"Words are Limiting" // Camp Well 2021 Reflections

Words feel so limiting to summarize an encounter so holy. I will share briefly now and more in-depth later on each of these topics as the words unfurl in my heart.

Sheer holiness is what I felt during every moment…yes, every single moment of my time at Lost Valley Ranch with the women of Camp Well.

The scenery speaks to the splendor and majesty of a remarkable God who does uncommon and supernatural works to get to the people He loves beyond measure. The mountain peaks, the valley deep, and the incineration of forestation spoke to the depths of my soul that I don’t know how to reach without the holy navigation of an intricate God. He has done great things and I stood sole deep in that truth this past week.

The meals shared around tables with once-strangers-now-friends impacted my heart with God’s love in unspeakable ways. Sharing liturgy, speaking deep truths, and shedding light on the hidden places of within allowed each of us to flourish and bloom in unique and significant ways inside the context of being known. Only God could do that and I have no measure of gratitude sufficient for being allowed to sit in the graciousness of Him.

The snow that fell over those mountains and upon every blade of grass evidenced to my heart the extent to which God longs to hide us under His shelter and cover us with His love. The snow tucked my heart further inside the Father as my dreams felt seen and my heart felt realized in His tender mercies. He knew every longing of my soul and fulfilled more than I ever imagined possible.

The horse that carried me up a mountain as to signify the reaching of new soul-heights, containing freedom and assignment, was breathe to my lungs and laughter to my being. To be in control and entirely surrendered simultaneously was a new juxtaposition of my spirit that enabled me to unearth new depths of who He has made me. The vantage point from atop a mountain on the backside of an intelligent creature is something now intricately woven into my being that both satisfies and embeds longing deep within me. God designed that moment for me and I can’t even begin to describe its meaning or its significance.

The women who held my heart with the kindness of a confidant and the commanding of wise counsel will never know the extent to which God used them in my life. The space that each of them held to garner important pieces of me to the surface was a remarkable work of the Holy Spirit. The tears they shed on my behalf and the smiles they lent of their own inner strength encouraged my soul to re-claim the post I’ve been given. The words they spoke over me and to me birthed a new strength, a stronger tenacity, and a greater urgency to complete the assignment upon my life. The silence that held us all, through which only God can speak, ignited a holy longing in me for more of what He has designed inside of community, the real authentic kind of community. God took a room full of strangers and created a tribe of women who now commit to hold one another up and through whatever comes. Only God could do that and the fact that He chose me to be part of that supernatural work is humbling and mind boggling.

The leaders who have said YES to create space, invade stories, pray diligently, speak fiercely, and execute seamlessly are a sight to be seen. To now be known by and loved deeply by them is something utterly breathtaking. I will never be the same because of what God accomplished in my life, in my identity, in my story, and in my faith through them. The obedience required to live free in order to keep partnering with God in the setting free of others is one of the most righteous and noble works I have ever witnessed up close. I am still in awe of what God has done in and through these leaders of freedom.

The God who held me near, showcased His love for me, and charged me to fight forward. The God who was and is and is to come met me in ways that only my soul knows in the secret and hidden places within. It is my specific and speechless encounters with Him at Lost Valley Ranch that will be stored only within the depths of me because that is the only place where they are truly known. Words will never suffice to represent the work He did in the secret places of me and every woman at Camp Well.

Everything about my time at Camp Well represents a deep working within my soul that can only be crafted by the Creator of me. It is unfathomable what God can do with hearts that arrive expectant but without expectation. 

I will share more about my days at Camp Well and the good work that God did within my soul, in hopes that it encourages you and spurs you on to new heights and depths. The words are bubbling up from places within me that I haven’t tended to in quite some time.

Thank you for sitting with me in this space as we marvel at the completion of and beginning of things in ways that only God can do. He is the Alpha and the Omega and only He can complete and begin within the same breath…and that is what I know He is doing now.  

In you, in me, in the women of Camp Well—He is completing what He began and He is beginning anew. Oh, the beauty and wonder of our Great and Awesome God!

© Dani Hardy, April 21, 2021

“Words are Limiting” // Camp Well 2021 Reflections