Testimony From Called, Chosen, Faithful
by Cami Reish, June 2005
“We asked God for great things, He did even more...”
If you don’t know what CCF is, it’s a camp for young ladies ages 12-16 years old that my sister Kayla; a friend, Lindsay Smith; and I created last year. It’s based off the verse in Revelation that says, “He is king of Kings and lord of Lords, and those who are with Him are called, chosen and faithful.” CCF stands for Called, Chosen, and Faithful.
Last year was our first CCF and there were eleven girls at the camp. This year there were seventeen. At CCF we have sessions where we as leaders get to share with the girls what God has taught us.
A short overview of CCF this year would be that, “We asked for God to do great things, He did even more.” The overview is that God is good, so good, and He showed me more and more of His faithfulness. My faith has been stretched, and I feel a lot more bold in my faith. God does answer prayers and He wants to show Himself strong in His people’s lives!
Ok, now the long story. The Thursday before CCF the leaders met together and prayed in the shelter house at the State Park. We prayed over everything from the activities to the sessions; we gave it all to God and asked that He would take them and bless them. One thing I remember about our time of prayer there was praying over each of the girls and asking that God would prepare their hearts. We also prayed for each other as leaders, for servant’s hearts, and wisdom for what we should say. This united us leaders and helped to prepare us for what was to come.
Another prayer I remember was that God would take over. I don’t think we quite understood what we were asking when we asked God to take over. When God takes over, He really takes over! Anyway, at this time we didn’t know what God wanted to do, but we were willing and ready.
Sunday before CCF my family and I attended church together. The pastor preached about God’s vision and God’s will. He said that too many times we pray for what we want and what we want to happen instead of asking for God’s vision. He challenged everyone to ask God for His vision and pray in agreement with that.
Sunday night I was working on all of my sessions. I really wondered what God wanted me to say. I knew the basics of what I wanted to share what God had been teaching me, but I felt like something was missing. So, I got on my knees and asked God what His vision for CCF was. No, there wasn’t lightening or a voice verbally speaking, but I felt like God gave me three things for CCF:
- That the girls would know that they are Princesses to Me, and live like who they are. Girls who are not afraid of what others think of them. My daughters who walk with Me holding my hand and come to me with their fears and joys, come to Me crying and laughing.
- Girls who have a solid, standing firm, faithful relationship. Faithful to Me. Daughters who will hold their ground against evil things of the world.
- Girls who light up their worlds. I want to rekindle their love for Me.
When God gave me these things, I felt like it was more than I could ever ask for! How could God do all of these things? Was God really saying these things over CCF? I just trusted and prayed that God would bring them all to pass.
Monday morning, the leaders met together and began working on the notebooks and putting everything together. We went shopping and got all the food. It was a long day, but a good day. We got home around 11:00 pm.
Tuesday morning was busy packing and getting everything ready. The girls were coming at 3:00 so we had to pack everything and get it to the State Park. Lindsay, Kayla and I ate lunch at the Shelter house and talked over everything one more time before the girls came. I shared with Lindsay and Kayla what the Lord had told me. They said that they totally agree and felt that the Lord was telling them the same things. We all were getting excited!
Back to the Smith’s house to get the girls! We went back to their house, tired of all the work, but excited about what God was going to do. Around 3:15 all the girls got there and we pulled out of the Smith’s house. We had orientation and then let the girls set up their tents and make their dinner.
That night we had two sessions. One about choosing to be a flower, instead of trying to be like a rock. It was a parallel to being what God has called us to be, instead of trying to be something else. Our second session I gave. It was about different kinds of Christians and how God hates luke-warmness. He wants sold-out Christians. This session ended with prayer time on our knees. God is good!
Wednesday was a fun and full day. We had sessions in the morning and then we packed lunches and went canoeing. It was lots of fun and everyone stayed safe. That afternoon we had another session and then some crafts and other activities. We also had tent times, when we got to spend time with the girls in our tents. I was encouraged with what the girls had to share about what they had been learning during the sessions.
