Our Powerful God

How can I keep from singing God's praise?  I feel a little like the people Jesus healed--they could not hold it in, the wonderful things God had done for them.

I have to tell you some of the inside workings of God at our recent youth retreat.  Sat. morning in my alone time with God I read Matthew 28, of Jesus' resurrection.  I was reminded that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us through prayer.

I did not sleep much the night before and so acquired a splitting headache with total exhaustion.  Feeling overwhelmed I cried out to the Lord.  How could I face the day and all its activity and lead these young girls when I felt so awful?  I was also discouraged to find one of our girls sick again, the same girl that was sick last year, so sick that her Dad had to come pick her up and take her home. She was experiencing the same exact symptoms as before.

So I had my capable staff finish making the breakfast for everyone while I went to lie down for a bit.  I felt an urgency to pray.  It seemed we needed to actively fight against our enemy who did not want this retreat to go well.  So while the girls were having their own personal quiet times with the Lord, I called all the staff together and we prayed hard for half an hour.  I believe the power of the blood of Jesus enveloped us in that room and in that place.  God worked mightily among us.

Let me tell you of the ways.  My headache went away.  The girl that was so sick, got well.  The drama that is usually present by Saturday night with a group of teenage girls together in tight quarters did not happen. This was huge. I've never seen a year where the girls all got along so well.  In fact, the middle schoolers were like a pod, all of them enjoying each others company, no one left out.  The break out discussion times after each lesson were filled with girl's sharing honestly about their lives and how the lesson was impacting them.  As staff, we were connecting with the students. 

We got snowed in with our vehicles on Sat. and so our plan to drive to our hike had to be canceled and instead we hiked from the cabin and went a different route.  Though we had tons of snow, it was not very cold, and so the hike was invigorating.  No one complained about the distance or about walking through snow.  We prayed to see live eagles and one soared right over the heads of our middle group.  (Our theme was "Renewed Like the Eagle")  Later on Sunday we saw more eagles gliding above our cabin. 

We planned to send off lanterns into the night sky for our grand finale to the Sat. night lesson.   However, the weather had been bad all day with heavy snow and socked in fog and so it looked doubtful we could do that activity.   But by late evening the skies had cleared up with only a tiny bit of snowflakes still falling and we were able to fly the lanterns. 

Of her own initiative, one girl shared her testimony on facebook of how the retreat had changed her life.  We know it was a God thing, because retreats don't change anyone, only God does the changing, but the retreat was a tool He used to work change in her.  I was so encouraged by her testimony. 

God showed Himself strong on our behalf, but I'm thoroughly convinced it was the power of prayer which made the difference.  Through prayer the way was prepared and the road cleared for God to meet us and then while there we fought against the enemy in prayer.  We acknowledged our need with complete dependence on Jesus and He met us in that place.  How could we ever think we could "do" ministry without Him?  Ludicrous.  But with Him, all things are possible.  We give Him praise, for He alone is worthy.