Conferences and realizations

This weekend I was at a youth workers/youth ministry conference; It was interesting, I learned a lot of interesting things so I'm going to share!

So the basic layout was Welcome, introduction and short worship time. Then there were morning and afternoon mini seminar conference groups happening and you had to choose which one to go to. In the morning I chose the one called 'A generation who adore themselves' basically it was all about how my generation (myself included) adore themselves and tend to be in an 'All about me' mindset and there was a couple tips on how to combat that the main one being:

'Teach children to give their lives away in service to others'

That one really struck me, since serving others is what God's been (trying) to teach me and what I'm trying to focus on lately.


The afternoon seminar I went to was 'Nurture your soul'  and I am so glad I went to that one! We ended up having four different 'groups' in each corner of the room those being "prayer' Time in God's word, community, and 'silence and serenity'. We were asked to go to what we thought was our weakest then our strongest and in those groups we just talked about things we can do help out that area or if we'd gone to the group because it was our 'strongest' give some advice. So it was really fantastic and I learned some things from a bunch of different people.



At the end of the day there was a speaker after the afternoon seminars had ended and I felt so convicted about well... a lot of the things he talked about. He talked about how we don't take Jesus seriously enough and if we did we would actually try to do what he said. The speaker followed that up by talking about denying oneself and not getting comfortable.

Those two things together made me think 'guilty, guilty, guilty'. Yikes. He was right... I don't take what Jesus said seriously enough... honestly some of the harder things He said- like 'denying yourself and following Him' I read them and I'm like 'ya I'd like to do that but... nah, that's kinda tough'

Clearly if I'm blowing a point like that off.. well that doesn't just doesn't cut it.  And I do want to live my life for God - really I do and so some things are going to have to change - even though part of me doesn't want it to.

Another question I heard at some point throughout the day is 'What has God taught you this day or this week?' And I didn't have an answer that was different from what I've learned in the last month....
 That was a real kick in the pants! What had I learned from God last week...probably nothing, seeing as I didn't spend much time with Him... (I'm not doing too good am I? Yikes)
So I've been praying about things... trying to figure out where I've let myself become comfortable and get rid of it - I currently a small list and with God's help will be working on it.
And to keep me on track I will be writing at the end of every week in my journal (I may not share everything on here - seeing as some things are more personal than others) about what I've learned or a specific bible verse that I'm been thinking about or just something about God that I thought about and think is really neat.

So I guess this is what I've learned and been thinking about so far this week!

Anything interesting that God's teaching you? Leave a comment!

God bless! :)

Ramble

I'm not sure what this post is going to be about, All I know is that it's 12 in the morning and I feel like writing.
Right now I have time galore, I'm not in school, I don't have a part time job, most of my friends are away at university and I'm single. I know I'll never get a time like this in my life again and I intend to cherish it! So I'm gonna share what I'm up to  and what I'm learning and just ramble.

Since I haven't been having to get up for school I've had a chance to actually read my bible in the morning  when I wake up (I've just finished reading through Luke and want to share some of the things I discovered in another post.
I've decided to take this time I have and just seek His kingdom first (Matt. 6:33) and learn how to be a disciple and totally lean on Jesus - even though I'm not entirely sure how to go about that... I admit it and I'll learn. They didn't call Him 'teacher' for nothing.

One thing that has really been on my heart lately is praying, I know I don't always put my heart into it, but since I've been alone at home most of the day for the last couple weeks, this is my chance! I've just been praying about everything and really enjoying it aaand seeing answers in regards to myself, and a friend! :-D Then there's the ones with a funny story to go with them... I was praying that I would hear from the college I want to go to because colleges are starting to do acceptances and well... I heard from them...telling me they would tell me sometime  in March whether I'm accepted or not. So TECHNICALLY that's an answered prayer too... perhaps I should've been more specific. God does have a sense of humour though doesn't He? lol

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 I walked into a store the other day and learned that it's February. Yes, I could tell by the large red and pink signs and heart shaped boxes and such... yea, THAT day is coming up. I have several mixed feelings towards Valentine's day - yes, it's a little bit lonely - being single all that couple-y stuff like mushy talk and cute dates makes me wish I had someone to share it with but I don't want to focus on that - I'm not going to be single forever (God willing) and I've drawn the conclusion that I may as well bless some couple by taking care of the kids while they go out on a date or making dinner for my parents- I want to do something for someone - otherwise I may find myself watching sappy romantic comedies Thursday night.

But more than wanting to do something nice for someone for one night I want to spend time making Jesus my first love - and I'm not sure how to do that either! You know I find when it comes to our relationship with God nobody really wants to admit that they don't know how to go about because it both is and isn't like a normal relationship with someone on earth. But that's the wonder and beauty of it - there's nothing else like that relationship! :) 

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Another thing I'm doing with my time is getting lots of reading in I just finished 'The case for faith' and it did such a great job of addressing issues that I had with Christianity in general and in the last week has strengthened my faith so much! I also want to read some biographies of famous missionaries if I can get my hands on  some (If any one has any suggestions, please comment because I don't know very many). 

And I think lastly, mostly because I'm getting tired is I've been learning how to really serve God the last few months and I'm taking that knowledge home and serving my family and hoping to get more out there about my faith - something I usually shy away from and hide while at home, but I don't want to do that any more, how am I supposed to be a light if I cover it up? It took me longer than it should've to realize this. Good thing God is patient with us! 

If anyone actually read through this whole thing I applaud you, I hope you got something out of it, but if not well it helped clear my head of all the things I've been thinking about!

Goodnight (ok technically it's morning) and God bless! :)