Fall Retreat

I just want to say that God really met me at fall retreat this weekend. Friday night was good and mostly getting into like the Christian retreat mindset... had some fun games, I got to play a drunken chaperon at a Jr. High dance that was pretty fun and then we also played some "Ha"/ Viking something and a little telephone charades for old times sake. I love those kinds of games. The next day was crisp and clear and beautiful and the talk and small groups and worship was good, I ended up being in an all woman group which I think was really good and allowed us to share more freely. The afternoon was nice... with the Second Annual Great Race which was pretty cool and some volleyball and rock hopping (this camp had a ton of cool rock piles to frolic about on). And then Saturday night we had a great talk about casting off our cloaks, like Bartimaus, our cloaks being things that we use to get by and to avoid having to depend solely on Jesus. Ken also talked about getting healing from our past hurts..he talked about how his parents' divorce had affected him. And I felt led to be prayed for for a past deep hurt in my life and was just overwhelmed with God's love for me, manifest in the people around me, Karen who prayed with me, others who came over and hugged me afterwards, the feeling of freedom and lifted burden God gave me and when I was about to go to sleep, Sara just told me that God loves me and it was so beautiful and exactly what He was sharing with me then. This morning I woke up much refreshed and at peace with myself. The morning talk also was very relavent, it was about how to be a Christian student, and helped me to release at least somewhat from the anxiety and stress that I had felt over my schoolwork before. God has just granted me an amazing feeling of peace and a deeper realization of His abundant love for me. God is a big elephant, and although I might not be able to see all of him at once, that does not make him a snake. (For those who did not go to fall retreat, Ken told us about a story of 7 blind mice who all tried to find out what the elephant was, one thought it was a snake(the trunk) another thought it was a rope (the tail), another a fan (the ear) etc. etc. but the last mouce took all this in and discovered the whole thing to be an elephant)

My Froshlings

I love to meet and get to know more of God's children. And the frosh class this year is filled with so many. I am so overjoyed that I get to meet with them every week and it is so encouraging. Sara is one of these awesome frosh and she became a Christian just over a month ago during orientation. I don't think I ever really experienced my faith as a new thing, it was just something that I grew up with and decided that I agreed with, but it is so refreshing to see her in her excitement and love for God and how she is able to just recieve what God is giving her. She wrote this letter to the devil in her blog and I just love it so here it is:

Dear Lucifer,

I understand that you're angry at God. I understand that you fell, and that you can't get back up. But I'm not going to let you pull me down with you. And I'm going to tell you why. I am not going to let you convince me of anything anymore. I don't need anything other than God and you know it, so stop lying to me. I don't need boys, or physical contact, or anything. Except God. You can't take away my faith. I know He's there, and I know He's holding my hand. I can feel His arms around me and you can't take that away from me. I know you want to be in His kingdom again, and I'm sorry that you can't be. But I'm not going to let you stop me from receiving what you have lost. I'm not going to let you deceive me, and I'm not going to let you drag me down your path. But that's not the end of it. I'm going to pull as many people as I possibly can up with me. I'm going to find them and call their names with the voice of the Spirit. I'm going to sing to them and pull them to safety. He will use me and show them joy and happiness and love. I know this will drive you nuts, but I'm not going to stop. I know you'll try to drag me down to prevent me from doing the will of the Lord, but I won't let you. You'll try to take away my joy, my excitement, and replace them with apathy, complacency, or worse. But I won't let you. No, Lucifer, you have no hold on me. You cannot affect my actions or my decisions anymore. You cannot dictate my life. My life is dedicated to God, and my body, my mind and my soul are all His. You cannot have them, or control over them. You cannot have me. I am not yours. Sorry, Lucifer, but you're just going to have to find someone else to hound. This isn't going to work. Ever.

So long, farewell, goodbye forever,
Sara

I feel like this should be something that we should all be repeating and reminding each other of every day and every waking moment. God is in control and all we must do is recieve and submit and allow Him to make us fruitful. Sara, you are so awesome and I am so thankful that you are in our fellowship, thank you for your magnificent example of our first love and I encourage you to keep on trudging and trusting in God. And I pray that we may all do just that.