This summer I have had the great opportunity to be a summer counselor staff. Basically, what I did was stay in the cabin with a different group of girls from week to week. I got the opportunity to get to here their stories and to share mine. All these girls came from different backgrounds and different lifestyles. I had girls who grew up in amazing homes and others who grew up in abusive homes. I had girls who came from rich areas and girls who came from the poorest of areas.
There was a week where I had the toughest girls yet. These girls were from a group home and they didn’t have respect for anybody. My faith and my strength were tried. There was even one night where I was scared of what one of these girls might do to me in my sleep. Everyday I kept on praying that there would be a change in her. However, I didn’t see a change.
Finally, I gave up on her. I told myself that this girl would not change and that there was no reason she was here at camp. I shared this with the speaker from that week and he told me, “NEVER give up on her. The week isn’t over and God isn’t finished working.” I took what he said and it charged me up to keep on praying and ministering to this girl. By the end of the week, I am sad to say, I saw no change and I was crushed.
A week later, at our staff meeting, the camp director read a letter from a camper. That camper was this girl. (I am not going to write the letter on here word for word but I will tell you what it basically said.) She said that her camp experience was an amazing one. She said that before coming she didn’t realize that there were people out there who really care but now she knows there is. She wrote that she didn’t understand why we live but now she knows her life has purpose. And the part that touched me the most was these simple but strong words. “I came to camp fatherless and now I know I have a Father who will never leave me.”
Imagine if I had given up and that was it!
I believe that I should never give up hope because God has never given up on me!
