Camp Moriah… He blessed it again!

I’ve said it before. I do not know of a camp that I believe to be as beneficial as Camp Moriah for girls (https://www.1615ministries.com/little-mountain-ministries/camp-moriah). I know of lots of camps which do great things in the lives of kids, but this one is unique in its Titus 2 focus and in the mighty hearts of volunteers and donors that make it possible for all attendees to participate free of any charge. It’s also pretty special that there’s now a simultaneous program geared for the moms and grandmothers of these girls (and any other women who’d like to come.) The only limiting factor is that the space fills up very quickly in the spring when registration opens up. There are no limiting factors in its potential for the future of the church with the help of our great God. 

I know a mom who drives both ways (twice!) from Texas so her daughter, Isabella, can be there.  “It’s worth it and more’” she says. Another mom made the two trips in one week from north Florida and others were in attendance from Georgia and Missouri. The top twenty highlights, from my vantage point (in no certain order) are listed below. But the highlights were truly happening all the time. They were not magic moments, but the hand of His providence was all over the whole week! 

(Disclaimer: I am just a teeny little cog in this machine. Directors Carla Michael and Maria Seibert are the ones who work so hard year-round to make this happen. If you ever want to invest in this unique venture, let me know and I can put you in touch!)

1. A girl who was converted, by Cody Michael of Project Unify, about four years ago as she and her mother sought shelter from a Florida hurricane in a dark and scary church building. She learned the gospel by flashlight, while the storm raged, making that awful hurricane a gift of eternal Providence for her soul. She returned again this year for Camp Moriah. Her devotional on Thursday morning was a powerful reminder of the potency of the simple gospel. I pray she will be the beauty from those ashes through the eternal ages. 
2. Late nights in the library. I got to sleep there in the middle of all the books in that church building. And, almost every night, before I slept, some mom or counselor or camper came around to talk about spiritual challenges and we always prayed together about whatever it was. Then I just watched as God seems to always provide just what is needed, or at least a starting point toward the healing or the needed peace or the biblical answer or the restored relationship. I had no answers; not really. But we knock and God opens. 
3. The amazing women from area churches who cooked and served the food every day. The hearts behind that counter were Matthew 25 sheep hearts!
4. The song we made up and sang all week. It had a Back Street Boys tune and beat, but the lyrics were about things that matter. 
5. The chance to visit the building where a church established in 1805 met for almost two centuries. The story of Old Philadelphia arrested my attention and I count it a true privilege to have been able to teach a lesson about restored New Testament Christianity to the girls, in the same place where Marshall Keeble, Jesse Sewell and David Lipscomb preached. I’m still amazed we got to do this. And we learned how much the Christians of the nineteenth century endured to worship; no bathrooms, no air-conditioning, no padded pews or sound systems. We also got to hear descriptions of how master and slave worshipped as one in the antebellum assemblies of that body of believers. In that building, I stepped off a “stagecoach” in my long apron and bonnet and, from an old Bible in my very old trunk, I showed the “women of an 1810 community”  how to start a church when there is none. I got to do that! What a blessing that I got to do that in that place that shouted “restoration.”  But what a blessing we really CAN do that, ANYWHERE, in the whole wide world. We can restore the New Testament church. 
6. The sweet hospitality of the ladies who taught the girls how to make cornbread in their brand new iron skillets. They even seasoned the skillets for them. What a blessing that those skillets were donated by that skillet company, for every girl! And how special that they got to gather in the homes of various community Christian women and mix and bake together!
7. The Viola Pizza Company teaching those girls to make hand-tossed pizza that was, perhaps, the best I’ve ever eaten! They let 50 girls make individual pizzas! This followed a lesson, in the local church building, comparing making pizza to hospitality. 
8. The night, in the library, I got to show a counselor details about how to have a Bible study with a camper…a study she was to have within the next few hours….And the way that little camper came to me the next day and said “ I found out some things about my counselor. She is a great teacher! She really made me understand a lot about the Bible!” That little girl’s family are not members of the church of Christ. But they are allowing that sweet thirteen-year-old to come to Polishing the Pulpit. Again, this week touches eternity. 
9. The way the girls want me to meet their mamas on the last day. 
10. Wednesday night when they let my husband, Glenn, be the visiting speaker at the midweek Bible study. When I get covered up and way too busy, he takes the slack. He brought the Thursday breakfast foods. I hope I do that for him sometimes, too. (and he brought a great message about how we know we are saved.)
11. Sewing! Every girl completed a pair of comfy pajama pants. For a while there, I thought a lot about that verse, “Whatsoever you sew, that will you also rip!” But every mistake had a correction and every girl finished the project. They wore them out at the fire for singing. In fact, I saw pajamas at every event after Wednesday.  
12. Every single bit of Bible teaching. And there was a lot. 
13. Beautiful singing! I especially loved “The Greatest Command.” (And yes, we had girls who were great at the bass part!)
14. Diaper cakes we made. This class was done by a dear new friend, who became a Christian just last March, through the efforts of Cassie Michael and others. She’s a third year digger and has helped with camp for at least three years. I assumed she was a Christian. Hearing about her baptism was THE highlight of the Moriah experience this year. I even got to watch her lead a song!  And she gave me a tile coaster she had made featuring the song “Trust and Obey” It’s a treasure in my kitchen.
15. Mrs. Sue’s Turtle Cake!
16. The West Huntsville women who made three of our meals. That means they fed 150 hungry girls last Thursday. Betty Hall, Lisa Holmes, Rebecca Averitte and Jennifer Crowden were onsite that day to heat up the food and dish it out! Tracy Jeter did an amazing job of managing that kitchen for the whole week! Several churches helped in big ways.
17. The morning I got up and went into the auditorium of the building and three women were in there doing a zoom Digging Deep session.  There were women from at least four different states.  Technology lets great events for Him collide!
18. The fact that, when it rained, and we had to sew instead of play on a water slide, they were all…”Oh good! That’s okay. We get to finish our pajamas!” Several of them finished and then, all on their own, made little totes or pencil bags. Some of them will be sewing for life! 
19. Five sunrises in one of the most beautiful places in Tennessee. 
20. Seven girls who said all of the memory work. Three procrastinated past the announced deadline, so they had to say this verse, in addition:  “I made haste, and did not delay to keep Your commandments”  (Psalm 119:60). We had a little pinning ceremony for all of these finishers!

I know some of you moms who are reading, personally. You have worked so hard to keep your children from the devil’s present work in our culture. This is a great place to give your girls a little more of what you have already put in them.