Five days of no sleep, of learning, of ceaseless praying, of confessing, of redemption.. I felt every bit of this year's theme at J-Gen: Great Love. I think about the love that Christ poured out for me and how He has been working in my life, and I'm filled with joy and happiness and I just want to praise Him everywhere I go. And then I think about all the times when I complained to Him, was frustrated with Him and finally shut the door on Him, crying to Him at how unfair my situations were compared to others.. and I am immediately ashamed and humbled. If there is one thing that I learned from this past week, it's that Christ. Loves. Me.
From now on I can learn to rejoice in my sufferings because through my perseverance, I build hope. Hope that God will bring in a season of rejoicing. Because we were justified through Christ, our hope is to reach the ultimate glorification. This retreat didn't quench my thirst for God, it left me wanting to seek Him more. Already God has been answering my prayers, fixing and rebuilding relationships with my family, and to just reflect the love of Christ.
I have but a few weeks left before my (hopefully) last year of school begins, and I'm so excited for these upcoming weeks. I've been praying and preparing for serving at the LCC summer retreat in Wisconsin.. Can't wait to be blessed by the amazing kids there and grow with them as we seek to meet Jesus. Not even a day after the retreat, it's move-in day for me / leader's retreat! I have so much to pray for and so much to prepare for this coming school year, and I'm so thankful that my heart is settling into where it's supposed to be--right near God. I know I'll be thrown many hurdles and obstacles from here on out, but my hope and prayer is that I will always ask the Lord to pick me up again. As Pastor Michael Chung taught us at his seminar, "Smile at the storm! Do the Word! Tame that tongue! Pray it up!" Hahaha praise God.
