Breaking Free

Hey all! So, I was cleaning my room Friday night and Saturday morning and found a notebook my daddy had made for me a little over 5 years ago. He made it fore me right before I left for a youth retreat back in July of 2007.. I would like to tell you about it!

This is MY story.. The one week I will NEVER forget... The week my life changed ETERNALLY...

The day my life changed forever started April 16, 2007. It was a Monday morning, just like any other day at Kerwin Christian School. They called and immediate chapel service for the high school. I already knew what was coming; they had made an announcement in church Sunday night. Still, I couldn’t believe that the school, that I had come to love, was now coming to an end. 2007 was the last year Kerwin Baptist Christian School would be alive. This is my story though. You see, our youth group was suppose to go to Mexico that summer, but our youth pastor decided to change plans a little bit. He decided to take us to a small Christian camp/lodge in Dunn, North Carolina, as a retreat. For some, this is an experience that will change their lives forever.

July 25^th couldn’t have come sooner. We all arrived at the church, packed and ready to go. There were about thirty teens and youth workers going on the trip. The drive was only a few hours, and none of us knew what to expect. When we arrived.. we were all amazed. The land was beautiful! They had two big two story houses where we would be staying, one for the guys and one for the girls. They had a very nice pool, a huge lake with canoes and kayaks, a lot of land where we could play games, and a nice little barn used as the tabernacle. Once we all unpacked, we ate lunch, and then we had our free time. I and two of my friends, Bre and Lauren, decided to go out on a canoe. We weren’t very good with steering, but we managed. On our way back to the shore my friend Lauren saw a fish and leaned over. Then my friend Bre and I leaned as well, and soon enough, the canoe tipped and the three of us were in the water. One of the nights we played capture the flag in the dark, guys against girls. The guys cheated of course. Then, another night, we had a luau by the pool with the camp owners. The free time we had was so much fun.

The best part though was the services... They were all great messages! The first night our youth pastor, Torrey Easler, preached on the title “Does God Know You?” He gave five evidences of how you know you’re saved. Through that message three of our teens and one of our youth leaders got saved (Jared, Nicole, Kady, Mrs. Daub). Thursday we had three services. Our assistant youth pastor, Chad Warner, preached the morning service “Being an Over-comer”. Then Bro. Torrey preached the afternoon and evening services, “Puppets on a string” and “Puppets on a string part 2”. Then Friday... the day I will never forget... That morning Chad preached a good message, though I can’t remember the title. That was the day we had the Luau. The owners were also going to speak at the evening services. Their names were Jeff and Jan Hamburg. Jeff spoke first and gave his testimony. I don’t remember much of it, but his wife Jan's is the one I remember most. She grew up in a Christian home, but later in life got lost in alcohol and drugs and sin. I remember her telling us how one night it was storming out and something was wrong with her, but she wasn’t high or drunk. She was in her kitchen and she saw out the window this thing, like the grim reaper, motioning for her to come to it. She was so scared and didn’t know what was happening. She had been struggling with her salvation for several weeks then and she finally just gave up and gave in and gave her life to God. One quote she had said during the message was “There are only 14 inches between your head and your heart. That may be the length between heaven and hell” Then she said “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. All during the message I felt something in my heart I just knew someone needed to hear that, so I leaned over to my friend Bre, and wrote her a little note “Help me pray for the person who’s not saved, that they will get saved 2nite!” Then a little while later, "There's a reason I got a feelin' sum1 aint saved... I hope whoever it is gets it!". When the service was over, and the invitation was given we went down to the alter and I was just weeping, I was praying that the person, whoever it was, would get saved. Then it hit me. It wasn’t someone… it was me! I had struggled for years always saying I was a Christian, and making professions, but never personally praying and asking God into heart to save me. So after, I went and found Mrs. Daub, the youth worker who had gotten saved just a few days earlier. She led me through the roman’s road and the plan of salvation, which I could have probably quoted to her entirely. But for some reason when she said it to me, I saw something different, as if it actually made sense to me. She asked me if I wanted to pray and I told her yes and that I was tired of playing games, I wanted to real deal. Right then, in that little run down barn, I asked Jesus into my heart and to rule and reign forever. Since then I have never had any doubts about my final destination.

But that’s not the end. After I prayed, I was running out of the barn to tell my BEST friend Bre, when I ran into my good friend Hannah. She was so excited about something and saw that I was too. We were both like, “guess what”, “what?” “I got saved”, “oh my word really?”, “me too”. Then I ran to my Bre, and told her, “The person we were praying for, it was me!” and all the sudden she started crying and hugging me! Then I asked if I could go and call my friend and tell him what had happened (He had gotten saved at a youth revival about 3 weeks before). When I was in our room, I heard someone crying. I went to see who it was and it was my friend Megan. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she didn’t know if she was saved or not, so then, right there in the floor of our room I led her to the Lord. Later around 12am, we had our big bon fire where we all told of our decisions. It was a great time of singing and sharing what God had done in our lives that week. After that most of us went to the room, packed to leave the next morning, and then crashed for the night. It was probably around 2:30am when my friend Joy woke me up and told me that she had just got saved as well! The perfect ending to a perfect night! Well of course the next morning we woke up, ate breakfast and packed the bus, then headed home.

Those few days were life changing for me and seven others. Yes, it marks a time of sadness in soon leaving a beloved school and many friends. But God makes NO mistakes. If Kerwin had not closed down the school, we would have gone to Mexico and not Stillwater. If we had not gone to Stillwater, I believe that there is a big possibility that the seven souls including mine, may have never been saved. Our hearts were delicate and humble, making it very easy for Jesus to move in and win us for Him.

Every time I think about that week, I get overwhelmed at how awesome it was. I hope and pray the others remeber the way I do!

Here are some pictures of our group that week.... Try not to think we're too crazy!

This first picture is the group of us.. I hate that you can't really see everyone... but it wan an amazing group!