Jesus is Better

So I just realized I never did a follow up about Laity Lodge, the camp my friend, Bernie asked me to lead worship and speak at a couple weeks ago. I was definitely nervous going into it, but I think the Lord really used that night to get a hold of some of His girls. Thankfully, my sweet friend, Blaire, went with me- so I didn't have to drive over 4 hours by myself and I had someone to practice my talk with :) It was definitely the most beautiful camp I have ever been to (sorry TbarM) and the counselors I met were so generous and encouraging. We were set in a covered outdoor pavillion that had a river and huge canyon behind me- it was so beautiful. I love having worship in a setting like that, where you can so easily see God's creation as you're singing to Him.

So it definitely helped calm my nerves to lead worship and directed my focus where it needed to be- Jesus. I was amazed at how comfortable I felt as I started sharing my story and the talk I had prepared. I felt like I was where I needed to be. I talked about how we, especially as women, are created with this deep desire and need for affection, adoration and devotion and so often we try to find that in other things. This is a great God-given need, I believe, but it is one He wants to meet. I shared with them about longing for this and other things and asked them at the beginning to write down on a note card their deepest longing at this point in their life. I wanted them to be thinking about this as I was sharing and at the end I had them write down on a card "Jesus is better." I shared with them that Jesus is so much better than anything they could have written on that card- even the good things. Often times we have to wait for those good things, but Jesus is even better in the waiting. Then we had a time where they could come to these crosses that were set up behind me and lay down that first card that had their longing on it. I wanted them to have a tangible, physical reminder of laying down their longing before the Lord. I told them to hold on to the other card that said Jesus is better as a reminder of this night, and that He is better than anything we could want.

The response and worship at the end was so beautiful and it was so encouraging to see Jesus move. Girls were using the space behind me as an altar and really spending time thinking and praying about it before laying it down. Jesus was so, so good and I am so grateful He gave me that opportunity. And it was so great seeing my friend, Bernie in her element- she's such a great girls' director and I loved watching her do what she loves. Thank you, friends, for praying for me- Jesus answered!

I finally had my first 2 weekends in College Station all summer! It's been so nice not to have anything scheduled and I'm so glad my roomie, Anna's back! I feel like I've finally caught up on summer these past two weeks. And summer's not over yet!