“Summer 2023. There are no words to express this experience. God moved in ways that I can’t explain. He healed, He opened eyes and softened hearts, He loved, and so so so much more. ‘Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?’ (James 2:5) God tends to call people that we don’t expect, to do unexpected things for His glory. My senior of high school I would’ve never expected I’d spend two summers in The Woodlands, leading and loving on people. Little did I know in my first summer, after I had thought I’d experienced it all, and thought, ‘There’s no getting better than this,’ that God would move in my life in such a mighty way. The summer of 2023 was incredible, to say the least. God showed me how to lead, how to honor Him while I lead, and how to care for others and just love on people. In the summer of 2022, I kept bringing up Joshua 1:9. This was my verse of that summer, and now I can say it’s definitely my life verse. ‘Be strong and courageous for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’ God wasn’t calling Joshua to be strong and courageous because Joshua needed it. He called him to be strong and courageous for the people he would lead. Over the summers, I’ve learned how to lead by relying on strength and courage from the Lord. I’m so grateful for the experience I’ve had over the past two summers, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the Bristol House residency program.”
—Jordan Pilgrim