God Is Still Good

I recently realized that I was starting to get a little too excited about this blog, if not flat out proud. And it seems like from the moment I became proud, God quickly humbled me by putting me at a loss for words, and a lack of ability to communicate what has been on my mind. I'm stumbling through ideas on what to blog about, and how I should go about conveying these ideas to the eyes of my audience. So from here on it, all glory and praise goes to God!

To recap our trip out to Indiana for our Sub Zero retreat---I should start off by saying that Satan was clearly trying to ruin everything. The main speaker called off sick and was unable to make it, leaving youth Pastor Dan scrambling for fill-ins. In addition, it seemed like our group in particular came with the mindset of pursuing relationships. They presented a clear distraction to many of us, and it was discouraging as a fellow student to watch Satan distract them and pull their focus away from the Lord.

For me personally, I felt like Satan attacked me straight on. I was put in a room seperate from our youth group girls (which was totally fine considering I love meeting new people and had previously gone on OB), but only to find that was of the girls woke up sick Saturday night with the flu. She threw up ALL night, and it was anything but quiet. For those of you who know me, you know that I am the worst person to have around when it comes to dealing with vomit. (I gag simply hearing someone else gag!) I layed in my bunk, digging my fingers deep into my ears, and curled myself into a tight ball. In between her puking spurts, I was texting and calling our youth group girls, desperately trying to wake them up so I could run up to their room and get away from the horrid noises. Unfortunately, it was a lost cause and I layed there for the next three hours sobbing softly as I felt helpless and was beginning to feel quite nauseous myself.

The next morning (Sunday), I was running on a mere two hours of sleep and it was getting the best of me as far as my ability to focus and eat. I barely ate anything the entire day because all I could invision was how awful the food would look if I threw it up. The message and worship that morning was wonderful, making it a little easier to focus, but I still felt a little out of it.

Later that morning we packed our bags and loaded the vans to head home. Things seemed to go smoothly and we were on our way; our goal being to drive straight home with only one stop for a food and restroom break. Around four o'clock (I don't recall the time), we arrived back at the church. It was after unloading everyone's luggage and cleaning out the vans, that I realized my bag was no where to be found. That was it. It was the perfect thing to cut the little thread of joy I had held on to. I found myself in instant tears, and felt like an idiot for crying over such a petty thing. But I was running on only two hours of sleep, we had just traveled five hours home, and my bag was at the other end of those long hours. Knowing my mother, I knew she would be pissed off and blame me for being "so irresponsible" (a term that I have never used to describe myself, but whatever). But I called her anyways and listened to her yelling...she knew just as well as I did that I needed that luggage.

Six o'clock rolls around, we pick up my friend Virginia, and the three of us begin our five hour roadtrip, retracing the route we had just driven to head home. We pull into the hotel a little after midnight, pick up my luggage and check ourselves in for the night. We left the next morning around eight, and were back to Ohio between two or three. It had been a long weekend. My patience had been tested, but God is still good. The roadtrip had provided a great opportunity for a heart to heart with my mom and Virginia. Sunday night, I went over to Virginia's, and together we made home-made chicken fettucine alfredo. It was absolutely delicious and I will definitely be saving that recipe! Virginia and I decided that we will both make great house wives one day :)

So that was our weekend, a rough one but a good one nonetheless. God was still able to work in many lives, and many of us were challenged. Thanks for reading! Over and out.