Learning Curves

    I am learning how to deal with conflict as I'm here. It's a good thing to learn. I'm realizing just how little conflict I had to deal with growing up and coming into this ministry and having to deal with it 24/7 is definitely a learning curve. God has been so gracious to me  in giving me people who have dealt with this stuff for years.

    I think one of the cool aspects about the ranch is that all of the staff here are here to help the interns. They help you through the conflict that goes on and either affirm you in the choices that you take or help you to figure out what the next steps should be. They are also here for the interns spiritually too. They are constantly working to build us up as individuals and drive us towards Christ. I think that this is so cool and such a beautiful picture of the 1 Peter passage in the Bible:

     So as I'm on this journey I not only have the other interns who are struggling alongside me (and who have lots of wisdom from thier own life experience) but those who have gone before me and can speak wisdom into my life. The students who come here come from some pretty intense backgrounds.
     I'm here to tend the lives that God brings here. They come here with a lot of baggage but as we work through that God is gracious to allow us to see change in the students. It gives me hope that what is happening here is not in vain and spurs me on to keep entering into the conflict even when I would rather not.
     Here is a video that one of the current interns created. It gives you a little bit of a sneak peek into the kind of students that come here.

The Daily Battle

This is a "typical" day at the Ranch. No day is the same and every day has new challenges to face but I shall try to show you to the best of my ability what a day for an intern might look like.

Here is me being dorky on a not so typical ranch day. 

     I get up between 6 and 6:30 every morning so I can have some quiet time for myself and Jesus. I find that I need this time and look forward to it every morning. My goal is to get down to the lodge around 7 for breakfast which starts at 7:15. (I don't always make the goal but it helps to have one.)
     At 7:45 we start a devotional time which changes depending on the day of the week. Sometimes it's a group devotional time and other times it's an individual devotional time. These usually wrap up around 8:30 ish and we start work program at 8:40.
      Work program consists of chores that need to be done inside as well as odd jobs and chores that need to be done outside. (Think of things like sweeping, dusting, vacuuming, mopping, doing dishes, etc. for inside and think of things like washing cars, raking leaves, mowing grass, pulling weeds, and general grounds maintainence for outside.)
    As an intern I might be put on outdoor work program in the morning have a 15 minute break for snack at 10:25 then continue with outdoor until lunch (12:30). After lunch (1:10) I might be put on indoor until 5pm at which point the students and interns are dismissed to thier dorms for 1 hour.
    We come back to the lodge for dinner (which is prepared by an intern). This ends around 6:45. We have a designated group of people put in charge of making sure dinner gets cleaned up and dishes are done.
     Most people get to hang out and chill until 9:30 and then everyone gets sent to thier dorms. Sometimes we have special activities planned where people are expected to participate. Other nights we have what is referred to as "study hall" where those who are in school are taken to the school so that studying for tests and getting homework done might be accomplished in the hour of time given to them. If they feel they need to work for longer they are allowed to bring thier homework to the lodge and continue studying.
     Once we are in our dorms we get ready for bed and have some dorm bonding time where we as females can talk about our day and keep eachother updated on what's going on in our lives. (I have no idea what the guys do so I can't vouch for them.) My particular dorm has a prayer time where we pray for eachother. We have been then just doing our own personal thing but hopefully soon I can make it more of a group thing and go through a book that I started reading here called "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge.
   
     So that is a sneak peek into what a Ranch day might look like for an intern here. It seems easy on the surface until you are in the mix. Some days, on work program, it's a battle field trying to get the students to cooperate. Other days it's a battle to find stuff for students to do.
     As I've been here I'm learning what it means to rest in Jesus and having to relearn it over and over again. I'm thankful that God doesn't see me as having a big "F" on my life like those papers that you could get in middle school. I'm glad that God sees me as his child and gives me the grace to mess up over and over again. He may gently remind me that I'm relying on my own strength in the moment but it's always in a way that is full of grace.
     In a way this is another battle field. The battle to keep your focus on Christ and not get lost in the humdrum everyday life. I think at some level all Christians struggle with this and it's ok to give yourself grace and get back up and try again.

I have a good example of what I've been going through from the other day.

     I was working in the kitchen and one of the students was helping me to prep for dinner. He noticed that I seemed to be frustrated and tense and easily annoyed with people. (We'll call him Sour Patch Kid, SPKid for short). SPKid was talking to me and said, "Larissa, I know you are going through a hard time right now." He was such a sweetie about it. He said some more stuff to try to encourage me and then he said, "Trust God, he's going to make sure that it all turns out ok."
    This is coming from a STUDENT folks. Not another intern. Not one of the staff who work here. A student. To have God use SPKid to speak into my life at that moment was both humbling and encouraging at the same time. It meant that at least some of the teaching was getting through to him and that God could use anyone to remind me of who really was in charge.

That's all I have for today. TTFN 😉