That night Lindsay and I had two sessions that went together about sin and temptation. We were really getting excited about it. We decided that we were going to make an altar up front with two picnic tables in the shelter house.
Before the sessions we had a great time of praise and worship. I spoke first about how bad sin is and that when we have sin it separates us from fellowship with Jesus. Lindsay spoke about temptation. At the end of the sessions we opened up the altar and told the girls that they could come up to the altar and write down any sin they have committed and smash it up and put it in the bucket we had up front. The altars were full! There were tears and freedom that was coming. After a time of prayer and singing some songs, we went down to the fire together and Kayla dumped the papers with sins written on it. It was a very serious thing, and a very powerful experience. We told the girls that the fire had nothing to do with God forgiving their sins; it was just a reminder that when we ask God to forgive our sins, they are gone and gone for good.
Around the campfire we sang and prayed. We told the girls if they wanted the leaders to pray with them we were open. After this, what I truly believe is that the devil was not happy! God was winning and His daughters were being set free from sin! What took place for the rest of the evening is kind of a blur to me.
Kayla and Lindsay were busy with girls praying with them and for them and just being there for them. That left me with the other thirteen girls. This is when everything went crazy. I like to call it, “The Attack of the Raccoons.” Honestly, the raccoons were terrible. They were up in the trees above our heads fighting they were under our tables while we were trying to have a campfire. The girls were so scared of them and they were running around and screaming and the raccoons were not even afraid of them! Looking back, it’s kind of funny, the girls were yelling and screaming and one girl was so scared she jumped on my back and I was carrying her around! It was bad.
Anyway, I told the girls since it was late and the raccoons were so bad, let’s just go to bed. We started packing up the food to put it back into the van. (We used the van as a storage place for the coolers and all the tubs of food.) The girls started helping me, and we realized that the van was locked and all the keys were inside of it!
We didn’t lock the van, and we don’t know how it happened. The van getting locked, the attack of the raccoons, and lots of other things went wrong. It was like the devil was trying to discourage us and defeat us. Finally, we got all the girls to bed, and Dad came to get the food in our other van and was going to get another key for us in the morning.
Lindsay, Kayla and I got together to talk and pray. We were going to go by the fire, but there were three raccoons by our fire, so we went to the warm bathrooms. We talked and all told each other what had been going on. Kayla and Lindsay agreed with me that there was some Spiritual warfare going on. We all called our parents and asked them to pray. We needed wisdom and we needed strength. We were all tired and felt worn out.
Kayla mentioned that we should feel “honored” that the devil was fighting so hard against what God was doing. That night I didn’t feel “honored,” but I wasn’t about to let the devil get me discouraged because there was so much good happening.
The next morning I spent some time praying and asking God for strength. I knew that we had some more very important sessions that night about dedication and giving God your life, talents, strengths, and weaknesses. Although I was excited about it, I was kind of worried too. What if what happened Wednesday night happened again? I pulled out my Bible and began reading in Isaiah my chapter for the day. I couldn’t believe what I read!
“Behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people.” Isaiah 29:14a
Was it true? Did God really want to do another marvelous work in our small group of girls? My eyes teared up as I prayed that God would again touch us. I was ready! I couldn’t wait for the evening session. God is good!
The day went well. There were sessions on relationships and on family members. The girls were getting excited as they made plans for things that they could do when they got home to bless their brothers and sisters.
That night before sessions, I talked to Kayla and Lindsay and shared with them what God had given me that morning. Kayla said that she agreed. Later she also told me that God had given her two words, “Battle, Victory.” Later, she realized that God was saying that the first night was a night of battle and the second night would be a night of victory. God is so good!
The sessions began and the girls were encouraged that God could do great things with their lives. In between we had a time of praise and worship. I’ll never forget singing, “Open the Eyes of my Heart.” It was a sweet time of expressing our love for our King.
