“What he takes away, I will give back.”
by Kerry Phibbs
August 10, 2021
As we close each week of family camp, a tender time is always had at Victory Circle. Our good and faithful God kicked it off big time starting Week One. A courageous single mom stood up and shared what being at Mount Hermon meant to her and her children. She thanked those who gave to the Campership Fund because without it, they would not have been able to attend Family Camp.
I also extend heartfelt gratitude to those of you who enabled this sweet family to come.
I’d love for you to hear from Heather’s heart.
Hello, my name is Heather, and through a generous campership, my family was able to attend Week 1 of Family Camp this summer. We could not have come without that help.
I want to share with you how much this week meant to us and the impact that campership made. It’s been two years since my kids and I have been removed from a husband and father who struggled with alcoholism, drugs, and abuse. All of our money went to feed his addictions, and we had little left. We had our electricity turned off, we couldn’t pay rent and had cars repossessed. The list goes continues. To become free we remained hidden for 30 days for our protection. It was a very bad situation.
God provided two jobs for me but we still struggled financially. Last year we moved twice during the pandemic, all while I was teaching full time, working my other job, and having my children schooled from home. It was exhausting, but we leaned on God the entire time. He continues to provide for our finances and strength.
I grew up going to Mount Hermon, and it always had a special place in my heart as a child. Whenever anyone would ask me to go to my “happy place,” I would immediately picture Mount Hermon. It was a place where I felt safe and I could always be myself. I wanted my kids to experience that.
When I found out that Mount Hermon was open, I was so excited for you all. I was sad at the same time, thinking that another summer would pass and I would again not be able to take my family. My mom shared there were scholarships available. I had no idea, so that day I looked into it and applied for a campership. The day we found out we really could go to Mount Hermon, we were overjoyed! The kids were screaming and just couldn’t believe we were going to be able to come.
After just a few days at camp, my kids felt the same way about Mount Hermon that I did. They were immediately connected. The staff at Day Camp welcomed them in and made them feel special. My daughter’s Jr. High counselor was the sweetest and just loved on her all week. The kids each made friends quickly, which is a huge blessing, especially with moving twice and not being in school, which has made creating friendships hard.
We loved being around other Christian families at camp, we don’t get to do that much. We loved all the Adventure opportunities. My kids had never done a ropes course, zip line, archery or gone on a night hike. We had never done anything like this before!
For the first time my daughter experienced youth group. She loved worshipping with her friends, hearing a speaker and playing games. I couldn’t believe how much she learned. My daughter has a lot of anxiety. She witnessed the most abuse; she remembers more than her siblings remember. On the second day, she shared that her anxiety was not present at Mount Hermon and she was at peace. Our conversations all week were amazing as we went through the devotional questions and discussed all she was learning. I feel like she grew a lot in a short amount of time. We were able to come up with some action plans for when we returned home.
Every night we came back to the room and did our family devotional. What a bonding time for us, the kids shared a lot and I was able to share with them. The focused time was priceless. We have even done devotional time a few times since we returned.
I wish I could have captured their faces each day to share the joy and happiness that couldn’t be touched.
I want you to know what God did for me. I had been wanting to go through a book on forgiveness. So I bought a book and journal and started a few days before we arrived.
I still needed work on forgiving my ex husband. I had forgiven him for so much, but I was having a hard time. The daily struggle I feel of having to work two jobs because of his choices made it harder and harder to forgive. The bitterness was there every single day and I didn’t realize how much it was affecting me.
I chose to participate in the free counseling session at Family Camp. The counselor and I worked through some stuff and came to the realization that I needed to forgive my ex for this child support issue. He offered to meet with me again. The next day our speaker taught on forgiveness, so I spoke with him and he gave me additional insight. I met back with the counselor that day and I started to feel a peace that I could forgive him. I knew that I should, I just was having such a hard time processing it.
Later that night, we were at Victory Circle and the same speaker told me he had prayed a blessing over me. As we were praying for communion, I was praying for my ex and asking for forgiveness. I felt a peace and the Lord gave me the words, “What he takes away, I will give back. Look, you’re at Mount Hermon!” God kept telling me repeatedly that night and made it very clear! He was so right. My ex husband took so much from us, but the Lord just keeps providing…even a camperships for us to go to Family Camp.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this amazing opportunity and campership. We were blessed beyond measure.
This is one beautiful story out of so many that happen because of your generosity —Thank you.
If you’d like to help others experience the restoration, renewal and transformation that happens at camp through the love of Jesus, please give at mounthermon.org/give.
