A Life-changing Weekend.

Our middle school group at WSC ((plus Hannah Hazard and I) took an adventure to Summer Awakening 2 at the Ramp in Hamilton, Alabama. It ended with us singing The Anthem with Jake Hamilton of Jesus Culture, jumping around like crazy and singing praises to God after a busy 3 days of losing our voices, praying, worshiping, listening to testimonies from Chosen and even an evening session with Corey Russell of IHOP, and getting baptized in a river.

From my first trip to the Ramp when I was thirteen up until now, I will always say that this is a place where they welcome the presence of God. And it's amazing. :)

Honestly, I had a concept of water baptism before this trip, but I never really understood the spiritual meaning to it. I just knew that it was an outward representation of "washing away your sins", or so I thought.

I haven't seen water baptism as sketchy, necessarily, because Jesus was baptized and the bible does discuss it. But other than spiritual baptism, I never really saw the point. What does it really mean? To be prayed for, to make the decision, then to go under the water an old person, to leave who you are behind in the water and to come back up a completely new person?

It runs deeper than just being dipped into water. You're leaving your past behind in a spiritual way and in an outward way. And as this is an outward representation, a spiritual transformation is occuring as well. God is looking down on us and saying, "This is my son/daughter, in whom I am well pleased." 

He wants to do big things in us. And although water baptism doesn't save you, I've realized it's value. And it took me the third time to really understand it.

 

 Talk about getting down in the creek.

All I remember is that as we trekked down the path that lead to the river, I could feel the very presence of the holy spirit calling me forward. I could hear the music playing. I could hear the voices of hundreds of people being lifted to God.  I could hear the sound of hearts changing and encounters with God. They were crying out for a transformation.

As I stepped into the cool water, I couldn't help but to just pray in the spirit. It was overwhelming, a spiritual heaviness that I won't forget as the leaders layed hands on us and prayed for a moment in the spirit, then baptized us in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I went under the water with tears streaming down my face and came back up the same. I just prayed in the spirit for the next hour or so and cried wrapped in my towel sitting in the grass. I will never forget the day God touched our heart in this fashion, as he will continue to do for eternity.

I feel like our middle schoolers really had some intense face to face encounters with God, and my sister and I didn't even show up until the end of the Friday night service (unfortunately, we missed Corey Russel... but that's okay, we can always catch him again soon.) On the way back to the Boro, we even had a prayer meeting in the van. We prayed for people we knew were lost and discussed what God had done in us personally and what we're going to do once we get home. We don't want to be on fire for like a week after Ramp and then go back into the same mess again... it's time for consistency and a lasting impact!

So I say this to anyone who asks- STAY CONSISTENT!

Stacey from Chosen told us to get obsessed with the word and to seek his face every single day! It means turning on some worship music, opening the bible and singing to God and praying in our bedrooms at night. It means praying for your friends and family and school. It means taking time away from your video game, TV, computer, cell phone, and friends and going to those boring Monday night prayer meetings at church. It takes work, and it isn't easy, but it's worth every step of the way. So get some accountability partners and some friends that are willing to back you up and pray with you and move! Consistency means diligence, and it means effort. 

So, I end this blog post with prayer. Thank you God for a life-changing summer in our lives. Thank you for On Fire middle schoolers at WSC and your presence filling their lives every single day. Thank you for revealing your beauty and love to them so that they may share it with others. Thank you God for a love that's real and a love that prevails, that we may seek it every day for the rest of our lives and for all eternity. You're worthy, Jesus. You're amazing.

Amen.