The Love of a broken one.

To love like God loves in the midst of brokenness.. To put all you have aside and serve even when it feels all is lost. That is what I was shown last week. 

Last week was our second and final week of foster care. Foster Care camp is by far my favorite camp that we do during the summer. No longer are we just the background people running the activities, with foster care we are on the front lines. We worship with the kids, dance, do activities and just love on them. So for three days that is what we do. We show love to a lot of kids who have been told their whole life that they are not loved. Not only are we working with the kids but we work with their foster families as well. We show them how awesome they are for loving kids who have never been shown love. For enduring all that these kids bring to the house and treating them as if they are their own. Its safe to say that foster care camp is a weekend full of love and joy. 

Celest.
Vibrant, loving, young, joyful, demanding, courageous, caring, friendly, beautiful. Those are just a few words to describe young Celest. This little girl changed my life. I am not even sure how I met her, all I know is that the whole weekend she was my little sidekick. She showed me what a child like love looked like. Despite everything she had gone through in her short 6 years, despite being taken from here mom just six months ago, despite everything, she was joyful. She loved taking pictures with me and she loved to swim. All weekend I just hung out with her and got to know her. We watched movies, swam, danced, sang, and ate every meal together. Through getting to know Celest I got to know here foster family. They were an older couple who just loved children! I got to share with them my heart and they shared theirs with me. It was hard to say goodbye to Celest and her foster family. I did learn that they actually go to church right next to my college so I am hoping to see them again. 

Jasper, Tyler, and Family
Jasper came up to us one night and asked to play volleyball with the staff. He is a 14 year old who had just been placed with his foster family two months ago. Its safe to say that he was better than most of us at volleyball. While the staff played I sat in the car and got to talk to Jaspers foster mom. She loved him so much! Her heart for the lost was beautiful. All weekend long I got to hang out with her and really get to know her. At the moms breakfast I sat with her and she stared in amazement at mama brown and listing intently to her story. I got to meet her son Tyler. He was mentally handicapped but was so loving towards everyone. It was a true blessing to get to know this beautiful family. 

Those are just a few of the people that God allowed me to meet this past week. It was amazing to see the diversity between the families. I loved seeing the teenagers and how they interacted with the younger kids in the home. Everything about this week was wonderful. God tells us to love His children and this was a weekend where God was present and we were loving His children. They showed me so much love as well. Celest and her family just by being present in my life. Everyone telling us thank you for the hard work we do here. Little babies who hold your hand for 30 minutes. Every part of this weekend was love. 

God's love is unconditional and our love towards His beautiful children should be the same. 

This is my final week at Camp Buckner. Please be in prayer that God just softens my heart and opens my eyes to see His beauty in every situation. 

Also as a side note that deserves jumping up and down over! One of our summer staff members accepted Christ a few days ago!!!!! Be in Prayer for Her as she begins her walk. 

God bless <3

Heaven Slaughter 

Foster Care session 1

The beautiful smiles from Gods children, the high fives, sweet hello and hard goodbye, a simple I love you and your were awesome in the dunking booth. This past week has been a huge blessing. 

        This past week was the first session of Camp Buckner foster camp. Its a two night three day camp where foster families come to just be served and loved for a few days! It's the camp we have been waiting for all summer. I was only able to be part of the camp one of the three days, but that one day was a huge blessing. We were encouraged to really interact with the kids, eat meals with them, swim with them, play with them, dance with them and just love them. That was not a hard task to complete. After breakfast we all ventured off to play with the sweet kids outside of the dining hall. I sat with three children playing in the dirt. One little boy walked up to me and told me he was planting me multiple coconut trees. Seeing the joy these kids have from the simplest things. I gave one little girl a little seed to plant and her face lit up as I sat with her. She loved that I was taking time to get to know here by asking her name and age. I couldn't help but smile when I looked at their lit up faces. After that we all met up and had a pump it up session. We got with the kids and just danced to ridiculous fun songs! One little girl who was around two was standing by herself. She was trying to dance to the song. I go up to dance with her and she lifts her arms for me to pick her up. I pick her up and dance with her to one of the songs. When that song ends and were standing around waiting for the next song she lays her head on my shoulder and just gives me a long hug. For a moment she just stayed there then she went back to dancing with me. 

