An Advent Thank You 2018

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—and that it may take a very long time.…Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.”    

-Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, SJ 

Mary. She was profoundly familiar with the slow work of God. The nine months that she had to get used to the idea of the Messiah inside of her. God with us. With her. She must have been impatient. She was undoubtedly on the way to something unknown, something new. But God was growing something profound inside of her in the slow waiting…something that would change the world. 

We want every child at Daystar to hear the same message. Whether they walk through our doors in grief, in anxiety…whether they’ve lost a friend or lost a parent, we want them to trust that God’s hand is leading them. His hand is with them. They are not alone. Daystar is a little yellow house that gives witness daily to the slow and faithful work of God.

He is moving. He is moving in the hurt and in the worry. He is bringing something good to fruition in the waiting. In the 8 year old girl with anxiety. In the 15 year old boy who lost his dad. In the 12 year old who feels lost and alone. Even in the midst of those things, we—they—are enlarged in the waiting. And we have the privilege of waiting with them.

“That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarge in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy…That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

                                                                                                Romans 8:24-26, 28

We’re so grateful for your support of Daystar Counseling Ministries. We’re honored to join you in the waiting this Advent season.

The Daystar Staff

October Thank You 2018

This year I was so blessed to be able to participate in Daystar’s 23rd annual Bike and Hike thing and for the first time as a Daystar alum. Wow, how weird to think that I am an alum of the place I have called my second home. Even though I don’t get to attend my favorite Thursday night group or individual counseling sessions with Sissy anymore, I still felt that I could make an impact on the little yellow house even while being over 300 miles away. As many that attend Daystar have big mountains they are hiking, my family and I have also faced similar challenges and without Daystar, those mountains can seem too big to overcome. Because of the way Daystar has walked alongside me for as long as I can remember, I wanted to give back in the hope that more kids can experience the love and comfort that I have received for many years. 


     Because Daystar is based on a sliding scale, they are dedicated to never turning a family away based on financial struggles. Daystar has been a place that I can feel safe, supported, and truly become the best version of myself. I think as a kid growing up in today’s society, it can be so easy to lose who you are and get lost in the midst of today’s pressures and stigmas. Daystar was the place I was able to grow into the person God created me to be, and I was able to be supported and loved on by not only the incredible staff, but also the lifelong friends I made through both Daystar and Camp Hopetown. I cannot thank you all enough for your contribution to Daystar as it goes further than you could ever imagine, and I cannot wait to see the many more lives that are touched thanks to your donation.

 The Daystar Staff

 

A Summer Thank You

As the summer comes to an end, we are left with a parting gift from our Hopetown Interns. They took Melissa’s week by week teachings and transformed them into the stanzas of a liturgy. It is a liturgy that reveals a glimpse into the theme of each of our summer sessions. Strengthening our hands in Jesus, the lens we view the world through, how we bury our treasure and how to uncover it, that we always have a seat at God’s table, being a guiding light and childlike follower of Jesus, leaning on our confidence in God in the midst of a storm and being the salt of the earth bringing out the God-flavors in those around you. This Liturgy is an incredible reminder of the God-flavored summer we had, and a beautiful picture of the hearts, creativity and wisdom of these tremendous college students we call our Hopetown staff.

A Liturgy for Hopetown 2018

You, oh Lord, have been at work at Hopetown

Guiding others to you by day and night

With each new morning,

We have grown closer to you

Learning the way you love

Thank you for being our potter

You soften, shape, and strengthen us, your clay

Our hearts are naturally hard, and our hands are weak

Yet when we hold to your hand

We loosen our grip and cling ever closer to you

Thank you for cleansing our hands each new day

Thank you for putting so much beauty in our lives

We want to see it like you do, glasses removed

Help us look and see and uncover our treasure

For there is sin and mourning in the world

But you have given us the tools to find beauty and light

 

Thank you for saving us a seat at your table

In you we find belonging and friendship

You invite our real selves and tear away our scales

For we cannot do it on our own

Only you can frame our grief with hope

 

Thank you that our worth does not lie in our performance

When we reflect your love, our hearts are put right

We ask for childlike hearts

So that we shine like beacons

Guiding the lost closer to you

Oh Lord, you are the ultimate gift

You have blessed us with a purpose

Thank you for your promises to us

Self-confidence is not enough to get us through our storms

While the boat may break and the pieces may shatter

You give us a plank to hold onto when the waves overwhelm us

Help us remember that our worth and confidence lie in you

You help us steward our pain while calming the storm around us 

Thank you for turning our dead sea into waters of life

You call us to be salt

Bringing out the best in others and pointing to you

Blessed are those who partake in your joy and unity

Help us to follow your Spirit while you mix the waters

 

With warm appreciation,

The Daystar Staff

 

June Thank You

“I matter, but so do you.”

