I never wanna leave.

I love this camp so much. God has taught me a whole lot while I've been at PVM, and the recurring theme has been and continues to be surrender. Surrendering to God isn't easy, but God has taught me to, "Surrender everything you are to the LORD and let Him lead you in accordance to his will. His blessings abound to surrendered hearts."

And I've certainly experienced God's blessings this summer at PVM. God has given me great relationships with people I only just met at the beginning of the summer. He's allowed me to share my testimony with a couple of friends and be an encouragement through words and time spent with others listening to what they have to say.

Some days are difficult and I struggle to control my life, but then I have to take a step back and say, "God, I surrender to your will. Be the LORD of my life today. I will go where you send me." Yesterday was one of those days where I was struggling with several situations in my life and I talked with God about them while taking a walk around camp. It was peaceful and I could freely share my frustration and misunderstandings with God. He understood and led me to 2 Corinthians 12 which talks about Paul's thorn in the flesh and how God's power works best in weakness. Verse 9 says: Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

I'm so encouraged that when I am weak, God is strong. My achievements may not amount to much, but  through Christ, I can do all things.

I'll end with a quote that I read in the book, "Surrender" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss earlier tonight. It speaks volumes about what has been on my heart lately. God wants you and I to be fully surrendered to  him and to live lives of obedient service to him.

Surrender isn't the surrender of the external life, but of the will; when that is done, all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great crisis is the surrender of the will. -Oswald Chambers

God bless you all!
Jess

And here are some pictures of camp for your enjoyment!