As I was praying for the weekend I asked the Lord what He was going to do, and how I could help? He told me, "I will shift hearts back to me! I will win them over and bestow gifts upon them. I will mark them with my truth and my glory." I put this in bold because not only is it what the Lord spoke over the weekend, but I bold it so you and scroll back up to it and find it easily after I describe what took place this weekend. You're welcome for the bookmark.
This weekend, we started off with a road trip full of excited kids heading up to the woods to escape. When we finally landed in Buttercreek they were all too eager to unload and start the weekend of fun in store for them. Unpacked both literally and to me what seemed to feel like an under layer of unpacking too place, everyone in that cabin became lighter, in simpler words, Jesus came into the room and man did the atmosphere change. We began worship and started club and the kids became wrapped up in the present with the ones around them. Chad and Heather shared their testimonies with such vulnerability, hearts softened and the Holy Spirits presence feel upon the room. They began the weekend dropping the hammer on the enemy and declaring over the kids that their identity in Christ sends Satan running for the hills. AMEN!
Now if you're reading this thinking how could it get any better, well take a deep breath and get ready, because it did. Then next morning as the groggy kids were waking up from staying up until 3am the night prior because they're kids and that's just the things they do, the Lord moved on my heart and just whispered, "Watch how I show up today. Watch my love overflow in these little ones, in these hearts around you." And so I did.
As laughs followed our hilarious program team, and songs of praise followed worship once again the Holy Spirit fell upon the room with even greater force. As we worshiping, the atmosphere was taken over by love, and soon to follow was an even greater revelation of the Lords love for us. Chad once again came up to speak and shared about Gods immense love for all His children, that's right adults are metaphorical children too. Then we broke up into girls and guys groups and Heather spoke to the girls room and Chad the guys. Heather spoke love into the girls hearts, the love of their Heavenly Father. She brought awareness to what society is calling love to look like, how its portrayed as immediate, its conditional, its tormenting, it involves triangles, and it had an end if things aren't "perfect". She brought awareness how our lenses are shifted to view love as fleeting and hard to find, how it remembers mostly bad and seldom good. Then she paused, feeling the prompting of the Holy Spirit she had us declare who we were because the scariest thing to the enemy is a Christian who knows who they are. Let me repeat myself, the scariest thing to Satan is you knowing EXACTLY who you are and how you were created.
[[ We declared at the top of our lungs, "We are daughters of the Most High King! We are beautiful! We are loved! We are seen as treasures to God. We are wonderfully made. We reflect the image of God. We are daughters of the Most High King, Satan you cannot touch me!" ]]
Now because I'm a girl, I don't know exactly what the guys did, but what I've heard was that Chad had them close their eyes and ask the Lord to give them a present. He asked them to shut their eyes and ask, "Lord what do you want to give me?" ALL of the guys were saw amazing pictures of the Lords promises and gifts and smiles spread across each of their faces in the presence of Jesus.
Moving into the afternoon the kids were able to explore outdoors and walk down to the river we were by! They played and hung out with each other for hours and played ridiculous games. Laughter erupted from the living room during Battle of the Bands (Taylor Swift Edition) and all I could help but pray was, "Lord let these memories, these moments be with them the rest of their lives." Finally after a meal that we all could have sworn was from heaven, thank you Amy Buskirk, we transitioned into our evening club. Chad brought the house down again as he highlight the Temptation of Jesus in Luke 4 in a completely new way. Coming off of a 40 day fast God allowed Satan to tempt Jesus, saying "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Obviously Jesus was hungry, 40 DAYS without food! Come one I get hungry from 40 minutes without food, anyway the part that Chad highlighted was the specific wording, "IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD..." The devils schemes are never new, the devil was having Jesus question his identity. JESUS! And guess what, because Jesus lives within you, Satan will come at full force to attack your identity. To get you to question everything about who you truly are. It was after that we had the kids stand up and we were able to pray and minister to them with the Lord.
Needless to say tears were spewing out of my own eyes, let alone others as kids received revelations of who they are! Thank you Lord for how wonderfully you made every single little one in that lodge, that was a room full of powerful prayers, worshipers, servants, speakers and kingdom shakers!
This is the time you scroll back up to the bold to remember what the Lord told me He was going to do this weekend because He more than came through. Kids lives were changed this weekend and I got to witness the Lords power in such a beautiful way. Looking back at this weekend I pray its more than the typical camp high that follows this retreat, I pray this weekend was a steak in the ground claiming victory of their identity of who they are! I pray this weekend impacted every single one of the littles ones hearts as much as it impacted my own.
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