For the past two weeks I have been working at a camp for the disabled outside of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. I have worked with kids, teens, and adults before, to love them and to show them the love the Lord has for them. For the past couple years, I have worked at Bluegrass Christian Camp in Kentucky. Camp is like a second home for me. I love playing with kids, being crazy, laughing, and teaching people about how much Jesus loves us. This camp has made me feel like I am back at Bluegrass!
The camp was centered around John 14:1.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”
The camp was called “Cree” which means ”believe” in Spanish. For the whole time, my team and a team of Guatemalan volunteers got to share and walk out what it means to believe. Everyday, our teams would come together to have a devotional in the morning and at the end of the day. People got to share how they were walking with God and what things that he is revealing to those who believe. One of the things he has been revealing to me is how much he loves each and everyone of his kids. For me, I can sometimes be very quick to judge others. It has been a bad habit I have had for most of my life, but God has been teaching me to see others like he does: his beloved sons and daughters. And to see myself in the same way. Not to compare myself to others, but to know that we are all children of the king and are so loved by him. No matter how different we look or how we act, God still has such a great love for us all. I have been so blessed for God to lead me into this truth, and it was something I was walking with all through camp.
Throughout the whole camp, I had the privilege to be with people with mental and physical disabilities. I know that the world and myself have been very quick to judge and assume things about those with disabilities, BUT PRAISE GOD FOR REVELATIONS! There were so many times in those two weeks where I found myself praising God for the kids and adults I got to work with. They all have something to bring to the table! A girl with no hands turns out to be an incredible drawer, a boy with a birth defect in his leg has incredible talent for singing, a woman bound to her wheelchair has a gift for make-up and cosmetology, and a little boy with no hands and a terrible skin infection dances and laughs without worry. God blew my mind this week with the people from that camp. They all had very hard situations and conditions that they were coming from, yet the Lord was moving in their hearts and lives to show them his love for them! God does not see any of us as different from each other. He doesn’t care if we are male or female, young or old, black or white, abled or disabled, he just sees us as his kids that have been made clean by the blood of Jesus. God is such a good father to us like that.
Camp was filled with laughter, screaming for your team, pushing wheelchairs, and loving on those who needed it. There were so many times where I got to dance with kids and praise the Lord with them! We would take those in wheelchairs and walk them around in circles with everyone else and sing worship songs. At this camp, campers and their families got to be loved on by our teams, but also were free to be themselves and not be under the judgment of the world. Thank you God for teaching me more about how you love, and I repent of how I have judged people in the past. Thank you for being such an amazing God of love for everyone.
Those two weeks were so incredible. The friends that I got to make, the stories I got to hear, the crazy competitions I got to be a part of, and the important reminders of God’s character have helped me to grow into a stronger woman of God. I pray that as I continue to walk through the race, that I will be quick to love and to not even think about judging. For God loves us so much, in the same way I should love his kids.
– Lauren
