Convention!!!!

This past weekend I was able to attend Convention up at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Buffalo. When I got there on Saturday, I was running right on time and hadn’t stop to think what I was really going to do. I had lunch with over 700 youth who were in attendance that weekend. I can remember going to Convention when I was in high school and it was truly such a great experience. I was so happy to be back in some small way. After lunch and getting a little lost, I sat down at round table discussion with the Junior Advisors. It was fun to share my own unique perspective on faith and also hear from others. Here is some of my thoughts from the event:

“When I was ask to talk about my faith journey one of the first things that came to mind was the footstep story. The one that a man was walking with Jesus along the sand, the steps represented the man’s life. He asked Jesus why he had left him in the times of only one set of foot prints; Jesus responds that during those times he was carrying the man. This is something I think is very true when looking at my faith journey.

To talk about my faith journey since I started college I would really have to start farther back. If you would have met me when I was sixteen you would have met a completely different girl. By that point in my life I had attempted suicide at least three times, I was withdrawn and angry. But on the surface you wouldn’t have known that because I showed no emotion. If you would have asked me about god, I would have said I was his own personal joke or that he had forgotten all about me. This steamed for the violent murders of both my mother and brother within three years of each other before I was ten years old. But I was very lucky when I was sixteen because I had a friend who invited me to youth group. I was not all about it, however I went and I can say that those were the first steps to saving my life.

I bring up footsteps because looking back, I can see that even when I gave up on god he never gave up on me. Even during those dark years in my life, god came to me in small ways but I wasn’t willing to see it then. I only mention this because I hope you look for how god speaks to you and helps to find your purpose. Truly that is where my fate journey has gone since starting college. Looking deeply and finding what my purpose is in this world”

I then went back on Sunday morning…8:30 AM!!!!! To lead 200 of the youth in a debriefing session about the weekend and hear what they loved most about the weekend. It was great to hear what the weekend had been like for them and also what else they were planning on doing once they went back home. The theme this year was, Whatever it Takes. I loved that idea of this theme!!! Not only about faith but life in general. So often youth are not look at as a resource, it so important to encourage them and to support them. Let them find their path in life, when they do you won’t be able to stop them.

My best advice to give? Always stay present in the moment, cherish everything you are experiences and learn and grow from it all.