I finally got all my feelings back under control that I could share this story…
Yesterday – for the first time ever, I taught at Cedar Creek Church Fusion Camp. My girls attended or led at camp every year for the last 15 years and they didn’t want mom hanging out during the best week of their year. That’s cool.
This year was my time! So yesterday, I spoke to 400+ kids and gave a message that I couldn’t have given before this year: How to live in peace when our families are fighting or falls apart.
Those kids heard more of my heart than any other talk I’ve ever given. I only shared a bit of my story, but as a mom, I hate that over 50% of the kids in that room knew the realities of a fallen apart family. Fusion Camp gave those kids a precious week to escape from fighting parents, custody issues, addicted family, parents getting divorced, parent abandonment, and so much more. I was so grateful to be there and talk about life from someone who sat in the bleachers with them. As adults, we forget what we’re putting our kids through because we’re barely able to deal with our own stuff.
Yesterday, I realized that everything I’ve been through was worth it for a chance to share hope and some solid practical tools to equip kids against feeling hopeless or discouraged like “Minding your own hoola-hoop” and “QTIP – Quit Taking It Personally”
Afterward, Communications Director Eric Williams, drove me over to the lunch area. This is where the photo comes in – here’s a group of sweet girls from Whitehouse Campus we’re doing their group discussion time. Those beautiful girls asked if I would take a picture. So we did.
Then, they asked if they could give me a hug. Each one of those precious girls gave me a hug. Some twice!
Since my girls are grown up and now gone, it’s been awhile since this mama has had a girl hug.
So God sent me a whole bunch of them!
Eric captured this picture, right before a whole lot of tears began to fall. After each of them gave me a hug, someone yelled “Group hug!” (While we were doing the group hug, someone else yelled “Smells like hot dogs up in here.”)
For whatever I might have done yesterday, I drove away feeling like I’d been given 10,000x more in return.
It might have taken 15 years to be a part of it, but it was totally worth the wait.
