—In no specific order—
1. Everyone is nervous~ Leading up to camp, I was a nervous wreck. In my head, I had convinced myself that I was not going to fit in and have to sit by myself all week. What I had forgotten was, everyone is nervous. Even the loud extroverts want someone to ask to sit with them.
2. My God was too small. ~ I had minimized my own problems and losses because somewhere along the way, I had minimized God too. I pictured him as a Gandolf or Dumbledor figure, long grey beard and all. Loving and mysterious as He may be, He could only work on one big problem at a time and mine were never quite so bad. My God cannot be contained in a box and nothing is too small for him.
3. I hate packing. ~ Nothing ever fits the way you want and when all your wet clothes get shoved in a bag all day, you smell like mildew for a week straight. Packing cubes are gold. The synthetic eagle creek ones with the zipper fit so much and don't hold onto the smell. Get some.
4. You don't need it. ~ I promise, if you are questioning bringing something, don't.
5. The Holy Spirit isn't some gray mist or sparkly magical fairy dust. ~ He is God. 110% The Holy Spirit and God aren't like Tinkerbell and her magic dust. The Holy Spirit is powerful and He wants to use us.
6. I like hard boiled eggs. ~ Even if they made my breath smell funny. I'm also not as picky as I thought. This whole year of rice thing is going to go just fine.
7. Caffeine is bad. ~ If you haven't started an addition to it, DON'T. Otherwise you may find yourself stuck sleeping on a bus with withdrawal headaches. Not fun. If you are as fond of coffee as I am, do yourself a favor and pack some excedrin migraine.
8. Running water over your hair in the sink totally counts as a shower. ~ And you can wear your curly hair down all day the next day. No shampoo needed.
9. God wants to talk to me. ~ Like all the time actually. Apparently I had put Him on mute for awhile. All you have to do is be open to receive and listen. God likes to communicate in the ways that fit me best.
10. My tent is a mansion. ~ I'm talking,5 star hotel quality. After a few nights sleeping in random small places, your tent is a sanctuary. The last night I was so happy to be in my own tent, I didn't even worry about my pad. The ground was perfect.
11. I can't do this. ~ If it was up to just me and my schedule loving, control needing self, oh man, this year is about to be miserable. Thankfully it's not. My God loves well and He will love me through every bump in the road to come. Those bumps are what make the ride more fun any ways.
