4.14.19~Prodigal: Spring Retreat 2019
I had the amazing privilege of joining some of my best friends on a retreat this weekend with Wallace Students. I can't think of hardly anything, if anything, I love more than being able to spend a weekend growing in Christ and worshipping with my best friends. Often times, that weekend comes with sore muscle and some serious sleep deprivation, but I am 100% sure I wouldn't trade it for the world.
We had an absolutely awesome pastor and worship band to lead us and teach us this weekend. Many, many thanks to them for giving up the time to come and be with a bunch of crazy middle and high school kids.
I had been praying over this retreat for many weeks, leading up to it. Satan and the world had thrown a lot on my plate and I was so excited to have a weekend away, with no cell service, good friends, and plenty of Jesus. As the retreat became less than 48 hours away, my mind and heart began to be anxious about the many situations, that most likely wouldn't, but could occur. I prayed harder, "God, give me peace and move in the mightiest ways possible this weekend. Raise up an army of believers who will live out a fire for You."
Less than two hours out, I was still nervous. Fake reality and questions filled my mind. Of course, none of those situations I thought up out of anxiety had occurred on the the trip. I knew God was bigger than that, if only my brain knew that.
God revealed Himself to me and others close to me very, very mightily this weekend. The theme of the retreat as a whole was "Prodigal."
The word "prodigal," is defined by being wastefully extravagant or reckless.
The story of the prodigal son is found in Luke 15:11-32. Every time I had heard the story of the prodigal son, it had always been more about how the younger son wasted his life and how he could find forgiveness even from the lowest of the low.
Our pastor for the weekend, Shaq Hardy, gave a whole different view on it. See, the story was a lot more about the father than the son. Yes, the son wasted his life a lot, but the father was consistent. The father watched and waited for his son to come home. He went against cultural acceptance and belief, all because he was overjoyed to see his son come home.
What a picture of the way God looks at us and loves us!!!! He watches and waits to see when His beautiful children come running home to Him. Whether that be a first time commitment of surrendering your life to Christ, or whether that be just coming home and saying, "Jesus, I've messed up, and I'm not worthy to be called your servant. Please forgive me." He will welcome you with open arms and embrace you, because you are His workmanship and He loves you. Being the workmanship of the Father means that He is constantly working on you, shaping you, molding you, into His image, but also meaning that you were made holy and perfect through the blood of Jesus Christ. He paid your debt in full and the work of the cross finalized it all. Every sin. Every. Single. One.
Shaq shared two major truths, found within the story of the prodigal son. The first being, "There is no sin greater than the grace of God. Sin will destroy you, but repentance will save you, because God wants to embrace you. And cover you in His love." That repentance doesn't begin with you realizing how bad your sin is, but with you seeing how good God really is.
The second truth was that, "There is no work greater than the grace of God. Work can and will distract you, because it was never meant to save you. Salvation is a free gift from God." Shaq talked about how growing up in a culture that accepts good moral behavior tends to bend you to think that good morals can save you. They can't. The only thing that will ever save you is the free gift of salvation, from God, through Jesus Christ. We often work so hard to do all the good that we can, and that's fine, but when you work like that, you often become afraid that God will not bless you if you mess up. "When trying to make your good outweigh your bad, you then develop a skewed view of God's goodness."
This weekend will forever hold some very special memories in my mind. Some of those memories are hilarious and some are very surreal and amazing. God moved in some very mighty ways this weekend and I fully believe that it isn't stopping there. He's not done in my life and He's not done in my friend's lives. We may be 50+ miles apart but God is still continuing to work in His children. May He raise up an army of young believers, who will stand firm on His truth, rest in His promises, and live out a fire like no other for Him.
Here's to returning home to Jesus, and living out His purpose for us.
Be disciples. Make disciples.
love always,
Iz💛💛
We had an absolutely awesome pastor and worship band to lead us and teach us this weekend. Many, many thanks to them for giving up the time to come and be with a bunch of crazy middle and high school kids.
I had been praying over this retreat for many weeks, leading up to it. Satan and the world had thrown a lot on my plate and I was so excited to have a weekend away, with no cell service, good friends, and plenty of Jesus. As the retreat became less than 48 hours away, my mind and heart began to be anxious about the many situations, that most likely wouldn't, but could occur. I prayed harder, "God, give me peace and move in the mightiest ways possible this weekend. Raise up an army of believers who will live out a fire for You."
Less than two hours out, I was still nervous. Fake reality and questions filled my mind. Of course, none of those situations I thought up out of anxiety had occurred on the the trip. I knew God was bigger than that, if only my brain knew that.
God revealed Himself to me and others close to me very, very mightily this weekend. The theme of the retreat as a whole was "Prodigal."
The word "prodigal," is defined by being wastefully extravagant or reckless.
The story of the prodigal son is found in Luke 15:11-32. Every time I had heard the story of the prodigal son, it had always been more about how the younger son wasted his life and how he could find forgiveness even from the lowest of the low.
Our pastor for the weekend, Shaq Hardy, gave a whole different view on it. See, the story was a lot more about the father than the son. Yes, the son wasted his life a lot, but the father was consistent. The father watched and waited for his son to come home. He went against cultural acceptance and belief, all because he was overjoyed to see his son come home.
What a picture of the way God looks at us and loves us!!!! He watches and waits to see when His beautiful children come running home to Him. Whether that be a first time commitment of surrendering your life to Christ, or whether that be just coming home and saying, "Jesus, I've messed up, and I'm not worthy to be called your servant. Please forgive me." He will welcome you with open arms and embrace you, because you are His workmanship and He loves you. Being the workmanship of the Father means that He is constantly working on you, shaping you, molding you, into His image, but also meaning that you were made holy and perfect through the blood of Jesus Christ. He paid your debt in full and the work of the cross finalized it all. Every sin. Every. Single. One.
Shaq shared two major truths, found within the story of the prodigal son. The first being, "There is no sin greater than the grace of God. Sin will destroy you, but repentance will save you, because God wants to embrace you. And cover you in His love." That repentance doesn't begin with you realizing how bad your sin is, but with you seeing how good God really is.
The second truth was that, "There is no work greater than the grace of God. Work can and will distract you, because it was never meant to save you. Salvation is a free gift from God." Shaq talked about how growing up in a culture that accepts good moral behavior tends to bend you to think that good morals can save you. They can't. The only thing that will ever save you is the free gift of salvation, from God, through Jesus Christ. We often work so hard to do all the good that we can, and that's fine, but when you work like that, you often become afraid that God will not bless you if you mess up. "When trying to make your good outweigh your bad, you then develop a skewed view of God's goodness."
This weekend will forever hold some very special memories in my mind. Some of those memories are hilarious and some are very surreal and amazing. God moved in some very mighty ways this weekend and I fully believe that it isn't stopping there. He's not done in my life and He's not done in my friend's lives. We may be 50+ miles apart but God is still continuing to work in His children. May He raise up an army of young believers, who will stand firm on His truth, rest in His promises, and live out a fire like no other for Him.
Here's to returning home to Jesus, and living out His purpose for us.
Be disciples. Make disciples.
love always,
Iz💛💛
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