       That night we had a Buckner state fair for the kids. All of us paired up and came up with one game to do for the kids. For most of them they had never experienced something like this. It was an honor to put the fair on for them. My booth was the dunking booth. I was freezing and wet but seeing how much joy the kids got out of dunking me made it all worth it. They just laughed and their faces lit up every time the water fell on me. I couldn't help but laugh and enjoy it! We also had little prizes or them. Seeing how excited they got for the little toy in a bag was great! Child like joy! One kid told one of our staff members that he had never gotten a prize in his life and that night he got six! How awesome is it that we got to be part of that kids first prize. They were all so joyful and lovable! They wanted nothing more than to hang out with us, and we wanted nothing more than to love on them for a weekend! At the end of the fair we had another dance party. I saw kids who were afraid to dance break out of that shell and just dance in joy. I got to dance with so many beautiful kids who were way better than me! 

In one day God showed me more of His loving character than ever before. 

       The next day we were all sitting at a table eating about to get started on turnover. Most of the families had already left but there were still quite a few left on campus. One family with about five kids came up and said by to all of us. They proceeded to just love on us. They came up and gave us high fives, continually told us hank you and told us they loved us and will miss us. Honestly I could not tell you any of their names, but their words are forever on my heart. One of the girls in the family gave me multiple hugs and told me thank you. All I could say back was "no, thank you" These kids have been through way more than I have in there few short years. They have endured pain that I could not even imagine. Their beauty and their joy is inspiring. They were always smiling and laughing and loving us. 

        I was here to serve these kids. I was here to love on them with a Christ like love. They helped me more than I helped them. I really felt Gods love in their sweet hugs. I saw His light shining through their beautiful smiles and laughs. Its crazy how we go out onto the mission field to serve others, but those we are serving end up stealing our hearts and serving us without even knowing it. These kids draw me closer to God and strive to have a love and heart like they do. 

This week God taught me to love others with the love of a child. They have a genuine love, just like Gods love for us even when we are the least deserving of it. 

God bless <3 

Heaven Slaughter 

Listen my child

The voice of God and the certainty of His calling. In it way it scares me how clearly I heard God speaking to me this past week.

I will not lie and say that this past week has been easy. I have struggled alot. This blog post is not going to be about the camp that was here this past week its going to be more about how God has been speaking this week.

I have struggled. 

Its as simple as that. I have had a hard week and have fallen into things that not of God. One major problem I have had this week is anger and hurt. I have found myself more angry than I have ever been. I have been on edge all week and that has show in my encounters with people. The main reason I have been so angry is that I have began to realize what God's calling on my life is and I have not been seeking after that calling. I have a direction and a drive to follow but I have been letting worldly things get in my way. Through all of that God has really done some work on my heart.

For months now I have felt a calling to home. That is a hard calling for me. I spent 18 years running away from home and from the atmosphere I was in. So for God to tell me to go home, that was hard for me to handle. It took me months to realize that it was Him speaking. This past week I have never heard God speak with such a clear voice to me. Here is what I heard.

Go home my child, and I will provide. 

I feel a calling to go home and work with the youth in my church. After the week we experienced at Seek Week, I really feel called to follow through with them and to just do life with them for a bit. For years I have tired to get away from my house and the abusive atmosphere that surrounded it. When I graduated I got as far away as I could and I spent a year avoiding holidays so I wouldn't have to go home. Now I feel that God has grown me so much and taken away so much fear and hatred to home that its my time to listen to Him and go do ministry within my own family. All of this terrified me. It still does. After my boss told us something in a meeting I knew what I needed to do. Here is what he said. 

"Your dream job will never satisfy you like your calling." 

How true is that? Working here this summer is a dream job of mine. I love working here and getting to do ropes and zipline. I love watching week after week as kids come through and have an unforgettable week. I love being a part of that. I love the beautiful scenery and the never ending Gatorade. I love the friendships I have made. Working here is my dream job. My calling is home. 

