home again

i'm home again, drowning in several piles of laundry and stacks & stacks of tupperware containers. the transition from camp to regular life is always an interesting one and quite often a messy one. as i sit here and attempt to organize my life i can't help but think of how incredible a summer i had. no, i don't say that because i returned home with a new boy in my life, but i say it because i was able to witness God at work this summer. does that sound cheesy? yeah, it probably does, but it is in fact true. not only was i able to witness God at work, but in several instances i was able to play a part in his transformative work. i'm constantly in awe of the fact that God chooses to use broken people like me to do his work. i mean, how often do we feel as though we're really standing in the way of whatever it is that he wants to accomplish? it would make far more sense for him to push us aside and do the work himself, but he doesnt do that. i think that's the amazing thing about God. he gives us grace when we don't deserve it and uses us in spite of how truly incapable we are. in the book of ephesians, paul writes extensively on the grace of God. in chapter two he writes, "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared for us in advance to do." after a summer working as a counselor, i look at these verses and i am reminded that everything that was accomplished was God's work. there is nothing that i could have done to earn salvation for my kids, nothing to further their faith, but God poured his grace out as a gift, and through faith many kids were able to receive it. i don't know what else to say, but how thankful i am that i am his workmanship and he has prepared incredible things (like this summer) in advance for me to do. how sweet is that?!