A new blog challenge: Summer of Something New

Hey guys!

You may not know this, but this summer I am currently teaming up with one of my favorite bloggers, Annaliese at Southern Bell In Training, to do a new blog challenge! The challenge is called "Summer of Something New," and for this blog challenge Annaliese, Elle, Jenna,  Michaela and I will be committing to trying one new thing every week for 6 weeks and then sharing with you guys every Friday! I am looking forward to these upcoming Fridays for the next six weeks, woohoo! So friends, here we go! Here is the first official Friday post for this new blog challenge.

For those of you that don't know, this week I was at a camp called Washington Family Ranch. This camp is absolutely beautiful. There is a few huge water slides, a cliff jump, a rope course, and more fun things to do. What many of these fun things have in common is their altitude. Ha, in other words, they are not height friendly. They are made for those campers or leaders who are willing to take a leap of faith and face their fears.

At camp we are each challenged as leaders to "do things for our kids." We want to let our campers know that we are just as scared as they are to participate in certain events at camp. We also want to show our campers that just because we are scared doesn't mean that we are going to give up. Well for me particularly, I was terrified of the cliff jump. Last year at camp, I had even been too terrified to do the cliff jump. I felt like a failure, and that I had really let my kids down. This year, I came to camp with a better attitude. I came to camp knowing that the spirit in me was greater than my fears in this world. I knew that with the God of the universe behind me, I could do anything.

As soon as we got off the bus at camp this year, the camp announcer yelled out for two leader volunteers. Before I could even look around, my girls were already screaming at the camp announcer to "pick me!". The next thing I knew, the camp announcer had chosen me as one of the two leaders to go do the cliff jump in my clothes right then and there. As the camp announcer and I were walking over to the cliff jump together with the other volunteer leader, I couldn't believe that I was actually about to do the jump. I was freaking out on the inside, yet totally calm on the outside. I walked up to the cliff jump in complete peace. However, once I looked off into the water from the top of the jump, I was terrified. With a thought of 'here goes nothing,' the next thing I knew, I was jumping off the cliff into the water. 

It felt amazing. I couldn't believe I had finally done it as I gasped for air after falling into the water. There was no other way to explain why I was so calm as I walked up to do the cliff jump. I was at complete peace. You guys, this is crazy because I am legit TERRIFIED of heights. You hear me?! TERRIFIED. Although I was a bit nervous, the majority of me was totally okay with it, which was crazy. It was totally Jesus.

So thanks God, for giving me the courage to do the things I could never do on my own. Week one of the Summer of Something New blog challenge complete!

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xo Jess