Sharing church conference experiences

This past weekend I went to a church conference called SDYC. A lot of kids from Hillsboro go every year, and this was my first time going along. The things I experienced there were amazing, and I feel like having this outlet is a great way to share what God is doing in so many lives.

The way the conference worked was there are multiple different workshops, sermons, and worship times to go to every day. The speakers that were there were so good and shared really cool things that they have seen God do around the world. One of the stories that I found absolutely amazing was about a woman who was following Jesus in Turkey. In this country, Christianity isn’t accepted, and people can be killed for not following the “correct” religion. This woman was a janitor in a factory, and while she worked she would worship God and didn’t care who saw. People looked at her funny and thought she was crazy. There was one day a man broke his leg in an accident on the job. The woman came over and put her hands on him and prayed, and though her, God healed that man. He healed him on the spot, his leg was perfectly fine. Everyone who saw was amazed, and asked her how she did it, and she said God healed him, not her. That day 40 people in Turkey became followers of Jesus. 40! God is working like this every day all over the world!

The worship sessions were even better. There was a live band that played and I could just feel the Spirt moving through the room and through me. It is a feeling that is hard to explain, and I’m sure it’s different for everyone. I kept seeing an image of God physically holding my heart, like He’s got me, He owns my heart. It was a powerful moment that will stick with me.

The feeling of every person in that room all having the same purpose, to worship God, was wonderful. Every person there loves God, or at least wants to and are taking those steps to welcome Him into their heart. It was so incredibly powerful. I want more people to know that experiences like that don’t only happen at conferences or at church. If you have a relationship with God, you will be able to feel his presence anywhere.

This is something that a year ago was really hard for me. I thought I was missing something. I shared this with a friend, because I knew he had been feeling this same frustration and then one day it just came, he could feel and hear God. He assured me that the same would happen for me, and it did. I was talking with a guest speaker we had one night at church, and he had me picture something relaxing in my mind, and told me to meet God there. So I pictured myself walking in the woods, and there is this willow tree, and Jesus was standing under it waiting for me. I felt so happy, and that is what God is, joy.

At one of the workshops, the topic was being more in tune to listen to what God is saying and feeling his presence. We took turns on each other in small groups listening for God and what He would want to say to the people in our group. When it came around for them to listen for me, my friend Millie and one of my youth sponsors both got the same vison of God looking down on me with a huge smile from ear to ear like a proud dad. That was really special to hear, especially from Millie. She has been to numerous amounts of these type of workshops before, and she told me that this was the first time she had ever gotten anything about another person. I loved seeing her experience that.

Seeing God work in so many lives at something as small as SDYC and knowing that the same thing is happening every day, everywhere, makes me so hopeful and joyful. Jesus is good, and He will provide. One of my favorite quotes is, “The peace and fulfillment of Jesus is so good that your body can be sick and your heart can be broken, but it can always be well with your soul.”

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