About the summer...from Kaci

As I mentioned in my previous post...I asked PiNK's interns to write a little something for you about the summer. Here is Kaci's....

Today marks the beginning of August. It’s hard to believe that seven weeks of Bible study have already flown by! Please, if you know where the summer went, tell it I missed it! Haha. It’s hard to even know where to begin sharing what I learned, what we did, and how God moved through this Hoarders series with PiNK Ministries, but I guess the beginning is a good place to start.

The start of Bible study was, honestly, hectic! From not having a location, to then having a location, but then switching locations provided challenges, but more importantly, we were tested. In 1 Peter 1:6-7, Peter says that “there is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a while.” He goes on to say that the “trials will show that your faith is genuine…So when your faith remains strong through many trials…it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world”. Oh, this verse makes me want to rejoice in my trials and hard times! I love Psalm 139 where it says “search my heart, O God, test me”. What a scary yet empowering prayer! But I digress. The beginning of the summer was not only testing me, but testing us as a staff. What a beautiful thing when you can rejoice, praise and worship God, and devote everything to the One who made you with the people you work with!

Having not a lot of experience working with younger girls before this summer, I really had no idea what I was getting into. All of my expectations for the summer were well exceeded in ways I could not have imagined for myself. "Younger girls" did not only mean high school and middle school, but girls who are going into their first years of college! Oh what an exciting time! I think what I realized and loved the most about this Bible study was that every girl in the room, whether my age, or going into middle school, could relate to what God was saying throughout the series. How incredible! This lead to me receiving phone calls from girls asking for advice, or getting texts with questions that I had to research for myself! I think the most surprising thing I got out of Bible study was the fact that the girls who attended the Bible study were teaching me every night! Although I am the intern and am supposed to be pouring into them, which hopefully I did, they were giving me a lot back too and I was not expecting that! I formed new relationships with girls, while strengthening old ones!

Moreover, I was shocked by the eagerness of the girls, especially the younger ones. Who, would come one week, and then bring five of their friends the next week! Haha! It really makes me laugh out loud and smile just at the pure thought that these 12 and 13 year old girls are getting it. They are understanding that PiNK Ministries Bible studies are not an event, and they are hungry for more! Not only do they want to keep it for themselves, but they are bringing friends! Oh I cannot express how these young girls inspire me!

And if that isn’t enough, let’s relive testimony night! Some of the stuff these girls deal with at such a young age is almost unbearable to hear, but as I was sitting there looking into these girls' eyes, I could see brokenness. However, the more they spoke, the more I saw their heart, and the more I saw Jesus. Jesus came to fix our brokenness! During the time of pain and suffering is when Jesus holds us close and says, “I love you, you are precious and worthy, and you are a light in this world that is so dark. Keep pushing, because I’m right here with you”. Oh how it brings tears to my eyes (which is rare for me) that Jesus loves us so much, even after our sin hung him on the cross!

Finally, I feel like I’ve written a novel! I want to say a little about the leaders that served PiNK Ministries this summer. First, it would have been very hard to make Hoarders happen without them. Second, they really taught me a valuable life lesson. As humans, we are drawn to people who are like us to be friends with. I mean it’s a lot easier to be friends with someone you have stuff in common with, so I have always thought that to some degree, everyone in the world should be a little like Kaci. Hahaha what a thought! Actually that is a real dumb thought. This summer, I don’t think we had one leader who was anything like the leader right beside her. At first, my thought process was, how in the world are we going to get these girls who barely have anything in common to work as a team and pull this off? Well let me tell you that loving Christ is a big enough “thing” to have in common with someone because I have never seen a team so beautiful, and I’m not just talking about outward appearances. We had some leaders who could talk to a brick wall and be satisfied, but we had others who had a harder time going up to someone and striking up conversation. We had some leaders who were conventional, and some unconventional. Some who were loud, some who were quiet. But through all of the different personalities, the girls, who are all different, had at least one leader they could relate to, and that is when I saw the beauty in God’s creation. There is a reason not everyone is like me! In Psalm 139:13-14, David praises God and says “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous- how well I know it”. Oh what a joy it is to know that each one of the leaders and girls are hand-crafted by our One and only Maker. Our Father and friend. How delicate our lives are to Him, and how wonderful it is to serve such a mighty, powerful, yet merciful and forgiving God.

Bible study this summer has, as Rachelle puts it, “been one for the books”. As a staff we learned, worked, experimented, and achieved together and it has been such a blessing and answer to a prayer to have worked with PiNK Ministries. How cliché this next line may sound, but how true it is: this is not the end, but only the beginning of a Ministry that God has so much in store for!

Kaci