Last summer, I had the opportunity to work at a summer camp I went to growing up. I worked mostly as a cook in the kitchen, but during my last week there, I got to be a counselor to 13 amazing 6th graders. After my first week working in the kitchen, I was exhausted and really discouraged. I began to question why I felt God leading me to work there that summer. At the end of that first week, I got coffee with one of my dear camp friends, and she shared a verse with me that changed my entire perspective on my time working at camp and allowed me to look for God during the good and hard times that summer. The verse she shared with me was Psalm 37:4, which says, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.”
This verse pointed me back to the exact reason why I felt God calling me to work at camp in the first place. I trusted that it was where God wanted me that summer, I wanted to serve others and show them the love of Jesus just like others did for me so many summers before, and I wanted to be at the place where I personally had such intimate encounters with Jesus. I slowly learned how to “befriend” faithfulness and full-heartedly follow through with what I committed to doing.
Life is full of things that we don’t always feel like doing. There were so many tasks that I had to do last summer that I so badly did not feel like doing; from waking up at 5:45 am, making food for 400 plus kids 3 times every day, to staying up until 11:00 pm doing dishes every night. For two of the weeks, I was convinced I had strep throat. I somehow kept working because God continued to provide me with the energy and health that I needed to keep going. It is just like that story from Exodus chapter 16 where God provides His people with just enough manna and water for each day.
Something I really struggle with is a mentality of scarcity. I tend to believe the lies that I won’t have enough time to do what I need to get done and that I won’t have enough time to rest and recharge. Last summer, I kept wishing that my time at camp would come to an end, but by doing that, I missed the beautiful opportunity to be exactly where my feet were and to be present in that moment.
God is a good and faithful God and He Himself is abundant. Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” We are blameless in Jesus, therefore NO GOOD THING will He ever withhold from us. That is a piece of truth I keep clinging to.
Another verse that I keep clinging to is Ephesians 3:20, which says, “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” God will always provide us with everything we need to do His will, and He desires that we not miss out on what He has for us in the here and now.
Last August, I did some reflecting on my time at camp and wrote a poem, something I rarely do but enjoy. It is called “Abundance,”
You just need to show up and befriend faithfulness.
You don’t need to have it all figured out.
You just need to remember that being tethered to fear is not yours to worry about.
For in Him abundance is promised and withholding good is not in His nature.
So as we go out today, would we remember to trust God, to do good by serving our families well, to be exactly where our feet are every second of the day, and to remember God’s faithfulness to us so that we too can be faithful and live in a mentality of abundance? Whatever it is that you are worried about today, I’d encourage you first to surrender it to God because He promises that He will provide us with the daily “manna” that we need to serve our families well today and show them the love of Jesus.
She originally shared this devotional with the Nashville Legacy Retreat® team in July 2022.
