blessed - my testimony

writing on the wood

Youth camp was a lot of fun, it was the first warm camp we had in years, so it felt nice when we could throw in the new members and that year we had seven girls and two guys. I even jumped in once because I was so warm.

We had two 'sermon' sessions that day and they opened up a word that I didn't experience for a long time—hope. We were going through 1 Peter 1: 3-12. Living hope. It's my favorite passage in the Bible.

Once night was closing that Saturday, I had to go to the girls dorm because I could my anxiety coming. Even though I was getting better, I was still struggling with thoughts at times. I laid in my bed, reading the word as I could feel myself settling down. I was going through psalms so I was quick to relax as I became one of my favorite books.

I played frisbee with the youth group when it got dark as we had a light up one and that was the night that the Millers and I sat down and realized we could restart the friendship. I wasn't as happy as I thought I would be, but it was a weight that left my shoulders.

We did our midnight tradition of steak and I went to bed at 1am thanking God for the renewed friendship.

The next day, we did morning service with coffee and breakfast. We all were exhausted and unfortunately for me I had to go to work at 3. The sermon was about having a strong relationship with Christ in hard times, and at the end of it, we did one last song and I gave my life to Christ. It was ironically "Living Hope" by Phil Wilkham. After, we were asked to write a letter to God while listening to the new song Lauren Daigle released "Thank God I Do". In those moments, I wrote God a letter that I still treasure.

When we were finished, we each left the place separately and one of the youth group parents children gave me a purple flower-weed. I placed it in my Bible and it's still there. No, it hasn't changed color.

I was able to speak privately to the youth pastor and his wife which I considered second parents about my commitment to Christ.

Before I left that day, I was finally able to write my name on the board of the chapel that had so many already. It was a camp tradition that if you were saved, you wrote your name on the walls or boards of the chapel. I never did it, but the 28th of May, 2023, I did.