Amazing Grace

Tonight I heard an amazing story. Amazing in many ways. I heard it from Katherine Riskey as she told it to my sophomore girls at bible study. A story about a young girl, the summer before her eighth grade year. This girl had come to Pine Cove Camp and was to have Katherine as her cabin counselor. Katherine was briefed about her and tried to prepare her heart for this camper. What Katherine didn't know yet was that this young camper would have such an impact on her life that it would resonate from Pine Cove and touch many other lives. Their roles at camp would be reversed, and this young girl would minister to Katherine in a way only the Lord could orchestrate. You see, this young girl had just lost her father one week prior, to a drowning off the beach in Florida. Yet she came to camp filled with a sense of peace, knowing God is in control of everything. She told Katherine that she could actually feel God's peace flow through her body, physically feeling that sensation. She said that scripture she never had memorized was all of a sudden brought to mind. The right scripture (I know. It's all right.) at just the right time. She was able to praise and worship God and be joyous after this heart-wrenching tragedy. Her story is truly amazing. It is a great testimony of how God works.

All of us will suffer at some time in our lives. That is a fact. It's biblical, whether we like it or not. I have been learning in my lifetime that I can not depend on myself to get me through the crises. I absolutely need to depend on God. Only He can give me the strength. I can identify with this young camper in the sense that I, too, felt a physical sense of peace flow through my body at a time of trouble. It was about six weeks after Pam's diagnosis. I had been praying daily, multiple times during the day, for Pam and her recovery. I remember having this sense of peace come over me like nothing before, and I just knew then that God was telling me over and over that Pam was going to be alright. It was like a weight had been lifted from me. It may have been me finally giving over control to God. But I clearly remember that sense of peace knowing that God was in total control of Pam. And He loved her dearly. And He knew that I loved her too.

Phillipians 4:6-7