I made a commitment. Knowing that I was being called home and staying here made me feel like I was disobeying God. That is what made me most angry. That started showing in how I was treating others. Then I prayed. Why I didn't pray to begin with. I'm not sure, maybe because I am human! I prayed God will show me that He would still be pleased with me even if I stayed here instead of going home. Here is what happened. 

I prayed right before I went to work. I'm not sure what day it was, but I remember I was heading out to the ropes course to do the leap of faith. One of the first groups that came to the ropes course had been at the zip line with me earlier that morning. It was nice to see some familiar faces. That is when God answered my prayers. One of the girls in the group was not feeling well so she was laying down on the bench. When I was done working my element I went and sat next to her just to check on her. She told me she had already been to the nurse and her stomach was hurting to the point she was in tears. To get her mind off the pain I just starting talking to her.  I asked her how she liked camp and what she was learning. I asked if she had learned about Jesus and what He did for us. When she said yes, I asked her to tell me. She did. Then I asked her her favorite verse. She said John 3:16, but she couldn't remember it fully. I knew the verse but instead of just telling her I asked her if she would like for me to read it to her. When she answered yes I grabbed my bible and looked it up. That seemed to calm her down a little. I then asked her if I could pray for her. She said yes. I placed my hand on her stomach and prayed for healing. When I got done she said she began to feel a little better. The pain was bearable now. Shortly after her group got up to leave. I could tell she didn't want to. Honestly I didn't want her to, I could have talked to this sweet girl all day long. She finally stood up and prepared to leave with the group. I said goodbye and turned to get ready for the next group. She then comes up to me and gives me a hug and said "thank you". 

Right then God answered my prayer through this sweet girl. I was at ease. I felt that God would be pleased with me and that He would use me even if I didn't follow His calling home. That one moment made everything worth it. Today as I sat out by the water I was reminded of that moment. Once again Satan was attacking and telling me I was useless. That I didn't belong here and I would never do anything. Than that one encounter with that beautiful child came to mind. The amazing thing is that is just one of the many encounters I have had this summer with children. I know that God has so many more of those encounters in store for me. Especially as we start preparing for the foster kids next week. 

God speaks in the most beautiful ways. This is my dream job. This is my summer mission trip. This is where I belong for this season of my life. God can use me. God will use me. I am on the mission field and I am on the front lines ready to fight for Him and His beautiful children. 

This week God taught me how to listen, but He also taught me how to see every opportunity as a mission.  He taught me to just shut up and not let my emotions get the best of me. He showed me how to love those who hurt me and how to do all I do for Him not for myself. He told me 

Listen my Child. 

Follow God. Lean on Him. Let Him be your strength. Do all work for His glory. 

God bless,

Heaven Slaughter

In the beginning. God......

I can not quite put into words this past week. In fact it has taken me a few days to gather my thoughts in order to even begin writing this blog. Seek week 2014 left me speechless and more in love with my father than ever before.

I will start out by just celebrating and rejoicing in the Lord. We had two beautiful girls come to know the Lord this week. I could not be more happy to have Reagan and Jazmine as my new sisters in Christ. Every single kid that my home church brought to seek week made a commitment to the Lord. I know for the girls we had Marie re identify with God. For the guys we had a few re identify with God and we had a few who felt a call into ministry. My heart is singing and dancing with all the commitments! Over all the camp had over 40 salvation's, over 100 re identifications and about 30 call to ministry. How amazing is that!?!??! When God enters a room no one leaves untouched. I just could no longer hold back how excited I was to gain so many new brothers and sisters in Christ! Now on to talking about the whole week!

