YA Retreat 2015

In September of 2015, my church announced that they were going to have their first ever retreat for young adults at the end of October. Even though I thought it sounded fun, I knew I couldn't go because it cost a lot of money (I only had a small job that didn’t pay much at the time). I blew off the thought of even going until one day at church, my friend told me she was going and she thought I should go, too.  I told her my reasons as to why I wasn't going and she understood, but later that night, I couldn’t seem to get the idea of going on the retreat off of my mind. At dinner that night, randomly in conversation, I told my mom about the retreat just to see what she would say and she told me that I should go if I wanted to. After explaining to her about how expensive the trip was, she simply told me we can afford it if we start saving up now (I ended up paying for the whole trip on my own which I was so proud of!), but for some reason, I still kept finding reasons why I couldn’t go - all having to do with fear. For example, I didn’t know any of the young adults at my church except for my ONE friend who I had only talked to twice at church. Everyone else was unfamiliar to me and there were over 200 young adults going… how intimidating is that? Another reason I told myself I couldn’t go is because of the distance. We would be going to Dallas and I would be going with 200 strangers. That just scared me a little bit. Yet after all of those thoughts and fears, God was still tugging at my heart to go. I just felt like I needed to get out of my comfort zone for once in my life. He had greater plans for me; MUCH GREATER than all of my fears. After thinking it through for a little while, I decided to take a leap of faith and have courage.

My favorite quote ever is this one: “Everything that you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” And I just felt like it related to me at the time.

A few months before this retreat, I had been praying for new friends in my life that would be positive influences on me because I had been surrounded by mostly negative people for the last few years and unfortunately, most of my good friends from high school went off to college in August. But God definitely answered my prayers through this retreat. The first moment I walked into the church that Thursday morning, I instantly met new people. We were divided into four teams (50 people each) and we were stuck with each other for the rest of the weekend which wasn’t bad at all. It was so much fun! Honestly, choosing to go on this retreat was one of the best choices I’ve ever made.

Thursday night, we dressed up in 80s-themed outfits and had an amazing service worshipping Jesus. Friday morning, we came to breakfast in pajamas (and onesies!) and then all day that afternoon, we had competitions against the other teams.

(Those are ice cream sandwiches on my onesie.)

That night we had another worship service and then an after party where we dressed up in Homecoming dresses and danced the night away.

Saturday morning, we had another amazing service and then packed up to go home. This memory and trip was definitely life-changing and it’s an experience I’ll never forget. I walked into that retreat knowing only 1 person and I left with 50 new friends who I still talk to and see regularly. It’s changed my perspective on many things and it’s given me courage to face my fears. All glory to God and His amazing plans!