We are back from our youth retreat/ski trip. I have to say it was one of the most amazing youth events we have ever done. Actually that God has ever done. 4 days on a snowy mountain peak, 50 people and a baby, no media, no tv, no comps, cell phones or ipods. Just us and Jesus and it was a deep encounter. Many people got to open up and share their very touching testimonies. What they have been through, things many dont know, and wow, what an impact! We let God speak to us, wrote it down and shared it. It was amazing to see that God had unified us in a such a way that He was speaking the same things to many of us.
And then we got to speak where He was going to take us. We wrote that down too and turned it in. And then my husband, the youth pastor, burned them unexpectedly. It didn't matter what we said, it only mattered that we saw those things done. So we walk into 2009 expecting and ready to see it be done.
On a personal side note, I have given up something that may seem very frivilous to some but very addictive to me. I have given up soda. I have drank a soda nearly daily for oh, possibly 13 years. This is a fast for us. To see these things and more come to pass. And believe me, it wasn't easy being locked in a cabin with mass amounts of it and not partaking but I didn't. God gave me strength. And it is going to be so worth it.