I'm going to try to make this short because I am really tired (but that probably won't work).
Many of the questions the girls ask during small group time tend to revolve around the issue of "what if a person does this..." and "but what if you have a man who is in jail because he did this... and what is going to happen to him when he dies?" And I try to be intentional about getting them to understand that it isn't about what we DO, but where our faith and devotion lies.
...but I Thought since they have these kind of questions, I should share with them about a man whose life God radically changed. A man who called himself the "worst of all sinners". Yep, I told them all about Paul today.
Using lots of Scripture from Acts, I described to them the murderer that Paul was before encountering Christ, what happened when he encountered Christ, how his reaction was to being preaching the gospel, and the extreme influence he has had on the church - how God chose to use him specifically.
We discussed it in lots and lots of detail that I won't go into because it would take quite some time, and then I discussed how in 1 Timothy Paul says that because he is the worst of all sinners, he is an example to all believers of Christ's unfailing patience. I explained to them in detail that if God chose to save Paul and change his heart and life, he can do that for anyone.
One of my girls that I have gotten pretty close with started asking everyone if she was a Christian, and then asked me how to know if you are a Christian. So after I let everyone else out, I stayed and talked to her in detail about salvation, what it means to believe, trust, have faith in Christ, and also what it means to really make him lord over your life. We kind of went through that together, and I asked her if she did those things... did she believe and trust that Christ was God and had the power in his death to forgive sins? Did she believe in the resurrection? Does she live to try to please God and not her selfish, sinful nature? Then we talked about the fruits of the spirit in Galatians and how your desires change when God comes into your life and how that is shown. We talked about how one of the most amazing parts of salvation is not only getting into heaven but getting to know God and how you do that through prayer and reading his word.
And let me tell you, it felt so good the entire time talking to her. The spirit was just so encouraging and confirming for me the genuineness of the conversation and of her heart.
We prayed together, which was such a huge blessing, I told her that I loved her and how much I am going to miss her.
And that is so true... my heart has been really burdened today thinking of tomorrow being our last "real" day of camp... Friday is the graduation celebration deal when the families come. Reality is setting in that I won't be seeing these girls anymore.
I made Noodles, the girl I talked and prayed with a lot today, promise that she would write me... that better happen!
(told ya it wouldn't be short!!)
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