Camp Mystic Tween Helps Others Find Their ‘Hallelujah’ Again

I had a bad feeling. I just had this feeling like I just because I got like a text message from Jeff Lindner from Houston and a friend of mine had posted it and it said, you know, it was like around 6 or 7 a.m. was like, "Evacuate immediately.

This is a matter of life and death." >> Lacy Darington was 4 hours away from her 12-year-old daughter, Skyler, when she knew something was suddenly wrong. Skyler was at Camp Mystic in Kirr County, Texas on July 4th when devastating flood waters overtook the camp, taking the lives of 27 campers and counselors.

You'll hear about the flood from Skyler and Lacy's perspectives and how Skyler used a song to bring redemption to the tragedy. It's all on this episode of GPS, God, People, Stories, an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I'm Jim Kirkland. As you'll clearly hear, Skylar is a gifted singer.

As a Christian, the song of her heart comes from the peace and joy she has in her personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Though Billy Graham wasn't known for his singing voice, he did have a song in his heart. Here's why. It is only in Christ that the soul finds rest, joy, and music.

The real victorious Christian has something to sing about, even in the most depressing circumstances, because Christ gives us a song in our heart. You'll hear more from Billy Graham later in this episode. But if you need to know right now about the joy and peace that comes only from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, head right over to our website.

It's find peacewithgod.net. When you're there, click on begin a relationship with Jesus. That's atind peacewithgod.net. You can also find the link in our show notes. GPS God >> people stories. >> In the early morning hours of this past July 4th, the Guadalupe River, which runs through Texas's Hill Country, surged 26 ft in 45 minutes, flooding many people's homes and communities, including a private Christian summer camp for girls called Camp Mystic.

Skyler Darington was among the oldest group of girls staying in the flats which were close to the river. Around 1:00 a.m. she and her cabin were told to evacuate to the wreck hall because the river was rising. >> The old camp director came and picked us up and he drove us to wreck haul and we walked through about ankle or knee deep of water.

I can't really remember. And I dropped my blanket but we still had to keep going. But yeah, we we made it on the first floor and then whenever it started rising, we went on to the second floor. >> Skyler held on to her stuffed animal, a blanket, and a pillow while trying to get through the muddy waters and pouring rain in the pitch black darkness.

Soaking wet in her pajamas, she made it safely to the wreck hall. She had no idea that some of her fellow campers weren't able to make the same escape. >> We didn't know anything that was happening. We just all we knew was that just we were going to stay in rec hall till morning.

But um yeah, we were just kind of singing, comforting, and talking to each other and everything. Through the chaos, Skylar relied on her faith in Jesus. That faith had grown from being raised in a Christ-c centered home, going to church, and learning more about the Bible at Camp Mystic in previous summers.

All of that worked to sustain her during the most unpredictable night of her young life. I just knew that God was going to be with me and everything was going to turn out okay. >> Many of the girls who had evacuated to the wreck hall never went to sleep that night.

Instead, they stayed up. They sang together, lifting up a chorus of their voices, rising above the storm. >> We were all together at the top of it cuz whenever the water started like rising, we were on the second story of the building and we were all singing together and like comforting each other and singing like Christian music.

One of the songs they sang was a traditional camp song called There's a Camp on the Guadalupe that goes like this. >> There's a camp on the Guadalupe River. It's the camp of my dreams where the whipper will sound softly and the bright moon beams on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Hearts are loyal and true. Can't miss it. I will pledge my true and faithful love to you. >> When morning finally came, the girls still didn't have a grasp of the full extent of the storm. But as they left the wreck hall to get breakfast, they started to see the magnitude of the devastation. >> We walked down and it was all muddy like at the bottom.

So whenever we walked down, we had to be really careful. There wasn't any glass or like any like residue that we were going to step on that was like unsafe. So the counselors walked down there first to make sure everything was okay. And there were some like of the camp directors and people like I think there were police officers and stuff investigating like everything.

So he walked down to the tennis courts which was right next to W call and they gave us cereal and like water and food and everything. >> Back home. Skyler's mom hadn't yet heard the news. The flood happened so quickly that she hadn't known Skyler had been in grave danger until she was actually out of danger and safe and sound. by the time I woke up about 7:00 a.m. on Friday morning, um which is July 4th, that she was already safe.

She was already in a safe place on higher ground. But I didn't know that. And I'm looking at all the warnings and I'm looking at all the news and our mom group, you know, our cabin group starts kind of going off the wall and I'm starting to call people. >> The parents struggled to reach their girls. >> The girls don't have their phones.

It's a technology free camp. Even the counselors don't have their phones. They turned them in. Also, the communication lines were down. It was very difficult to get through to someone on a phone or to text. >> For an hour and a half, Lacy faced the unknown. >> I had a bad feeling.

