I love retreats.
This retreat was relaxing and very organized compared to the other retreats that I have been too. For example, unlike the other retreats where we had "worksheets," this one provided us with booklets and a schedule for the three days. There was a morning devotion, a Bible Study, and an evening session, each page divided into sections where I could answer the questions after reading a certain passage or to take notes during the evening session. I just love it when things are all organized and in one place. The schedule this year was jam packed though, from morning until the next morning. I'd wake up around 6am to help make breakfast and before I knew it, it was 2am in the morning. Oh well, I never have any regrets at retreats.
Breakfast. One of my most memorable memories was making breakfast, the most important meal of the day, with my leader, Lanny, and close friend, Jenny. I took care of toasting the biscuits and putting it together with a delicious serving of freshly made bacon and eggs. Mmm. It was a hectic but fun job, since I had two toasters running at the same time, and I also had to put the biscuits together. Thank God that Linda come over to help me or else I would have slipped or burned myself from rushing so much. This experience also told me one thing about my future, and it was that if I was going to do a part time job after school, it for sure won't be working at a local restaurant because I ain't anybody's waitress. I do what I do from the bottom of my heart. Going completely off topic for the moment, I'm only interested in working or volunteering in a field where I can practice first aid anyways. But culinary arts would be handy at home.
Okay, back to the retreat.
Worship. If there's anything that hits me hard and lifts me up, it's got to be worship. Once I start singing and lifting myself up to God, there is no one around there to judge me, they have all faded away as I placed my heart and lifted up my voice to God and only to him. No one judges the person sitting next to them, behind them, or the person sitting across the room. During the time of worship, we put away our worries and we lift everything up to God, which brings such a wonderful relief and release as we let go of our heavy burdens to praise the almighty and wonderful Father. At retreats, it's usually the worship and the sermon on the last day that gets many eyes filled with tears and hearts that tremble as each and everyone of us encounter the Holy Spirit. It's also what we carry home with us. Although the sermons are electrifying and powerful, they tend to slowly slip away from our minds as we consume ourselves with school and stress. Worship, on the other hand, is an ongoing never ending special something that we carry with us throughout our lives. Music has such an incredible impact in our lives.
The ice breakers, birthday celebration, study & worship, and other various ways we fellow-shipped and bonded really make a difference each and every time. When I head off for a retreat, it's not about me, it's not about my friends, it's all about God. His love has touched me and shaped me into the person I am today. At retreats my church family and I sing, laugh, eat, and cry together; we are all children of God. And the love that he has given to us, we share to the others around. All the retreats are unforgettable, each amazing and unique in its own way. Winter retreat 2013 more than just another retreat; it is a memory buried and sown tightly in my mind and heart.
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