Your story is so important!

Hello from Hartford!
I am learning so much here! God is showing me so much! I hope God is teaching you guys a lot as well!
Today I realized how important it is to share your story. I have a kid in my small group at camp who is quite a challenge. He is an awesome kid, but very angry sometimes. Today was a hard day for him. As the day grew a little bit more chaotic I grew a little bit more frustrated but also a little bit more concerned.

He had isolated himself away from the group after I told my group that because of their behavior we would not be going to the playground (I was not their favorite person after that haha) He blamed himself for this and I told him that it was everyones decisions and behaviors who made this happen. It was no ones fault alone.

I began to tell him how I felt upset about having to do that. I explained to him that when I was his age and even older I thought everything was my fault. I told him that he was so loved and that he is valuable. I told him that he could come to me for anything. He still looked pretty upset after like 15 minutes of trying to calm him down and I again asked him if he wanted to talk about anything. Well he did.

He shared with me a little bit of his story. He also is adopted. He told me his feelings about it.I then shared my story about that with him. I think he was surprised that we, two different people from very different places, actually had something in common. It was encouraging to see him open up about more of his feelings after I shared my story with him. I really feel like this was a breakthrough. I really feel like God used me to get through to him.

I was on the verge of tears just talking to him. Our story is so different...but some of the feelings and emotions we feel about our adoptions is pretty close.

I want to encourage all of you to share your story. Embrace who you God is making you! Your past is important to the person you are becoming! I learned that sharing your story, getting vulnerable, and stepping out of your comfort zone is so important!

Love you guys!

Please just be praying for this amazing kid. If you want to pray by name his name is Dion. Please just pray for me as well and the relationships between him and the rest of my group.