“I want to share a story but I need to listen to my friend’s story too. “

“I should tell ________that they were missed in group last week.”

“It’s been a really hard week but I am so grateful to have group to come to.”

These are just a few phrases and ideas that every Daystar counselor hoped and prayed they would start to hear in one of our 24 Daystar Groups.  American author and poet Wendell Berry writes “What is good for the world is good for us.” Amen! Boys and girls learning to listen, share, empathize, give, and receive not just for their sake but for something bigger than themselves. That was, is, and will continue to be the heartbeat of a Daystar Group.

As another year and semester of groups comes to a close, we are grateful so many girls and boys have had a safe place to meet each week. We’re thankful for boys who’ve learned the value of collaborating vs. competing. We’re thankful for girls who have experienced sharing hard stories about loss and struggle, only to find a warm and caring friend who reminds them they are not alone. 24 Daystar Groups met weekly to share updates, listen to stories, learn valuable social skills, and most importantly, to be reminded that they matter.

You are receiving this letter because your child was a part of a Daystar Group this year. We hope group was a place where he/she experienced rhythms of safety, belonging, encouragement, and challenges. One of our core beliefs at Daystar is “one life touching another.” Our staff, volunteers, and counselors had the opportunity of seeing this core belief weekly at one of our 24 groups. Thank you for entrusting your child to our care. It truly is a privilege!

This letter went out to every group family just a few weeks ago, announcing the end of groups and the beginning of summer at Daystar.  We wanted you to hear Sherman Bucher, our Director of Groups and Day Camps’ words as to what group really does mean to the kids and families and involved.  Your support makes a difference…day after day, and counseling hour after counseling hour in this little yellow house called Daystar. 

We are profoundly grateful.

The Daystar Staff

April Thank You 2018

We’re so grateful for your support of Daystar…and all of the “daystars” you read about in our spring mailer this year.  We wanted to give you a little more glimpse into the heart and life of one of those, in particular. 

“Being a ‘Daystar Kid’ has blessed my adult life beyond my wildest imagination (and my imagination is pretty wild!).

In middle and high school, I went to Daystar summer sessions, met with my weekly girl's group with Sissy Goff, and volunteered as a leader at Daystar camp.

Fast forward 10 years, and I have led groups of teens backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, and volunteering across the US, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, South Africa and Swaziland.  Regardless of the mix of teens, location or obstacle, my trips are successful. My co-leaders and administrators ask How? 

It's simple: I make sure the teens on my trips feel safe, adored, and celebrated - by me and their peers - because that's what Daystar first gave me.

The rays of Daystar illuminate my "grown up" life far beyond the soft skills I use in my profession. The friends I invited to Daystar as a kid are still my deepest and truest. I have a circle of women in my life today that meet, support and challenge each other just like my Daystar group did in high school. I prioritize my relationship to spirit and myself because Daystar taught me how.

Thanks to Daystar I can look into someone's eyes who is hurting and, instead of turning away, give them love and grace. Thanks to Daystar, and Melissa's prompts up at Hopetown, I can grab a journal, turn inward, and truly face myself. Thanks to Daystar I know the power of community - of praying together, singing together, and playing outside together :)

Thanks to Daystar I know I belong.

Somewhere.

Everywhere.

And now I get the scrumptious opportunity to extend love and belonging to the people around me wherever I happen to be.

In high school I remember telling Melissa "someday when I grow up, I'm going to make a Daystar."

While I may never consider myself a grown-up or have a yellow house in Berry Hill or host soup nights and teach the gospel, I most certainly sprinkle the seeds everywhere I go-

planting little shimmering daystars in nooks and crannies across the world. 

Sara Grove

Adventure Travel Guide

Your support of Daystar helps impact the 1500+ children and families who are a part of our ministry today…and has helped us keep offering hope since 1985. 

 

We are profoundly grateful for you.

The Daystar Staff