I shared with the girls how in the Old Testament there was a temple that was very important to them. The temple was where God was. The New Testament says that we are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Solomon was finally able to build the temple, and when it was completed they dedicated the temple, “so that all men on the earth might know that God is God.” I told the girls that God wants to do the same with our lives. He wants us to give Him our talents, gifts, strengths, weakness, so that He can take them and show the whole world that He is God.
We opened up the altar and encouraged the girls to come forward and give God their lives, their talents, whatever they felt led to give. Again, the altars were filled. Lindsay and I sang, “Come, just as you are.” All I can say, is again God is good!
Once the girls were done praying, we began to worship. We sang some great songs. One I remember is “God of Wonders.” I told the girls that God is a God of Wonders and that He will take what they give Him to glorify Himself.
There was a surprise waiting for the girls once we were done. Mr. Stringer (Lindsay’s pastor) bought all the girls some pizza. Everyone enjoyed this late night snack. There was still one more surprise waiting for the girls.
We all met up by the shelter house and turned out the lights. We gave each of the girls a candle that was not lit. We all made a circle and began singing, “Go Light Your World.” As we sang we began to light each other’s candles. Soon everyone was holding a lit candle singing out, “Carry your candle, run to the weary, confused and worn.” It was an awesome time. We next sang, “Pass It On.” Then we went around and prayed. All the girls prayed as well as the leaders. It was so sweet to hear the girls talk to their King. When that was done no one wanted to blow out their candles! We all did it together and told the girls to take their candles home and remember what we did there.
We ended the day with playing a game in one of the tents with all the girls. It was fun and we all got to fellowship together one last time.
The next morning we tore everything down. The tents were all packed and the girls took lots of pictures. We all gathered together for a parting session. We started with praise and worship. Then Kayla shared for a few minutes. She spoke about the difference between being touched by God and being changed. Her prayer was that the girls would be changed by what happened at CCF, not just touched. Lindsay shared next about being chosen by God and living faithfully for Him.
While they were speaking I was preparing what I was supposed to share. I felt like I should share with the girls what God gave me as His vision for CCF. I also had a quote from God Chasers for Teens about pursuing God. I was looking for something else to share and I turned in my book to the chapter entitled, “Don’t Date God.” That’s just what I was supposed to share!
I shared with the girls God’s vision and how He wants them to walk with Him and live like they are princesses. I shared that He wants them to be faithful and strong, and lastly that He wants them to light up their world. There should be something different about us.
When I talked about us being faithful and strong I shared this quote from God Chasers, “There is something that makes us afraid of the commitment that comes with real intimacy with God. If all you want are the thrills and chills, then all you ever wanted to do is ‘date’ God. God is tired of us coming to get our thrills from Him without putting on the ring of commitment. They just want the flowers and the jewelry. The last time I checked, He was still looking for a bride, not for a girlfriend; one who will ‘stick’ with Him.”
I challenged the girls to go all the way with God. God has called us, and He has chosen us, and now we must be faithful. I closed with prayer.
Then we all came together again and made a circle and prayed and sang. God was so there! I just fell to my knees as we sang. He is so good! He is so Holy! I was and am overwhelmed by His goodness to me.
As we closed and Kayla shared with the girls the phrase, “Go with God.” Kayla said that we are not all parting by ourselves, but we are literally “going with God.”
We packed up and went back to the Smith’s house and the parents came back for the girls. Once the girls were gone, Lindsay, Kayla, and I talked and prayed. We were all overwhelmed at what God did! As Lindsay put it, “We are amazed at what God did that we saw, can you imagine all the seeds that were planted and all the commitments that were made that we didn’t see?” That was a humbling thought.
My faith has been stretched. God gave me His Vision and I really believe that He made it happen. He is a God of Wonders! A God of the impossible! I am so ready for the rest of the summer. I think that this is just the beginning! I can not wait! We asked God to do great things and He did more than we could have ever imagined! Now I feel that I can ask for things that seem impossible, not that He will always answer yes or always in the time that we want, but just that He does care and He does listen.
The full altars, the new friendships, the new commitments, the worship, and the good tent times are times I will not forget. All I can say is, “We asked God for great things, and He did so much more!”