I had this sinking feeling. And my husband was there during the flood of 87. He was a kid. And he was like, "It's going to be fine. This happened to me when I was a kid. said, you know, they're going to eat hot dogs for 3 days and the water's going to go down and they're going to it's okay.

Like these things happen there occasionally. >> During that flood in 1987, Lacy's husband had been attending nearby Camp Stewart and every child at that camp survived. Despite her husband's words, Lacy could not shake her bad feeling. >> I had a bad feeling. I just had this feeling like I just because I got like a text message from Jefflin Nerd from Houston and a friend of mine had posted it and it said, you know, it was like around 6 or 7 a.m. and it was like evacuate immediately.

This is a matter of life and death. >> Lacy was stuck on the word death. She felt like she needed to get to Skylar right now, but her husband reminded her they had a 4-hour drive and that the flooded roads would make it difficult to reach her. Finally, around 8:30 that morning, she received a text message.

They gave her the news she was hoping for. >> One of the counselors and our cabin members mom group was like, "They're all accounted for. This entire cabin is accounted for." >> Skylar was safe. Even so, Lacy wanted to see her daughter. When the Daringtons received another email later that afternoon requesting them to pick her up, they were out of the door and on their way immediately.

Lacy was finally reunited with Skyler that night after Skyler had been helicoptered to safety out of the flooded camp. Although the situation around them was utterly heartbreaking, their reunion was a beautiful moment. >> I didn't even understand the full gravity of it at that moment. Still, it took a few days for me to to let it all sink in. >> Lacy's daughter had survived one of the deadliest flash floods in recent US history.

The Texas Hill Country flood caused at least 138 deaths. 27 people died at Camp Mystic alone. At the Titan Egg Camp, Skyler lost a couple of friends. Other girls in her cabin lost relatives like a sister or a cousin. And the Darington family lost some people they knew and loved. >> We lost Dick Eastland.

He was the owner of Camp Mystic. He saved my daughter's life. We lost Jane Ragsdale. She was the owner of Heart of the Hills. She was the sister camp to Camp Stewart. >> It was at Camp Stewart where Skylar's father had had the experience that inspired him to send his own kids to summer camp. >> My dad went to Camp Stewart and he sent my both of my brothers to Camp Stewart.

So, he was trying to find a girls camp around there. So, he chose Camp Mystic. >> For the Daringtons, camp has always been something to look forward to. And despite the horrific tragedy, Skyler still carries many happy memories there. She had gone to the camp for the past four years every summer since she was almost 9 years old.

Besides enjoying tribe games, which are a camp mystic tradition, Skylar enjoyed many of her hobbies there. I like archery, arts and crafts, horseback riding, dance, cheer. We have a lot, but those are my main favorites. Me and my friends, we would do activities and have fun together and like just like hanging out by like the waterfront and the river and everything.

Skylar's mom really enjoyed watching her daughter have so many great experiences for a month every summer at Camp Mystic. >> There's just this feeling down there. It's a sacred place. Like it's been there for so long and there's no mosquitoes and it's 10° cooler. >> There is mosquito and the river's cold.

I mean it's just there's these canyons and these like bluffs and like it's just kind of a place where time stands still. I don't know how to explain it, but there's there's this cool feeling when you're there and and your kids have so much fun and it's like she would rather go to Mystic than Disney World or you know the Hawaii.

Like she would 100,000 times choose that instead and that says something. >> Even with the devastation, the Daringtons want to return to Camp Mystic. In fact, Skyler and Lacy have already gone back to camp to retrieve Skyler's belongings. >> I felt this like draw to go back. I just couldn't wait to go back and help and just be a part of it and um just hug our friends and to see everybody.

I just I felt like the girls really needed that closure. And so when we got the email we could come, I think it was a few days after. And I knew the first day we wouldn't have time to get there in time before they closed. And so we got up first thing the next morning and drove out there.

Actually, we drove there the night before, spent the night, and then got up first thing in the morning to be there when the gates opened. The Camp Mystic staff were at the gates ready to prepare Skyler and her mom for what they were about to see. At the time, they were only allowing campers, volunteers, and rescuers onto the grounds to keep others from interfering with search and rescue efforts.

More than a dozen campers and a few counselors were still missing. >> When we drove up to the gates, the green gates, they said, "Skyler, this camp's going to look different, but the spirit's still the same." And I thought that was just so kind and so great of her to say that to my child.

And it just was kind of surreal because the sun was shining and it was a such a pretty day just days after something so crazy happened. >> To Skyler, the flood waters hadn't completely taken Camp Mystic away. >> Even though it didn't look the same, like I knew the spirit was still there and I feel like even though like a lot of it was washed away, it felt like Camp Mystic still.

And like some of the cabins that they were still standing and everything and like even though like Senior Hill stairs was washed away, it still felt like everything was the same except it just looked a little bit different. >> Skyler searched her cabin, which was called the bug house.