 We arrived at camp around 5. We took a few hours to settle in and fill out all the paper work. At 7 seek week officially began. The moment we walked into the worship center I knew that the Holy Spirit was present and that this was going to be one spirit filled week! We started the week of with a powerful message. Kyle Byrd spoke about how we were created in the image of God. I often forget this and this past week I saw that my girls had forgotten this to. We are perfectly handcrafted. Made in the image of a beautiful father who loves and cares for us. This intensity of praise to the Lord just continued to grow throughout the days! It has been a while since I have been in a room full of people just worshiping the Lord freely. There was one night where the music stopped and 300+ voices just continued to sing and dance for about and hour. It reminded me of the beauty of God and His children. We didn't need instruments to worship Him. Our voices are instruments that bring Him the highest praise. I saw as each night walls were broken and kids began to worship God without fear of what others thought. One of the girls in my group all week struggled with the desire to lift her hands in praise and the fear of that not being what she grew up doing. She was afraid of what others would think. By the end of the week she was lifting her hands up and dancing like no one was watching. It was Beautiful. One night I looked up during worship and in the row in front of me I saw the guys from my church with their arms around one another and heads bowed worshiping together. This brought tears to me and I just stared in amazement. About three days into camp one of my friends got hurt during the crazy and fun dances. She dislocated a knee and sprained her ankle. When she fell and I realized she was hurt I immediately shut down and went into instant prayer mode. I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and when I looked up it was Hannah, one of my girls. She and the other girls gathered around and said they wanted to pray for Madlynn. Instantly all the guys joined in and we got in a circle and all began to pray out loud at once for her. Theses kids who barley knew this  girls felt like God was calling them to lift up a prayer for her. They followed the call and reacted. I just stood in tears once again at the beauty of 13 of Gods children praying for one of His hurt children.

I could go on and on with stores of amazement, but there are not enough words to sum up how the week went. I watched as kids ripped up their cool cards and really exploded for the Lord. I struggled with the words to say to a girl who felt the pain of loosing her mom a year ago. I listened as girls told me that they were not certain that they had a relationship with Christ. I rejoiced and cried when seeing the smiling faces and tears of girls who just accepted Christ. I prayed and held close a girl who finally felt God tugging on her heart to lay down here idols and her burdens and accept Him. I laughed to the point of tears at the ridiculous conversations in the cabins. I watched as a poem spoke to so many kids and as lyrics filled their lives. I danced like I never have before and I sang like the Lord was right in front of me. I stood in awe as 14 rec members led kids in outrageous games but shared God with these kids and related the games to spiritual matters. I saw the beauty of children and the joy in their eyes as they felt love for the first time, and I watched the sweet hugs and smiles of sisters rejoicing with new adopted sister. My heart if overjoyed and filled with so much amazement!

If I had to sum up this past week in one sentence here is how it would read.

God came, He spoke, lives changed.

I asked some of the  kids to sum up the week in one sentence Here is their responses.

Marie- I am not worthless!!!

Ty- This week is the week I wait for all year long and I really didn't want to leave. I love the rec team and had alot of fun learning about God in their games. I love worship and had a lot of fun dancing and singing with the Lord and listing to Jake's poems. This is honestly the best week of the year for me!!

Tristan- I realized my true purpose in being called to go to camp at last minute.

Jasmine- Camp was the best thing that could have happened to me.

Those are just a few of the amazing things said about this week! This week God showed me His true calling on my life. His calling is for me to work with teens. Work with girls who feel worthless and helpless in this world. Never have I had a more clear picture of what I was made to do. When God has a plan He sees it through every time! Its time for all of us to dance in His glory! I can not be more blessed to have had the opportunity to go as a leader. I only hope that God blesses me with that same opportunity next summer.God has such amazing things in store for the Paint Rock youth! They all have willing hearts and are ready to follow His call. James has been equipped as an amazing youth pastor and is ready to lead these kids wherever God calls him to. Being part of FBC Paint Rock youth for the past three years has been a life changing experience. Getting to be the girls leader this summer is something I will never forget!


Here are a few photos I took while at seek week this past week.

Sweet hugs from Jasmine and Reagan
after they accepted Christ into their lives! 

I love the smiles on their faces as
they celebrate their new sisters in Christ

Trace and hannah after the mud fight

         
 

Here is a group photo of me with the girls! I am so blessed by them.

We love skyler! 

                                    

Pyramid time

   
                           

I love these kids.

Seek Week 2014 is a week that will forever be part of my heart. God changed lives and the kingdom was furthered. I wish that I could relive those moments forever. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to be part of this spirit filled week. I am beyond joyful at the community between the youth group. I love that God can move in mighty ways. 

You are made in the image of the beautiful, majestic, mighty, loving God. Live in that image! <3

God bless <3 

Heaven Slaugther