Oh, Steubie U

I got back yesterday from a great weekend at Franciscan University of Steubenville. It was a challenging weekend for sure, but it was worth it.

Usually when I go on a big retreat I come home on a really big "spiritual high". This time, though, it was completely different. I didn't feel all emotional and super happy; I felt calm. During Adoration on Saturday night I just kind of laid it all out on the table for God. I was freaking out about a lot of different things. I'm still worried, but less so now. It was really interesting, though, because I was with a different youth group than I normally am. Some of the kids were really into it...others...not even trying. There were some who couldn't quite connect with God, but they TRIED.

I was in a different dorm room on both nights. There were five of us the first night. It was a nice, quiet night. The girls were respectful of each other and they let everyone else sleep. I felt happy and connected to God that night. I slept well and wasn't worried about anything.

The second night I was with four other girls. Suzie (her blog with Helen and Liz is awesome!) was with me and we were both sleeping on the floor...not all that comfortably either. The other girls were generally really sweet. There was one girl, though, only about twelve years old, who acted like she was about seventeen. She talked about so many inappropriate things and didn't find anything wrong with joking about things like dating, sex, etc. She swore more than a lot of twenty year olds that I know. I was originally about ready to slap her in the face (I know...Super Christian, right? ...No) but eventually I just gave up. I basically said "It's not going to bug me. What she does and says this weekend is between her and God. I have no business interfering." I decided I would just go to sleep. That didn't work either. My stomach problems have been getting worse and worse lately, and Saturday was really bad. All day i was really nauseous and it worried me. After a little while it went away, but it came back at night. Around 1am I went over to the clinic...I felt really bad for making my youth leader stay up, but I felt really gross. Of course, no matter where you are, there's not much that people can do for nausea. I laid down there for like an hour and ten minutes, miserable, worried, shaking, exhausted. I finally went back to the dorms and fell asleep around 3am. Challenge #2.

Challenge #3 is going to be the next three weeks. I have theatre camp every day from 10am-4:30pm, and straight from there I go to rehearsal from 6:00pm-10:00pm. I'm going to be really tired and I think it's going to be rough for me to remember to pray, read the Bible, etc. But I'm hoping that God will help out with the stress and chaos.

God bless you all!