Barbara finds it hard to bring her family together without distraction. Between work, school, distance, and life events, it’s challenging to get everyone in the same place at the same time. With four grown daughters and several grandbabies, it’s not often they are all in the same place.
In 2007, Barbara’s daughter, Sheila, discovered Camp Asbury’s family camp program. Sheila had been to camp as a girl, and she wanted to bring that experience to as many family members as she could. While she may not get the entire family to camp every single year, she tries her hardest to gather as many as she can to set aside their busy schedules for the weekend. When Barbara attended family camp for the first time several years ago, she knew it was a special place for her family.
“This is a healing place for my family,” shared Barbara. “When I come to Camp Asbury, I love to sit and take in the beauty around me. The grass in the field blowing in the wind, and the water moving on the lake. I can feel God blowing away the troubles that I have faced and taking the weight off me. In a troubled world, you need places of peace like this.”
Barbara has seen this peace set in for many of her family members joining her for family camp this year. “Unfortunately, we lost my husband, the father of my girls, last October. When my granddaughter Brittany told me she was coming to camp this year, it brought me to tears. I knew she would get to experience the peace and healing that I feel while I’m here.”
What continues to bring Barbara and her family back to Camp Asbury every year is the feeling of love they receive when they are here. “The love that the staff give to my family and me – you can truly feel the care. You have no idea what kind of burdens people might be carrying when you meet them, and they need to feel cared for. That happens here.”
The generosity of the Camp Asbury community makes it possible for us to run camps that bring families like Barbara’s together in reunion every summer, bringing with it a peace and love that is hard to find anywhere else.