From Awkward to Enlightened.

It's 9:45 on a Monday night, I'll be up in nearly seven hours to head off to school and as I dread that fact I get to remember something really awesome: God is chilling here with me ready to take on the challenge of tomorrow right along side of me. Don't you love coming to that realization? I sure do!

This weekend I got the chance to attend the Commonwealth Region Committee Leader Weekend (that's just a fancy way of saying I got to hang out with all the awesome Young Life leaders and staff in Virginia for 3 days). Let me tell you one thing: God was ALL over that hotel! Going to conferences like that and being surrounded my people who absolutely love the Lord with all of their soul is one of the most refreshing things I will ever experience. Young Life is an organization that I am head over heels for and getting to spend the weekend learning more about it and how I can be a better servant as a part of the Young Life team was incredible.

But this weekend wasn't all smiles and Kumbaya. I spent a lot of it feeling left out and awkward in this large group of people whom I only knew an extremely small percentage of, and those I knew seemed to know everyone else in the room as well. So I stood around a lot awkwardly on the side of conversations I didn't belong in or understand. At first I found it pretty discouraging, I just wanted to go up and sit in my room where I was more comfortable (I'm like that and totally okay with being anti-social a lot of the time). But I had the feeling that God had a lot more for me than to sit around and watch Manny Pacquio documentary. 

Once I got over feeling sorry for myself I began to listen. To listen to the awesome things Casey Dunn, the guest speaker, had to say, the awesome things that Young Life has done and is still doing, and how close God is all the time. This weekend made me realize a couple things:

First, God's everywhere, all the time (Jesus is even on every page of the Bible! Probably one of the coolest things I learned from Casey) and He's waiting for us to stumble upon Him there and do awesome work.

Second, He likes to put us in situations that are uncomfortable. God is awesome, but life with Him isn't always easy. He knows our limits and He knows exactly where to put us in order for us to prosper and do His work. I ran the risk of getting absolutely nothing out of the weekend by letting the awkwardness of my relationships there get to me, but He revealed how terrible and useless that would have been in the long run.

And third, I'm crazy about Young Life. I've been searching forever for what to do with the rest of my life and I think this weekend I may have found the answer: Young Life Staff. Obviously it will take some more praying and listening but I really feel called after this weekend to continue my mission with Young Life by working for them. But of course only God knows where I'll end up so we'll have to wait and see!

There is so much more I have to share about this awesome conference and so little space on one post! Look out for more in the coming days! 

xoxo,

Abby just Abby