God's Love for His Children is Indescribable

WOW! What an amazing weekend! Will and I got the opportunity (along with the youth sponsors that organized the trip) to take the youth of Evanston to Snowcraze. Snowcraze is a winter retreat that is located up in Bozeman, MT. It is a weekend of fun, fellowship, growing, worshiping, and connecting with fellow believers in Christ. To be honest with you, Will and I were a little nervous to be going, considering we hadn't even been there two full weeks but God, being the amazing creator that He is, turned it into a weekend that we needed just as much as the kids. It was a weekend dedicated to getting to know the kids on a deeper level and without that it probably would have taken us a lot longer to get to know them and also to have them open up to us. We were also blessed to be able to get to know some of the youth sponsors a little better as well. 

I got the opportunity to stay in a cabin with thirteen other girls. That many girls in one cabin made for some amazing talks, funny moments, lots of bonding times, late nights, a lot of giggles, some tears that were shed, several heads that needed to be french braided, and many friendships that were made. On Saturday the kids were able to attend two of four different sessions that they had planned and then in the afternoon it was free time. Free time consisted of either tubing or broomball. I went tubing with some of the girls from our youth group and had a ton of fun. It was a little bit different than the tubing we have in Minnesota. Minnesota is fairly flat and the hills that are "created" there are not all that tall. Well this camp that we were at was located in the mountains, so let me tell you no hills needed to be created. I got quite the workout! I am still trying to get used to this elevation change. On Sunday, the kids were able to choose whether or not they wanted to go skiing or go to the Hot Springs. Being the inexperienced skier that I am I naturally chose the Hot Springs. I had never been to the Hot Springs before so I was pretty excited. This particular one that we went to had some of the pools inside and some outside. The middle school girls did end up talking me into going to the one outside and they even talked me into getting into the snow and then jumping into the pool....BRRRRRR!


Every night and also on Monday morning the kids got the opportunity to go to Chapel. Worship was led by the wonderful Elijah Scheidler and the message titled "Follow Me" was given by Brian Wiggins. Chapel was a time for the kids (and leaders) to focus solely on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was definitely present and felt by everyone. Being able to see God's children worship with their whole hearts was something that I cannot explain. The only thing I could do was smile and let the tears run down my face. Seeing lives changed and hearts transformed was such a blessing from God. Being able to see the transparency of God working in Elijah's life and the boldness that it took for Brian to let God speak through him helped the kids to truly understand what it means to have Christ working in their lives. Two of the songs that really effected everyone at Snowcraze were "The Stand" by Hillsong and "You won't Relent" by Misty Edwards/ Jesus Culture. "The Stand" is a song that talks about standing before Christ and offering our heart completely to Him. It also talks about standing before Him in awe and abandoning our hearts to Him because He gave it ALL for us. "You won't Relent" is a song that talks about God not giving up until He has all of us. It is also a song for believers to declare that we will set God as a seal upon our hearts. Both of these songs were sung as promises to God that we would give Him our whole life. The Holy Spirit really worked in and through Elijah and Brian. 


Something that Elijah said that really challenged me was, "We need to abide in Jesus and surrender all of our fears and failures to Him in order to truly hear what He is saying to us." Being in a new place, away from all of my friends and family, it is hard not to let fear in. But the minute I let that consume my mind God's voice seems to get muffled. By abiding in Christ and surrendering that fear of the unknown to God, I will be able to  clearly hear what God wants me to do. Brian also said that, "God has us exactly where He wants us. He is going to use us in the here and now." This weekend was a great reminder that God was the one that has brought us to Evanston, WY and He is the one that is going to use us! I am so thankful for the kids and leaders of the Evanston Youth Group! 


Below are two links to those two songs I had mentioned earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEJnePjJZaM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAQ61KH7qRc