#8 (sorry a day behind!) - yoooouth group / retreats / etc. cool stuff :]

Basically I love youth group and I hope you do too :]. But since I can't make evening service very often and morning almost never, and since my family aren't the most supportive and I don't have too many Christian friends, seeing you kids at youth group and hearing a great message really keeps me going just when the week's getting incredibly loooooong. Especially these last two weeks have been AMAZING and I've learned so very much. It's been very, very, VERY challenging, but in a good way- very different from the way helping out at OLV was challenging. I was straight-up exhausted today and now looking back over my day, I really do hate my sin and that's sooo cool, not that there's sin there but because I'm a little more like God for hating it! That is THEE COOLEST thought except for how bad I feel that I did it at all :[. Anyway, youth group isn't always this powerful [at least not for me] but it's always a fannntastic refresher. It's my own personal two hours to get all my excess energy out that I've wasted sitting doing homework, to talk to [almost] anyone about [almost] anything and really really know they'll listen and really will pray for me. I admit I don't tell anyone everything, and I don't usually ask people to pray for me, and I still feel like an outsider when everyone else is hanging out in prayer meeting and talking about the e-team and Sunday service and whatnot, but to be honest that's probably the way it should be. I've been taught that I can pray and witness and greet people on my own, whatever group I may or may not be part of, and that goes for everything. I think it's been a good lesson for me to wait to really be a part of things, I've learned about sixty-three times more about service and being on the outside from my time at OLV and this fall at BSBC than I think I could have any other way. I've had to learn paitence, non-jealousy or whatever you would call it, and humility, among others, all of which I still don't have the strongest handle on. So I guess to sum this up... I'm most definitley thankful for fellowship with kids who support me because a) I've leared lessons in more ways than one [messages as well as those hard-learned ones] and b) I've found people I really, honestly can trust. It's very very amazing to know that there are people out there who really do love God with all their hearts and want to share that fabulous love with stupid little me :]