Panama City Beach: Big Break

I returned to JMU early this morning at 5am after an amazing trip to Panama City Beach, FL with Cru.

I was glad to get back as we had been on the road since 9am the previous morning--a long day of traveling for sure! I love taking trips to conferences and seeing how God uses them. I always feel rejuvenated and refocused when I return from them. I learned so much at Big Break this week and I feel like I was able to create new deep, meaningful friendships as well as strengthen existing ones! Here are some highlights from my week:

-Seeing the JMU Cru band lead the worship for the week. It was a surreal experience that literally led me to tears at seeing them on stage for the first time. It was great to be able to see my friends using their talents to serve the Lord and to see them leading other students in worship too. I felt like I proud mother as I watched one of my dear friends and suitemates, Brianna, on stage! They did a great job--leading worship for 1000+ people can be scary but they really held it together and performed amazingly!

-Bonding with my suite. I was blessed to room with my friend Tiffany and we were elated to share our suite with Alyssa, Heather, Ali, and Amy. We had such great dynamics because there were 2 freshman, 2 sophomores, and 2 juniors. It was neat to see how each of us brought different perspectives to the conversations and I learned so much from these ladies! Our suite had no problem jumping into deep conversations and I definitely feel like we bonded so nicely and that our suite will continue to hang out together in the future.

-Sharing the gospel for the first time. As I went on Big Break last year and have been sharing on campus before too, I have been in conversations where the gospel has been shared before. However, I have never personally been the one to share it. What was really cool was to see how God used me this week and matured me in sharing my faith with people. In a conversation I had with a girl on the beach after every question that I asked her, she would always kindly turn to me and asked for my opinion on the question. I didn't have a choice. I had to be bold and answer and step out of my comfort zone. Ultimately our conversation led to a point where it was time for the gospel to be known. Following suit she turned to me and asked me my opinion on a question and I answered by sharing the gospel. She did not end up accepting Christ then but she was so respectful and definitely took what I said to heart and really meditated on it. It was just such an amazing experience to get to share that good news with somebody.

Clearly there are so many wonderful memories and experiences that happened over the course of the week but sadly, I have a big pile of homework staring at me so this is all I have time to write for now. Thank you for your prayers and for thinking of me this past week! The Lord greatly blessed me and I am so thankful for the opportunity and experience of going to Big Break again!!