Forum 2011!

Hi Everyone,

Well Forum was amazing!

So much happened that it's going to be hard to keep it all nice and concise in a blog post but I shall give it a go...

God is incredible! Nine of our leaders ended up going on the training week and from who I've spoke to about it so far, God has really acted in our lives.

I have a small testimony to share about it myself if I may. For the last few weeks I had been feeling really low and every area of my Christian life seemed to be failing me a little bit. I was never really in the mood to pray and when I did it was more out of guilt than a desire to speak to our Heavenly Father. I was also struggling to read my Bible and again when I did it was more because I felt that I had to because my Fiancé was reading his so much (what a good Fiancé!)

But I just felt so lost and knew that I shouldn't and I didn't really know why I felt that way so I guess I was just slowing giving up on actually living for God wholly. We got to Forum at about 6pm on Monday and had an evening meeting and I just really wasn't feeling it, I was singing rather than worshipping and saw the talk as a good opportunity just to practice my shorthand and the same seemed to happen in the morning meeting the next day.

But throughout the next day when we were going to our seminars and workshops I started to realise how little time I was spending with God and that was most likely the reason for me feeling so low. But it was a bit of a catch 22, I didn't feel I could be with God because I was low but I was low because I wasn't spending time with God.

Then I finally realised that I was still with God, or at least he was with me. A talk I was in really bought to light that God wasn't pulling away from me and any distance that was there was created by my own feelings for one reason or another. Still I felt like 'well I have this knowledge now but what do I do with it?' So I prayed this really short pathetic prayer saying to God 'I don't feel like I can do this by myself, I know this is my fault but please just pull me closer.' He COMPLETELY did!

Towards the end of the Tuesday evening meeting I was singing worship and realized that I was again actually singing worship! Then I realized my eyes were filling with tears and I found my heart just begging to God, and his spirit filled flowed through me.

Over the next day I made a real focus to spend time with God one on one and to really listen to what he put in my heart and I ended up texting my non-Christian best friend and my non-Christian parents about God, something that I find really hard to do normally but he gave me such a great confidence in him. Amazing! I just saw so many examples of his incredible love that next day that I was so overwhelmed I broke down crying in that evening meeting. From both the feeling of being overwhelmed from his love as well as a feeling of complete stupidity for every being scared and pushing him away.

I'm so happy I went to Forum for that if not anything else. But there are so many other reasons I'm greatful I went.

As leaders we were really tested to be unified and spend time together in a way that would set a good example for the rest of the CU. God put this problem on some of the leaders hearts and it really broke the heart of one of the girls and she brought the problem up to us. Then our Father really pulled us back together again and it seems we are a stronger (and hopefully a more effective) team than ever! God has been so good!

There is so much more I could say about Forum, but the most important thing you should know if how good God is. And we are so greatful to the UCCF for giving us the opportunity to have that week of focusing on God and our mission.

We really think that this has pumped us up to give the students at DMU the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Christ, but not in a way that has wound us up just to keep going until the end of Freshers week, but in a way that will encourage us to live our entire lives for the benefit of Jesus Christ.

Our God has done everything for us by giving us his son, and this week has reminded us that we owe him everything!

You can hold us accountable to that one :p

God bless you all,
Jennie
(CU President)