How to Survive a High School Retreat

I just got back from a high school retreat. One of the lead teachers asked me about a month ago if I’d be willing to go … and I said yes. As the days got closer and closer, I began thinking about the lack of sleep that I would be getting, the embarrassment of dressing in front a room full of attractive young girls, the fatigue from chasing them all over a campground, the inevitable grumpiness and grouchiness that would overcome me because of all of the above. Then I remembered several different things that God had allowed me to ponder over the past several months.

First in one of my communication classes at college the professor said something like, “Many people believe that we each create our own reality.” Honestly, I thought this was the dumbest thing ever. Either something is or it isn’t, how could we create a reality? But as we began to discuss this statement some of the things we discussed were how looking at people when they are talking to you and actually listening to what they have to say increased their receptivity not only to you as a person but also to whatever message you were trying to convey. So in that way you can alter your reality.

Then I read a book where the author was saying that if you pray and ask God to heal you then tell everyone, “Oh, I’ll never get better because this illness just runs in my family.” Then you will be like the man in the book of James who asked for something but then doubted that he would receive what he asked for and didn’t receive it.

My husband and I have been trying really hard to stop grumbling and complaining, so one of the verses that we’ve been quoting to each other is

¹⁴ Do everything without complaining and arguing, ¹⁵ so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. ¹⁶ Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. Philippians 2:14-16

In light of all of this evidence I decided to pray and set my mind and attitude a bit differently than I have in the past. First, I asked God to give me all of the strength I needed to do the task that I felt like He wanted me to do, namely go to a high school retreat and sleep in the girl’s dorm. Secondly, I decided that if He wanted me to do this then sleep would not be an issue. I set my mind firmly not to pay attention to my body when it began to tell me that it needed sleep, instead when I began to tire out I lectured my body (my mind) on all of the strength that I have in Christ Jesus and just did the things that I needed to do. Thirdly, I reflected on all of the privileges that I have as a child of God and how thrilled I was that God was being able to use me to reflect Him. So finally, I exercised my facial muscles the entire weekend and smiled. (There is actually a lot of evidence that when you smile your mind goes into gear making your thoughts come in line with what your face is saying.)

I’m here to tell you that God really came through. I had a wonderful weekend. I got four hours of sleep on the first night and four hours on the second night. I walked back and forth and to and from and up and down to all of places that we had to go and I felt strong and able for the task. I sang and sang and still my voice was strong. I had energy for listening to other peoples struggles without feeling the need to beat them over the head. I’m telling you our God is absolutely amazing. How wonderful to be loved by such a great God!