She was looking for all of her stuff. Most of her things had stayed within the cabin and simply floated to the top. Someone had so lovingly cleaned out the cabin, pulled everything out that was salvageable, and let it start drying in the sun. It was like a treasure hunt to find those things.

Each single piece that we found was like just it was way more than things. It was It was more than that. >> Skyler and her mom managed to find all of Skyler's things except for one thing, a laundry basket. They were incredibly grateful to recover so much and return to the place where Skyler had spent the past four of her summers.

But in the days since the flood, much of Skylar's life has changed. >> We have a bug house group chat cuz that's the name of my cabin. And we've been talking about everything and we've been comforting each other and just like yeah, we've just been keeping up with each other and talking a lot.

They have been each other's sisters in Christ and that group of friends have helped her process things. >> Another way Skyler has process the flood was by writing a song about her experience at Camp Mystic. Now, Skylar's been writing songs since she was just about six, but this song was different. >> So, I've always liked to sing and growing up, I love my school and everything and all my friends going to Camp Mystic and everything.

It was really fun and it was just like kind of traditional for me and um throughout like everything like my whole life I've just I feel like camp Mystic has always been there and everything. I think it was about a week maybe after the plug and we were waiting in line I think to get allergy medicine or something like that at CVS and my little brother was singing Hallelujah.

And I had this song stuck in my head after I went home and um my little brother just kept singing the song. His name is Clark. We went up to my room and I kind of was writing down like some words that I had like in my head. >> Skyler's mom joined in with her daughter to help her write out some of the words all to the tune of Hallelujah.

Together, the song was written in just 15 or 20 minutes. The words just seem to flow as Skyler described her flood experience. So it was just like thinking of what kind of happened and like what everyone went through and like putting it into words. So I kind of wrote a poem and then put lyrics like everything just kind of fit into the song.

So it was like a poem but in song form. >> Once the song was finished, Lacy recorded a video of Skylar singing it. Within two or three tries, Skyler had nailed it. They sent the video just to family and friends. I heard there was a giant flood, but we were washed in Jesus blood.

And you don't really care for my news, do you? On July the 4, 2025th, the water rose and we win a drift. The battleful king composing hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelu. Hallelu. Hallelu. Our faith was strong. You showed us love. Like only God from up above. Your prayers and hugs and love overwhelmed us.

We cried, we prayed, we did our share. You clothed us better, brushed our hair, and from our lips we drew the hallelujah. You say the water overcame, but I will never forget their names. No blame, no fault. So really, what's it to you? We are a part of mystic hurt.

We spread his light, his love, his word. The holy and the broken. Hallelujah. Hallelu. Hallelu. Hallelu. Hallelu. 
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 We did our best. We left a mark. A light that shines within the dark. I told this truth. I didn't have to fool you. And even though it wasn't long, we stand before the Lord of songs with nothing on our tongues but hallelujah. >> These powerful words to the melody of Hallelujah are impacting many lives and not just in Texas, but all around the United States.

The peace and love Skyler feels in the wake of the tragic flood poured into every word. They had no idea that that video would go viral and touch so many lives. >> A lot of my friends were blowing up my phone and I had like hundreds of messages from everyone and they were like, "I saw you on the news.

I I heard your song. You have like 3 million views or blah blah blah." And I was like, "Well, yeah. I sung the song and CBS News posted it." And I was confused at first cuz I didn't know. And I saw the video like, "Oh, wait. That's really cool."

Because I didn't know they posted it. More importantly, Skylar's song led to some life-changing conversations. >> I got a couple of people like I didn't know who reached out and said, you know, thank you so much. Like maybe my sister or my friend didn't know who Jesus was and now they're asking me who he is.

And one of the ladies in our cabin group, she wrote back and said, um, I lost my Hallelujah. And I didn't want to play the song and I I did and I got it back. And she's like, I just want to thank you and your daughter for that.

And that meant so much to me because that was so close to home. >> Because so many people were being moved by Skyler's song and touched by the words that she had written, she was asked to sing her rendition of Hallelujah on the Fox News Channel's morning show, Fox and Friends.

When she arrived to the set, there was a surprise waiting for her. >> They like asked my dad who my favorite singer was, and my dad asked me, and I said Lauren Dagel. And I didn't know she's gonna be there, though. I thought they were just asking just to know.

I don't know. And whenever they said say hi to Lauren Dagel, I thought she was like watching my live and I was like, "Oh, hi." And I didn't know she was actually there and she came around the corner and I was so surprised. I didn't know she came.

