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Goodbye OCSM'19

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About two weeks ago I said goodbye to 53 people who had become so near and dear to my heart and played such a big role in my life this summer. One thing that has been really hard for me to grasp is the fact that I cannot communicate all that God did this summer into words. I can’t wait to tell people about the conversations I got to have on the boardwalk and all the things that the Lord taught me and how quick we were to dig into each other’s lives and build deep friendships, but I know that even when that conversation is over, they will not have the same emotional connection that I have. Only those who were there to experience it themselves will truly understand the work that God did and the community that was created. And while that is frustrating, it is also reveals just how powerful our God is. We serve a God that does such a perfect and unique work in us, it can’t even be put into words and can only be understood if you are in the presence of it.  As I head back to ca...
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OCSM'19- Learning So Much

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We are just over halfway through the summer and God is doing so much work here in Ocean City! Our days consist of work, ministry training, outreach, and fellowship. The days are long, but the weeks are flying by. I am sad to be leaving this team of people in August.  A couple weeks ago we had a week centered on outreach. We set a goal as a mission to have over 2,400 gospel conversations. We spent every spare moment during the day sharing on the boardwalk. Our evenings also consisted of outreach. Either on the boardwalk or in Atlantic City or Wildwood. It was not like anything I had expected. My heart for the lost grew so much when I was in Atlantic City. I remember having a conversation with this woman who kept saying that nobody knows what happens after death or if there is a God. I could just see the confusion in her eyes. She ended up having to go meet her friends, so we did not get a chance to tell her that she does have a way of knowing all these things 100%. For ...
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OCSM'19- Diving In And Setting the Pace

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Today marks two weeks being in Ocean City and if I’m being completely honest it feels like it has been two months. From meeting 50 new people to evangelism training to finding a job to sharing on the boardwalk. A lot has been packed into these past 14 days, but I would not have it any other way because God has already done so much in this short little time.  I remember a couple people who spent the summer here last year telling me that the first couple weeks are the most uncomfortable and they are absolutely right, but because we have Christ at the center of this community it was easier to push through the awkwardness of jumping into ministry with people I had only known for a couple of days. I am already so grateful for these 50 people.  Preparing for this trip, I really looked forward to being able to go do something as a student and not as a leader. These past few years have been so fruitful for me leading girls at camps and retreats, but I soon found out that I ...
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The Summer of Transitions...

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This summer is one that I will always stick out to me as a time of growth and of a lot of change. As I am entering my Senior year of high school, I start the semester off having no idea about where I will end up after high school. I also have a brand new youth pastor, an engaged friend going off to college, and an older brother who now comes home less and less. While all these things are great and should happen, it still has caused a roller coaster of emotions. The other night I was lying in bed thinking about how I was going to handle all these changes, how I was going to be able to get through Senior year without some of the people who have spoken so much into my life these past three years. During all this, I had a song going through my head, "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." It took me about 10 minutes to figure that God was trying to tell me to lean on him through this transition season. I had been looking to my close friends an...
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What Christmas Taught Me This Year...

The first semester of school this year was the toughest it has ever been for me. I am taking 3 AP classes so my homework load was super crazy from day one. I am also very involved in youth group and a tutoring club so two nights of my week are spent at church, leaving only two nights to catch up or get ahead on all my work. I hate having things hang over my head so relaxing is very hard for me.  Finals were scheduled three days before Christmas break and I couldn't have been happier. Two weeks of no homework, tests, or projects. I was finally going to get to truly relax for the first time in three months. A few days before finals there was talk about a cold day coming the first day of testing. I have never prayed so hard for school to happen in my life. A cold day meant that one day of finals would be rescheduled for the day after break. Sure enough, I woke up the next day and school was cancelled. I burst into tears, I was so close to being able to rest and now I had two t...
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Letting Go of Myself

On a normal Sunday I wake up, get ready for church, go to the 9 am service, talk to a couple people afterward, and then head into the two year old class for the 11 am service. This Sunday was kinda different. The day before, our youth group had taken a trip to a water park for the day so I was exhausted and sunburned. I walked in and there were already two kids crying and neither of them wanted anything to do with the workers who were in there. I thought to myself, "oh boy, it's going to be one of those really long days." Those long days where all the kids are grumpy and you're just trying to survive the next 90 minutes.  But then one of the little girls showed up with a big smile on her face and ran into the room and jumped into my arms. It put a whole new perspective on what that morning was going to look like. A few more kids showed up, all smiling, and we were eventually able to get the two criers to stop. All was well in the classroom and things were peaceful. ...
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I Surrender All

There's nothing like spending a week with your best friends at a camp where God is the main focus. Those weeks where everyone is expecting God to do a work in their hearts. He never fails to show up and go above and beyond what we ask. So here's what he did in me this past week while was at camp. I have been struggling with doubt for a little over a year now. Satan tries to distract me with lies and unbelief that God does not really exist and everything that I have believed all my life is a joke. These doubts come in waves and a week before camp I started getting those same lies into my head again. I was nervous. Nervous that it would continue on through camp and I was going to have to be fighting Satan the whole week.  I was fighting the first two nights of camp. Fighting to focus during worship and fighting to believe what the pastors were preaching. One night during small group, my leader asked us to take some time and journal what God was saying to us. I sat there f...
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