Winter Conference

So there's lots to catch up on including my trip to Virginia and Christmas, but for starters, I'm not sure why I am jumping ahead, but I'm going to start with Winter Conference because it's what I have the most to say about. This year the CRU Winter Conference theme was revolution, and even more specifically I think everyone would agree, prayer revolution. It was in Fort Worth and was a day shorter than usual, but was lots of fun none-the-less. I got to hang out with lots of awesome people, we had an AMAZING day of outreach, good speakers, great worship, and tons of prayer. I think I potentially prayed more in those couple of days then I do in an average month probably. It was awesome prayer too. I really enjoyed every time I got to go to God in prayer, and not selfish or small stuff prayer, like real requests for situations I'm in but also for others in my life and people I don't know and just things I wouldn't generally pray for. It was so refreshing and such an encouragement to pray more often. I made a "resolution" sort of, like a goal I guess, to pray at least once everyday this year, and while that may seem like a no-brainer, it's not something I've ever done and for me is a challenge, and I've kept it so far, and can't wait to keep praying and see what God does and what an encouragement and blessing it will be to keep up with.

Something neat about Conference this year was that I've been deciding whether or not to take classes this semester, I've felt like I'm not supposed to and I've been worried about sharing this decision. Well, the last night in our main meeting which was full or prayer and worship the emcee, Jessalyn, was reminding and recapturing the week and just kind of giving summary like bullet points of the week and she said "some of you have things you need to tell your parents, just do it. They are going to react however they react no matter when you tell them." That was such an encouragement to me. Well, I told my dad last night and it went better than I could've ever expected. God is truly working in my parents hearts, changing them, doing amazing things with them. i can't wait to see what He has in store for them next.

I have this amazing friend that works for CRU, and we get to keep in touch with facebook and texts and such, but the only time we really get to sit and talk face to face is when we see each other at Winter Conference. This year was no different, we saw each other kinda late int he conference and the last full day we got to sit down and talk for good half hour or so, it was so encouraging and amazing to get to talk to her. I realized how technology can cause hurts in relationships and can put a hindrance in them and can make things confusing because of the whole not knowing the persons emotion, and no doubt, I agree, we've had our share of that. BUT, I also realized how amazing technology is, because while I would love to get to see her more often and sit down face to face more often, it's not where we are, and so I love the time at conference when I can sit down with her, but even more I just love that i can have her friendship, even if it's only facebook messages and a text here or there. It doesn't matter if I get to sit down with her or I get to facebook message her, her willingness to talk and help and give advice and answer questions doesn't change.

Neither does my mentor's.

Neither does my mentor's. I just realized all of this as I was recalling an amazing Conference. How amazing that we can be blessed with people in our life who truly care for us and love us and will stand by us and not leave, even when we screw up royally. God wants us to experience His love, even if it means some of us get the things we need from multiple places/people instead of just one place/family. I LOVE IT!!

So anyways, back to Conference, here are some of the key points and things I took away from Conference this year:

-One can tell how big your God is by your prayers
-I was given the Gospel because it's on it's way to someone else (how cool!!)
-I need to lay my "yes" on the table and allow God to place it wherever, whenever, and however he has planned for me (I plan on doing this more often and truly working on this one)

I can't wait for Conference next year. Until then, though, I can't wait to see what God does in my life this year, how He blesses me, how He challenges me, and most of all, what He teaches me!

My yes is on the table, God, do with it whatever you please :D