retreat recap

this was my fourth year serving the middle schoolers from church.. when i was in college, it was my favorite retreat of the year because i got to catch up with my graduated friends and sing with them in amazing times of worship. and just watching the kids worship God and get closer to Him is always an incredible experience. this year was very different from the past three; my band loves were busy and couldn't come, and since graduating, it was a whole different crowd of SU people. but i have to say while the atmosphere was changed, the way God works was not. i got to see Him reaffirm an old roommate's decision about what she's going to do after graduation. i got to spend time with my best friends. i got to worship with an awesome guy who loves to sing with me just as much as i love to sing with him. i got so blessed by the encouragement and love from various people over the weekend. and though the messages were meant for middle schoolers, they broke through my heart as well.

there are a couple verses i found on my own this weekend that i wanted to share. the first is psalm 90:15- "make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us." i can definitely say God is doing that right now in my life. He knows how to balance the two sides out. i think it's hard to grasp because affliction and hardship are much more difficult on us than good times. but He promises us that He will put good days in our lives to counteract the bad, and i love that. the other verse is 1 thessalonians 4:7- "for God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness." this was a reminder for me that i am not here on this earth to say i live for God and then act the opposite way. it's such a basic principle but God did not create me to call myself a follower of Jesus and then talk to my sister in anger or let my jealousy consume me. He calls me to walk in righteousness and be a definition of who Jesus is apart from Heaven. He has put it on my shoulders to uphold the reputation of the Lord i serve. it sounds like a lot of pressure, doesn't it? but so much more is the pressure that the world brings on me if i have no presence of Jesus in my life. ephesians 4:1 is one of my favorites as well: "i urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." worthy of the calling. that's what i want to be.