Josiah Road

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posted by staff 4Aug

Guest blogger: Molly Mann

God uses His children for many different things for His glory. For me, it has been a Christian summer camp for young at-risk girls. The first time I was a counselor for a cabin of girls, I had no idea what to expect. I quickly learned it was not unexpected for some of the girls to have been abused or raped, given the circumstances of their home life and where they lived. That’s how messed up some of these poor youngsters’ lives were.

As the weeks at camp went on and the girls learned Scripture verses and gained a greater understanding of what the Bible refers to as the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), their hearts and minds changed. Little did they know, mine did, too.

The first year as a counselor, God showed me how much I really do have. Many of these girls had five or more siblings in their home with a single mother who didn’t have a job and fathers who bailed as recently as a few months prior. While at my home I had two parents who loved each other and had great-paying jobs.

Through my work at the camp, I have much more compassion, not only for the girls I work with, but for people around me. But God has also taught me that when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter if I have more than them. We’re all equal as servants and children to an Almighty God.

This past June, I became a staff worker at the camp, learning more about the inner workings of the camp, including how to handle emergency. As I woke up at 5 a.m. every morning to study in God’s Word–a new habit which may be surprising to some of my friends–I spent a lot of time reading in Psalms and Proverbs, gaining an appreciation of David and the battles he faced.

There was a lot more spiritual warfare going on this year at the camp, but as the weeks went on, and as the devil tried to pressure me and make me anxious, God struck back by drawing me to Ephesians 6:10-17 where Paul wrote about putting on the full armor of God and also the passages in Isaiah 40 about God giving strength to the weary.

I prayed daily that He would use me as His vessel. Above all, I learned that God’s grace and mercy makes a bigger impact than we expect.

“…let us lay aside every weight and sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith…” -Hebrews 12:1b-2a

This article was a guest post by Molly Mann who is 16 and a junior in high school. You can find out more about her on Facebook