The moment

I went back to Forest Homes camp with my high school youth group kids a while back. Once again having a wonderful experience (kudos to forest home).
I always go to camps a little sceptical and hesitant... uhg camping... and I deffinitly went this particular time with some struggles weighing on my shoulders.

"I am momentarily incapable of being a sufficient leader" is maybe the best way to describe my attitude at the time.

Of course never give God a challenge and excpect Him not to take it right?

Standing up front of the stage during our worship time I was just contemplating these things, how weak I am, how incapable I am, "God why can't I just be strong, don't let things come into my life if I can't resist them! I'm so weak and it frustrates me!" Were just some thoughts running through my mind... when at that very moment and thought I looked up to the projector where a verse was suddenly displayed [literally] right in front of my face.... "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardship, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."


Well, there ya go,


right there, a moment of the most audible answer from God I could possibly get.


But wait a minute - we're supposed to gladly boast about our weaknesses? What's this all about?

Needless to say our girls group walked back to our cabin in silence and then my mind unleashed ...


Why does our culture have such a scued vision of who Jesus is?

because we think we have to give up all our fun to be Christians, like Jesus is like the mobster and you're the guy who owes him money and he won't take it in small payments - he wants it all now and he's gonna beat you ten ways to tuesday until to cough it all up.

No.

I have weaknesses, weakenesses that I think are tools that Christ has not only worked with me on...

but used ...

used them in beautiful ways to create the person I am today

To relate to people on beautiful levels

I think my weaknesses are beautiful and I think Jesus does too.

Like I told my girls; why do we get so afraid to come to Christ and be fully His? He's not the image church and school and everyone else has given you!

He wants you - broken

As you are

Weaknesses, mess ups and all

It's ok.

He created us who we are and definitly prone to be drawn to certain things due to the type of person HE made us to be. All of us our so wonderfully diverse for reasons - we're not all supposed to be the same, act the same, follow the same rules.

How do we figure out each of our individual roles?

Realize, embrace and be honest about our whole, screwed up, broken self.

Even love it.

Jesus does..

and he's going to do beautiful and amazing things with it. He's gonna work on it WITH you, not against you.

He's not there to be a fun-sucker and take all our fun away from us. But give us better than we are capable of believing we deserve.