Saturday, June 25, 2016

Discipline

No, I'm not in trouble. :) Let me begin to explain the title: I went to L.I.F.E. Camp last week (June 13-16) and we studied a few of the various spiritual disciplines. Before I talk about that, let me recap a bit of my week of camp.

I was pretty nervous about going to camp this year in particular because it was my first year attending the high school camp. There were only seventeen campers and I knew very few of them. As the week went on, I learned more about studying the Bible and I made several new friends. The awesome thing is, many of the friends I made had actually been attending the camp for the exact number of years as I had. In the small group environment, we finally "met" each other and became friends, for which I was so grateful. Making these friends changed the course of my week and made camp so much more enjoyable for me. (Thanks, you guys! You're the best!)

As far as the activities at camp, we did tomahawk throwing, swimming, slip 'n slide, capture the flag, Apples to Apples (SO MUCH FUN IN A BIG GROUP!), lazer tag, an after-dark hike, and so much more. It was amazing. The staff had all been at previous years of L.I.F.E. Camp and I knew them all. They were wonderful mentors for us!

As I mentioned above, the focus of the teachings was the spiritual disciplines. As a group we made a list of them. They are in no particular order.
  1. Prayer
  2. Silence/Solitude
  3. Fellowship
  4. Bible Reading
  5. Encouragement
  6. Resisting Temptation
  7. Fasting
  8. Scripture Memorization
  9. Meditation
  10. Speaking
  11. Preaching
  12. Worship
  13. Testimony
  14. Celebration
  15. Service
  16. Rest
  17. Accountability
Of course, this list could include many more areas, but these are the ones we came up with. I found this series of teachings to be very fascinating and a great reminder of the things we should be doing. Some of these are easier than others depending on the person, but all are equally important. This is why they are called spiritual disciplines. We have to discipline ourselves in all these areas.

Even Jesus was disciplined. At age twelve in the temple he studied with the teachers. The important thing about learning these disciplines is that they take work. None of them will be easy at all times, and most take training. Jesus also demonstrated this.

Looking at this list, I shake my head. How am I supposed to do ALL THIS?? But I can, it just takes work. If you wish, join me in trying to train toward being better at all these disciplines. Let me know and we can encourage each other! And keep each other accountable. Hey, that's two of the disciplines right there!

Hopefully sometime in the semi close future I can bring you up-to-date on everything going on, but next week I'll be gone at camp again—this time as a counselor! (It's my first time counseling and I'm the youngest counselor.) I'm super nervous and I'd really appreciate all your prayers. Thank you all!

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like a blast!!!!!!! I'm going to my camp next month and I can't wait!! :D

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    1. It was amazing! Have a great time at camp! Is it a Christian Camp?

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  2. Great post, Bethany, and so encouraging. :) Definitely something I needed to hear! I'll be praying for you as you head back to camp as a counselor! :D

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    1. Thanks! I'm so glad that God was able to bless you though this. Thanks so much for the prayers! Camp went really well.

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  3. Oh my gosh, how fun! ... and stressful. I will definitely be praying for you, Bethany! I'm sure it will be an awesome experience. <3

    // katie grace
    a writer's faith

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    1. Thank you, Katie! All prayers are really appreciated. I had a wonderful time at the camp.

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Blessings,
Bethany R.