AWEsome; a word reserved for the Awesome One!

My last post was kind of depressing in a way, but not at the same time. And I’m not really sure as to why that was.

So anyway, this past weekend I went “home” to Camp Berea (yay!) and I have to say that it was a lot more than I expected it to be. I worked from when I got there until 7 on Saturday night, going to as many chapel sessions as I could in between, because I did have this pull the whole time I was there, that something was supposed to happen, though I had no idea what it was!

I wasn’t working until 10:30 on Saturday morning, so I got up early and did my devos when everything was still quite, and everyone else in my cabin had to work (sorry girls). One thing that God has really been putting on my heart was my friend Lindsay, who is a lot like me in many ways. And she (to everyone’s surprise, though was apparently forced by her parents to come) came this weekend! And even just that made me so excited, because I knew, that even if she didn’t come back to Christ, SOMEthing would stir in her. And stir it did.

Saturday night came, and it was such an amazing night. I don’t think I have ever been so tired in my life, though somehow God kept me awake for the whole service and showed me wonderful things. Somehow, during the songs played by none other than the Mark White Band, the words finally sunk into my brain, and I finally realized how truly AMAZING God is! I remember just thinking “WHY did it take me this long to understand?!”, and I just broke down because of how HAPPY I was that I was his, and that I had finally made this connection!

Now the speaker, whose name was Jason Ostrander, was amazing. Very straight to the point, no completely pointless stories that went nowhere, or was the only thing that you really remembered. And that was so great. And he wasn’t all fluffy being like “if you except Christ, you’re life is going to be amazing”, no he explained how, people are going to hate you. The Enemy is going to try and attack you, that it’s NOT easy, but he went about in a way that spoke to so many people. Now, not too many people actually excepted Christ that night, but about 200 hundred came back to him. Including Lindsay! When I saw her stand up, I couldn’t help it, but I just started balling my eyes out. I went over to where she was sitting and gave her the biggest hug I could and through the tears I just said “I’ve been praying so hard for you!” it was such an amazing moment, and I truly realized how GREAT God really is.

This isn’t really a normal post for me, more just like an update. But I really just wanted to share that story with people, because I find it truly amazing. When I got home (yesterday) my mom challenged me to join the Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC in reading the New Testament in 30 days. At first I was like “uhh, hm.” But then I thought about it, and I got really excited because I thought back to what I had learned this weekend. And today I started reading, and so far I can’t get enough! I’m probably going to finish in less than 30 days! Somehow God is just opening my eyes to him in ways I never expected, nor thought I truly needed, turns out, you can never learn too much from Him. So I leave you with this; lyrics to one of the songs that the Mark White Band played this weekend that I have sung a million times, though somehow it finally helped me realize how Awesome God is.

How He Loves, by John Mark McMillan

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us so

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And the heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.