It was really cool. >> Meeting Lauren Dagel was an inspiring moment for the rising seventh grader. In the future, Skyler would like to write more music like Lauren. >> I kind of want to do a mix maybe between like pop and Christian. I love that like Lauren Dagel cast such she's able to when you when an artist like Natalie Grant or um Lauren Dagel, you're able to reach people from across the board and I think that's so cool that they're able to have music that inspires everyone, you know. >> But for now, Skylar already has a busy schedule lined up with school this fall. >> I'm on the cheer team at school, so I have a lot of cheer competitions and football games to go to.

And I have volleyball triyouts coming up. And I might try out for basketball, too. And I have track coming up. And I'm doing all upper level classes. At our school, it's called TAP. And I'm excited cuz I'm going into a new school. It's going to be junior high for me. >> While Skyler goes to school, her mom plans to remain flexible, to tend to her kids and their activities, and to continue her own ministry. >> I became a youth and family minister about two years ago.

So, I've been working for a church and that's really just teaching other kids about these, you know, the stories of the Bible and just being a part of a ministry has really strengthened my knowledge and my um kind of just preparing my heart for these things. >> Through all that this summer has brought, Lacy has seen God work profoundly. >> Everybody goes through a storm.

We all experience that and we all hear sometimes silence and we don't hear answers sometimes. But it's important that we wait for God's timing and that we praise through the storm and praise through the pain and praise through the joy because that will make you walk closer with God.

And you just get up and you get stronger and you get better each day when you keep preaching the good news. >> That good news is the hope that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is something that Lacy wants everyone to experience and so does God. >> You never ever lose hope because it's always with you and you're never alone and you never have to bear that burden by yourself.

God puts people in your life to help you with that and he knows exactly what he's doing and he's still working even when you can't see it. 
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 If you've been listening to this episode and want to know God and know how he can work in your life, then would you please pay a visit to our website?

It's findpacewithgod.net. That's find peacewithgod.net. If you don't have the opportunity to jot that down or committed to memory, no worry. The link is in our show notes. In just a minute, you'll hear one last piece of encouragement from Skyler and her mom, Lacy. >> You're listening to GPS, God, People, Stories, a podcast production of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

It is only in Christ that the soul finds rest, joy, and music. Billy Graham. >> The real victorious Christian has something to sing about even in the most depressing circumstances because Christ gives us a song in our heart. All the way through the Bible, we find music and singing and playing and rejoicing because of what God in Christ can do for the human soul.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Bible teaches that when Christ comes in, there's a joy and a song of salvation. Music is in the soul. The cords of your heart may be broken today, but Jesus can repair them and can cause such music to come as you never dreamed was possible.

And then the Bible teaches of and speaks of the songs in the night. Yes, the songs that Jesus gives under adverse circumstances and in most depressing moments. Jesus can give a song. No matter what your troubles and what your trials are, the scripture says, "The grace of God is sufficient to bring a song from your lips and put a song in your heart."

The Bible says, "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Again, the Bible says, "Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you." You have troubles and problems and difficulties today. I want to tell you that Jesus Christ can put a smile on your face.

Jesus Christ can put a song in your heart. Jesus has grace sufficient for every need that you might have. >> You can know what it means for Jesus Christ to put a song in your heart by having a personal relationship with him. We can tell you all about that at find peacewithgod.net.

When you're there, click the link that says begin a relationship with Jesus. You'll find that atind peacewithgod.net. Our guests on this episode of GPS are Skyler and Lacy Darington. Skyler is a survivor of the flood that tore through Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas on July 4th. She has rewritten the lyrics to a song so that she can share the good news of Jesus Christ.

If you find yourself going through a season of tragedy or hopelessness, Skyler and Lacy have a message for you. God always has plans for you and um just keep trusting in him. Even though sometimes it might take a while, he'll always remember like everything that you prayed for, he's just always there and he always listens to you.

Don't give up. Keep searching. Keep knocking. Keep asking, you know, pray unceasingly. Don't lose hope. Don't feel alone because you're never alone. And um joy will come in the morning. It always does. You just sometimes have to be patient for it. And God, and I and I do believe this, God always answers your prayer.

He doesn't always answer it the way you ask for it or when you ask for it to be done, but he always has answered every prayer in my life. And I'm grateful for that. I want other people to live like that. I want people to have a personal relationship with God.

I want them to read their Bible and pray and go to church. But more than those things, I want them to have a deeply connected personal relationship with Christ because that is what can give you the strength to get through anything. >> Wisdom from Skyler and Lacy Darington.

We are very grateful that Skyler and her mom, Lacy, were able to join us on this episode. Please do continue to pray for the Camp Mystic families in the days ahead. Even in the midst of the darkest tragedies, there is always hope with Jesus Christ. And if hopefilled stories like the one that Skyler and Lacy shared are a blessing to you, subscribe to GPS.

We have new episodes releasing every other Wednesday. I'm Jim Kirkland. Thanks for listening. This is GPS, God, People, Stories, an outreach to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Always good news. Heat. 
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