Our Competence Comes from God

Well, I have officially been a resident of Durango, Colorado for two weeks, and already I have seen God doing amazing things! I am here for the summer working at a Christian summer camp for at-risk youth from low income families called Cross Bar X Youth Ranch. Each week, I will be either a counselor for a group of five girls or a part of the support team to help out around camp and serve the other counselors and campers. My weeks are going to be super busy, but I want to make it a point to post after each camp so that I can take time to reflect on what has happened and so that I can share some of the great things God is doing and some things to pray for.

For the past two weeks, I have been training for the summer and some of the challenges it may hold. When I first arrived in Colorado, I was in a pretty rough spot. The reality of being away from home and out of contact with friends for two and a half months really hit me, and I was incredibly discouraged, to the point that I even convinced my parents to hold off on buying me a plane ticket home in case I needed to come home early. I am not used to being such an emotional person, so crying on the plane ride the whole way here was not my ideal way to start out the trip. I had to pray that God would get me through even the next few hours, because I couldn’t see how I would be able to do anything useful, let alone counsel needy kids in the state I was in.
Thankfully, God came to my rescue as soon as I arrived. Something that has really struck my heart over the past two weeks is the fact that I can do nothing without Him. I think that I am so used to being in situations where I can rely on my own strength and get by relatively unharmed. However, God is making it incredibly clear to me that this summer is going to be about Him, not me, and the way He is going to speak to these kids. It is such a relief to know that not one minute of this summer is going to take place without his guidance, and even though I am utterly incapable of doing anything right, with Him all things are possible!

I came into this summer desperately needing to hear from God and to understand His heart. He has really been faithful to me thus far, even in my unfaithfulness. I am thirsting for His word more than I ever have before, and I find comfort in relying on Him and coming to Him in prayer. I am learning what it means to have my heart broken for the things that break His heart, and I am so excited to continue to grow in love with Him and to be the aroma of Christ to these kids!

Please pray for:
Health for our counselors
Cabin time and 1-on-1 time with the campers
Growth as a staff community

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

-2 Corinthians 2:14-3:6