I had the privilege of praying for the College Winter Retreat this past weekend. Prayed for people by name as I knew them, prayed for the freshmen to just come and sit still enough to listen to the messages and that they would be able to settle their spiritual home here; for the sophomores to start dealing with their values and convictions; for the juniors to catch our vision; and for the seniors as they face important decisions and junctures in their lives; for Pastor Ed and Kelly who have been going literally non-stop from retreat to retreat. I can't explain the immense joy I felt on Monday, when I received the much anticipated phone call from Pastor Ed, telling me that 32 (!!) students had accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior this past weekend, including some juniors and seniors that we had been praying for for a long time! I was laughing and crying at the same time, calling everyone I could to let them know. I thought about the sacrifices made for this retreat: the preparation of messages, perusing of material for the dating seminar, copying of handouts to send up, making of bookmarks, all the phone calls made back and forth, some sisters spending the night with bed bugs, Pastor Ed and Kelly and my college director friends spending the third weekend in a row away from their kids -- now small sacrifices considering those 32 precious new brothers and sisters. Praise God, who makes things grow and who chooses to call us his fellow workers.
1 Corinthians 3:7-9 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.