Sandy’s Email:
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Well Cecil, between you and God, you DID IT! Those boys had the time of their lives!!! Jonah called us last
night and talked 45 min about every detail of his time with you. So many funny things, so many fun things, so many memorable things, and a super natural amount of seeds sown for the sake of the Kingdom in each of those boys. They will never forget it. Never. I believe it has made such an impact on Jonah that it will carry him through the difficult years ahead in the ‘world’ of junior high. The lesson about the arrow meant everything to him and allowed the Holy Spirit to show him that it is his Heavenly Father that is his source.
When we asked him which camp (out of the 3 we sent him to this summer) was his favorite, his response was of course yours. When asked why, he said, “well the other two told us about God and talk to us about God, but Cecil gave us ‘metaphors, and that taught us about God.” Cecil, you were led by the Holy Spirit to teach like Jesus taught with the parables, and it WORKS! Wow, what a week.
Now, you’re younger than me, but I still know how tired you must be. So I pray for your strength to return
quickly. And then I ask for the abundance of strength and provision to come for whatever He has you doing in this calling in the future. I pray it is to continue, because all the boys said, they were going back.
Sandy's Testimony:
SOME SAY THAT GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS. WHILE MAYBE THAT IS TRUE, I SAY THAT
HE WORKS CONTINUALLY IN THE STEPS WE MAKE AS WE APPROACH OUR FULL DESTINY.
IT IS WITH THIS BELIEF THAT OUR STEPS CROSSED THE PATH OF CECIL CARDER. WHEN I FIRST
MET CECIL, BRIEFLY, HE SHARED A VISION THAT GOD HAD GIVEN HIM WHICH LED HIM TO
CHANGE HIS LIFE. I WAS INTRIGUED BY A MAN OF GOD LISTENING AND FOLLOWING THE LORD.
ABOUT A YEAR LATER, WHILE LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT CAMP THE LORD WANTED OUR FAMILY
TO SEND OUR GRANDSON TO, I RAN ACROSS THRIVING OAKS CAMP ON THE INTERNET. THERE
WAS MY FRIEND I HAD CROSSED PATHS WITH…CECIL CARDER. SOMETIMES YOU KNOW
INSTANTLY THE WILL OF GOD, AND WE KNEW, THIS WAS TO BE THE CAMP FOR OUR
GRANDSON.
THE CAMP WAS ‘THE EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANT ABOVE ALL THAT WE COULD ASK OR IMAGINE’.
THE SMALL GROUP OF 4, THE SECLUDED SETTING IN NATURE, THE WISDOM OF GODLY MEN
WITH YOUNG MEN, AND THE PEACE AWAY FROM THE WORLD’S HYPE WAS JUST WHAT THE
FOUR BOYS NEEDED IN ORDER TO SEE AND HEAR GOD. CECIL AND THE MEN TAUGHT THESE
BOYS PRINCIPLES OF TRUTH FOUND IN THE WORD OF GOD. WHEN WE HEARD OUR
GRANDSON RETELLING THE PRINCIPLES, IT WAS EVIDENT THAT THE CAMP HAD TAUGHT AS
JESUS DID, IN PARABLES THAT ENABLED THE BOYS TO SEE AND UNDERSTAND TRUTH.
OUR ONLY CONCERN IN THE BEGINNING WAS THAT IT WAS TOO SHORT A CAMP. NOW,
KNOWING WHAT ALL HAD BEEN DEPOSITED INTO THEIR LIVES, THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN
OVERSATURATED IF IT HAD BEEN LONGER. OUR GRANDSON DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE, AND I
KNOW IT WAS BECAUSE HE NEEDED THIS PLACE OF PEACE. I HOPE AND BELIEVE THAT THE
SEEDS THEY RECEIVED WENT SO DEEP THAT THEY DID TRULY TAKE THE ‘CAMP’ HOME WITH
THEM.
AMAZINGLY, THAT WAS NOT THE END OF CECIL IN THEIR LIVES. HE HAS CONTINUED TO PRAY
FOR THE BOYS AND WORK TO CONTINUE HIS ENCOURAGEMENT OF EACH OF THEM.
I PRAISE GOD FOR WATCHING OVER MY STEPS, AND I PRAY THAT YOURS MIGHT ALSO CROSS
THE STEPS OF THRIVING OAKS CAMP.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY,
SANDY, A GRANDMA