Oh praise Him!!!

I recently came back from Sandblast 2009, which (if you're reading this and don't know) is pretty much a Christian camp that my church holds every year. There were so many things that happened there that I can only possibly sum up the whole experience in one short sentence: God was there. I could feel Him so clearly and so convincingly, especially during worship. I decided to discipline myself, obey only Him, and sacrifice my self so that I can serve Him with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength. There were so many emotional moments over at that camp, some of which I shared with some of the other girls who were there with me. I know it's going to be difficult for me to let go of some things, but I am slowly giving up my control and letting God take over my life. It's liberating and scary at the same time. I can feel myself becoming more Christ-centered than ever before, and I am so glad that so many of my friends are going through the same thing I am so that I can look to them for support and support them at the same time.

During one of the sessions, we learned that everyone has defining moments in their lives. I can definitely say that I had quite a few at Sandblast. In fact, here is a list of my defining moments. Notice how these all began with my acceptance of Christ:

1. Feeling the Holy Spirit stir inside me when I accepted Christ late at night while I was doing part of a Bible Study book in my bedroom.
2. Feeling an overwhelming sense of joy when I was baptized.
3. Embracing my newfound freedom with a couple of the other girls after the Friday session by crying and laughing at the same time before we ran across the field outside of the auditorium and dancing and spinning and falling beneath the stars.
4. Crying my heart out when I finally realized the severity of Christ's sacrifice for the first time during the Saturday session and decided to sacrifice my life to God.

I find myself talking to Him and praising Him constantly, even while I am on the ice trying to practice! I was never able to do that before without becoming distracted, but now I find myself embracing Him completely and knowing that with God, anything is possible and nothing is impossible.

At Sandblast, we also learned how to read the Bible using the SOAP method (Scripture, Observations, Application, Prayer). It has definitely improved my concentration while reading the Bible, and God has spoken to me so much while I have used my SOAP journal. I just want to get up and praise Him right now with everything I have!!! He is God of the universe!!!