Spiritual Emphasis Week!

Ahhh last week was absolutely AMAZING. The band was great, the speaker was great, and the sermon was great. I remember last year's sew (spiritual emphasis week) didn't have an impact on me at all. I know that sounds bad,but it really didn't. I didn't go into the next week thinking wow i have SO much to do with my faith. This year's was perfect. The "theme" of the week was exactly 100% what i needed to hear; without a doubt. I was going to write about each day, but I'm just going to write about certain things that happened or I liked or didn't like.

1. What bothered me so incredibly much is how people take chapel as a joke. I look around and people are laughing and they are like woohooo chapel! but being very sarcastic. I guess it bothers me because I take it really seriously, i have my little chapel notebook I take and when I write in my prayer notebook each week or reflect on the week, I turn to that too.

2. I really loved the speaker! At first I was like oh great, hopefully this speaker isn't boring. But when I heard it was Greg, I got so excited! Every message that he gave us was soo practical. I could relate to every single one. He lightened the mood with his voices and noises, but when he needed too, he got very serious.

3. My favorite day was Thursday. If I remember correctly (I don't have my notebook near me): ) the talk about saying sorry to people and being sarcastic was on Thursday. This day was my favorite for many reasons. I know that a lot of people are really fake when they tell their friends like ohh i love you and you will always be my best friend. Then, behind their back, they are like omg did you see her today? Wow! And she is SO annoying. I know so many girls that are like that. Another favorite part of mine is when he started talking about the dad hugs. Immediately I started bawling crying. I just couldn't hold it in. Ahh, I'm crying just writing this because it was so emotional for me. My dad is not present in my life for many reasons. He decided to get involved in unhealthy "activities" and so therefore he is not allowed to see me. I have all these memories from when I was 6, but I never remember him telling me he is proud of me and stuff like that. He would write letters to me but I never thought they were genuine and he meant it all. So when Greg was talking about the dad hugs and he would give us one, I went up to him after chapel and I got my first real dad hug. It was the biggest relief and it felt so good for someone to tell me they loved me and were proud of me.

4. One day Greg talked about being rude to people and negative towards them (probably thursday). So far, if anyone says a bad word or something negative, I tap them and ask them if that was really necessary. I also tell them that I am becoming a better person and their actions are not really helping me or others, I know its not all about me so I also say this so they will be a better person too. I did the challenge and tried my hardest to not say anything negative to anyone. I know that I did not succeed but I am working hard and trying my best.

5. The last thing I will talk about is one thing that Greg briefed on. He said that no Christian is better than the rest. I know that I have ALWAYS struggled with this. I would look at some people and be like wow they are so much better Christians than I am because they have never missed Church and I missed last Sunday. I used to feel like there was a level of Christianity. For example like some people could be in a low category but some were in the highest because they were "perfect Christians." I know now that we all worship in different ways and we love the Lord differently but we all have one thing in common which is the Lord.

The last thing that I want to say quickly is that I had previously accepted Jesus in my heart but I don't feel like I was living for him, so now I have in a way reclaimed my faith and recommitted myself to him. Im super excited for this so please pray for me as I start a new life :)

peace & blessings
Alexa <3