**Please note:  The blog posts that I write for my time at the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home will be mentioned in this blog, Sarah’s Spiritual Walk. I forgot to mention in my previous blog post that from May 17th-August 16th, 2019, I will be writing entirely about my time as an intern at the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home. No other posts will be written about other topics except about my time at the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home. After the dates mentioned, I will write about other topics that target youth, both boys and girls. Thanks everyone for understanding and enjoy reading my posts!! 🙂

It was a beautiful and hot Summer day at the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home yesterday.

Yesterday, I went on a nature hike at the Sweetwater Creek State Park in Palmetto, Georgia with the children and teacher staff of the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home. Throughout the Summer at the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home, I will be going on many, MANY field trips with the children and this just happened to be one of them. It is the first of MANY field trips that I will be going on many fun adventures with the children! 😉

Anyway, I went nature hiking with the children and led a group of children with one other teacher while other staff were divided up into teams to lead other children on the nature hike. Me and the other teacher led about 10-12 children and hiked for about 1 mile on the nature trails of Sweetwater Creek State Park. I looked above the tall, tall hills of the sites in front of me. I gazed upon the streaming rivers of water that flowed about like milk and honey mentioned in the Bible. I marveled when me, the other teacher, and the children reached the end of the nature trails.

~”On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.”~Ezekiel 20:6, English Standard Version~

It was a marvelous site that was spectacular to behold!! I took in the fresh air of the nature day, admiring the beauty of the hill tops that was like a mountain top that we reached from the nature trails that was the valleys. Praise the Lord for majesty!!

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”~Psalm 46:10, New Living Translation~

~”Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.”~Mark 11:23, English Standard Version~

It was in that moment that I was admiring the majesty of God that I found Jesus with my two eyes in the streaming rivers of water. My eyes marveled the clear, blue skies that was the nature God created, from the beginning to the end. I looked upon the rocks, which are like a firm foundation and symbolic of my salvation that is found in My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It is my hope that each boy and every girl will find Jesus this Summer. It is my hope that they will have a firm foundation in the Word of God this Summer. It is my hope that every child here will have a firm foundation in Christ Jesus alone and worship Him as their Cornerstone this Summer, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

~”For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”~1 Corinthians 3:11, English Standard Version~

The teacher staff, children, and me had lunch by a picnic area near the lakes of the Sweetwater Creek State Park. It was beautiful to behold the sites of the lake around and about us. The touch of God’s hands left His mark and His fingerprints on the lakes, as I could see and admire with my own two eyes.

One of the children came up to me as I was marveling and taking in the nature sites of the lakes. I cannot mention her real name, but for the sake of this blog post, we will call her Harmony. Harmony, who is a middle school aged girl, opened up to me and shared things with me about her past that she did not tell the other teacher staff of the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home ( I know this because after we had this conversation, she explained to me that she did not tell any of the other teachers this). She told me that when she was about four years old, she got in a car accident and as a result of the car accident, she had some bones fractured on the neck area of her body.

I could tell that by the way she interacted with me that she felt safe and comfortable. This gave me a chance to put my Pastoral Counseling techniques that I learned from Liberty University into practice as we interacted with each other. I was quiet and listened to her tell me her story. After hearing this story, I said to her, “Sounds like you had a horrible accident (Pastoral Counseling listening technique of acknowledgement.—in this case of her situation). I hope you get well soon and I will be praying for you and that God will heal you.”

After I told her this, she thanked me for telling her that I will pray for her. Shortly after our interactions, I confided in one of the teacher staff in what Harmony told me about her car accident so that they would be aware and that they would know better ways to witness and minister to her. The teacher staff, who I told, thanked me for sharing this with her and told me that Harmony has a hard time opening up to other children and feels more comfortable around adults. She also told me that the children shun Harmony because of the rash marks that are around her lips. This gave me more insight for how to pray for Harmony and that God would heal every part of her, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I thanked God for opening up the opportunity for me to interact with Harmony for I know that this is the first of many, MANY interactions that I will have with the children of which God will open up doors for me to actively engage with the children in conversations that enable me to utilize my Pastoral Counseling listening techniques this Summer. Let us pray now! 🙂

Dear God,

I thank You for the beautiful nature that you allowed for me, the teacher staff of the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home, and the children to admire yesterday. I thank You that You alone are the Creator and Beholder of nature and that You are present (everywhere), in the Name of Jesus Christ. Thank You that Your promise still stands, even when the ground is sinking sand, that You will never leave us nor forsake us. I also thank You for giving Harmony boldness to interact with me and that Your Holy Spirit will give her and the other children empowerment to interact with me as this will be healing for them as You allow them to enter into Your healing presence. You are a God who heals and You are Harmony’s Healer. I lift up Harmony as well as the conversation that You opened up a door for me to have with her. I thank You that You even allowed this conversation to take place and that You divinely orchestrated it, for such a time was this time. I pray that Your Holy Spirit will touch Harmony and that she will experience healing, physically in her neck, and spiritually, so that she will come to know Jesus through me and the other teacher staff of the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home. I thank You that You blessed the conversation that You allowed us to have and pray that You will guide Harmony in her interactions with the teacher staff and children. Bless Harmony and the children, who You allowed me to lead today at the Sweetwater Creek State Park. Thank You Jesus! We give You the glory, the honor, and the praise.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen!

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