Young Women’s Camp was all planned and ready to go.
It was stake camp, so on the ward level, we had helped the girls create their banners, make gifts, create cheers, and pretty much every kind of crazy preparation you could think of.
And then the word came– wildfires in Arizona suddenly shut down the state land, including where our stake YW Camp was to be held.
Camp was canceled at a stake level and turned over to the ward level with less than 2 week’s notice in the middle of the summer.
Girls were disappointed. Leaders were disappointed. Parents were disappointed. No one was happy about having to create camp from scratch with basically no prep time.
A wise leader spoke to us at church that Sunday as frantic plans for a ward camp were being thrown together, and the message was one that we all needed to hear. The message:
This had not surprised God.
This was not a wrench in the plan that He had no clue would happen.
As we wrote skits and painted posters and designed t-shirts, God knew it wouldn’t come to fruition.
And He would sanctify every sacrifice we thought we had been making for the stake camp to bolster our ward camp instead.
And it was 100% true. The ward camp came together in miraculous ways, and everyone was spiritually uplifted.
But that lesson has stuck with me.
God can’t be surprised.
Joseph even taught this about baptisms for the dead:
“The Lord ordained and prepared before the foundation of the world, for the salvation of the dead who should die without a knowledge of the gospel.” (D&C 128:5)
Baptisms for the dead wasn’t an ordinance of, “Whoops, a lot of people are missing out on essential ordinances! I guess we should come up for a way to kind of get the same blessings, too.”
Nope.
THIS WAS THE PLAN FROM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.
Proxy ordinances have always been the plan, because they are the only way we all make it back together.
God will not be surprised!
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
