I've always believed in God ever since I can remember. I went to a private Catholic school through the sixth grade. I then transferred to a public school. This is a story of how I experienced God's presence.
It was just over a month ago, July 22 to be exact, that I got into a car with other teens from my church to go to Steubenville of the Rockies 2005. We drove to Denver and checked into our hotel. We then went to Qudoba for supper and then went to the Holiday Inn for the start of the conference. This night was mainly Praise and Worship and welcoming kind of night. Everyone was singing and praising God. Then the band started to play "Here I Am to Worship" When I sung "And I'll never know just how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross" it hit me. Jesus died for my sins, and he went through horible pain just for me. He endured more pain than he ever should have just so I could go to heaven. I sat down and was crying for probably 10-20 minutes.
Later that night, everyone who was open to what God had in store for the weekend was invited to stand up. I stood up, not sure what was going to happen. I was ready to let Jesus lead me through the weekend.
The next day was amazing, there were talks about purity and more praise and worship, etc. That night after supper there was to be Adoration. Before my group left church the day before we had discussed different Manifestations of the Holy Spirit. There's resting in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and endless others. Anyway, before Adoration, those who had not commited their life to God were invited to come to the stage and be prayed over. I had commited my life to God privately, but never with someone else there beside me before. I felt the urge to go forward, so I did. I started to cry again. One of the speakers prayed with me and I went back to my seat. I had commited my life to Christ and there was no turning back. Then Adoration started. A priest brought the Monstrance into the room and I could just feel Christ's presence. I prayed and cried. I knelt, I sat, I stood. When I was kneeling once and turned and saw that my friend was resting in the Holy Spirit. I prayed over her, along with other people, mainly youth leaders. When I began to get back to my other prayers I was on before I noticed one of the youth leaders who was praying over my friend was speaking in tongues. It was so strange. When I told her latter she said she thought she was speaking in English. When Adoration finished we were invited to pray with someone and invite the Holy Spirit to fill us and ask for a gift of the Holy Spirit. I asked for the faith not to doubt and my youth leader prayed with me. Now when ever I doubt in the slightest(which is rare) I remember my friend Resting in the Holy Spirit and the leader speaking in tongues. I rarely doubt anymore.
That night during Small Groups one of the guys in my group said that he didn't like that they asked people to come forward if they were willing to commit their life to Christ. He thought it was too public. I explained why I liked it, and how I liked somebody there praying with me about it.
The next day at mass they made another call for those who were willing to commit their lives to Christ. To my surprise he went up. I guess he had prayed about it and was ready to do it in public. My whole group hugged him when he got back.
The whole weekend was amazing but the most amazing thing was Adoration. Well, that's my experience.
GOD BLESS, CELINA
PS does anyone know who sings "Here I Am to Worship"?
It was just over a month ago, July 22 to be exact, that I got into a car with other teens from my church to go to Steubenville of the Rockies 2005. We drove to Denver and checked into our hotel. We then went to Qudoba for supper and then went to the Holiday Inn for the start of the conference. This night was mainly Praise and Worship and welcoming kind of night. Everyone was singing and praising God. Then the band started to play "Here I Am to Worship" When I sung "And I'll never know just how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross" it hit me. Jesus died for my sins, and he went through horible pain just for me. He endured more pain than he ever should have just so I could go to heaven. I sat down and was crying for probably 10-20 minutes.
Later that night, everyone who was open to what God had in store for the weekend was invited to stand up. I stood up, not sure what was going to happen. I was ready to let Jesus lead me through the weekend.The next day was amazing, there were talks about purity and more praise and worship, etc. That night after supper there was to be Adoration. Before my group left church the day before we had discussed different Manifestations of the Holy Spirit. There's resting in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and endless others. Anyway, before Adoration, those who had not commited their life to God were invited to come to the stage and be prayed over. I had commited my life to God privately, but never with someone else there beside me before. I felt the urge to go forward, so I did. I started to cry again. One of the speakers prayed with me and I went back to my seat. I had commited my life to Christ and there was no turning back. Then Adoration started. A priest brought the Monstrance into the room and I could just feel Christ's presence. I prayed and cried. I knelt, I sat, I stood. When I was kneeling once and turned and saw that my friend was resting in the Holy Spirit. I prayed over her, along with other people, mainly youth leaders. When I began to get back to my other prayers I was on before I noticed one of the youth leaders who was praying over my friend was speaking in tongues. It was so strange. When I told her latter she said she thought she was speaking in English. When Adoration finished we were invited to pray with someone and invite the Holy Spirit to fill us and ask for a gift of the Holy Spirit. I asked for the faith not to doubt and my youth leader prayed with me. Now when ever I doubt in the slightest(which is rare) I remember my friend Resting in the Holy Spirit and the leader speaking in tongues. I rarely doubt anymore.
That night during Small Groups one of the guys in my group said that he didn't like that they asked people to come forward if they were willing to commit their life to Christ. He thought it was too public. I explained why I liked it, and how I liked somebody there praying with me about it.
The next day at mass they made another call for those who were willing to commit their lives to Christ. To my surprise he went up. I guess he had prayed about it and was ready to do it in public. My whole group hugged him when he got back.
The whole weekend was amazing but the most amazing thing was Adoration. Well, that's my experience.
GOD BLESS, CELINA
PS does anyone know who sings "Here I Am to Worship"?
