mostly I am with Steven as he leads the group and help where needed.  This week I was able to have some heart-to-heart conversations about what they were going through.  I had to have a few VERY minor "disciplinary" talks, which though they were minor it is still not fun for me to do... but necessary for me to get used to!  It was a week of me growing into my role at the church.

But of course, if we are growing, Satan is going to try to attack it.  Even before we started dating, Satan was on my case about how I wouldn't be a good youth pastor's wife.  He told me I needed to know ALL the verses, that I would never know the right thing to say, that I wouldn't connect with the teens.  And to this day that is one of my greatest insecurities... that I'm not doing a good enough job or that I'm not prepared enough.  We have teens that go through so much, and in comparison I went through so little in high school.  I got my heart broken by boys and friends, and had typical arguments with parents and insecurities, but that was basically it.  I felt SO ill-equipped to help girls who have been abused, struggle sexually, or have no self confidence.  Through tears, I got to talk about it with Susan, our pastor's wife, as she drove me to the airport on Thursday.  She helped so much!  She reminded me that nobody has the answers all of the time... that what the girls need right now is to know they have a friend/mentor that will love them and encourage them.  To hug them tight and let them know that God loves them and wants them to experience JOY.  To live my life as an example.  My cousin Dayna reminded me that I am expecting more out of myself than even God expects from me.

It was a great week.  So much fun.  I left early to attend a family reunion in Oklahoma.  The weekend went by very quickly but it was nice that I was able to see everybody even just for a couple of hours or days.

 Now off to a full week at my new job!  God is so good.  :)