I Am Who YOU Say I Am

 Returning, Restoring, Refreshing

I am chosen, not forsaken, I am who You say I am

You are for me, not against me, I am who You say I am

    This past week has been good. I don't remember much aside from the church retreat I went to this past weekend. It was absolutely amazing! Even though we had guests over, and I knew I was going to miss out on all the fun, but deep in my heart I knew I was craving to encounter with God. My soul was running dry. It was really difficult for me deal with loneliness and the bad emotions while I was still living in the same environment. The first encouragement from God was that I didn't have to pay for the retreat! It was 80 US dollars which is 2,400 NT for 2 and a half days. I don't know what that sounds like for you but it was over my budget. My friends said I didn't have to worry about the money, I just need to sign up! I was sponsored!!! I knew deep in my heart that this was a green light from God for sure, and nothing was going to stop me from going. 

    I was really nervous about going because they didn't tell me anything aside from a packing list, but there wasn't an itinerary like what my church usually gives. When we got there, they took our phones away and said we were forbidden to talk. So from Friday night to Saturday night we couldn't talk to each other. They said, "If you wanted to talk, you can talk to God." I didn't have a problem with that since my Portuguese wasn't that good anyway to keep talking to people. The whole retreat was packed with lectures on different topics like our identity in Christ, forgiveness, Holy Spirit, and being set free from sin. Every time a lecture ended there was a time of prayer. And this is what I realized. After waves of prayer, it's like a cleansing process. Layer by layer, God was making me pure. God was restoring my soul. God was bringing me back to what I was made for. I experienced healing from the bad emotions that I was having. I made a lot of new friends as well. God blessed me with a translators who helped me understand the whole retreat. God blessed me with a new friend who was also adopted and her birthday was the SAME DAY as me!!! Can you believe that!!?? 

    They washed our feet and reminded me how precious I was and that I am a princess. The food was super good but I was able to maintain and even lose a little weight. They had my friends write letters to me which really touched my heart. It was a really pleasant time even though it was tiring. Praise the Lord for all the new friendships!!! Praise the Lord for the transformation that I've had!!! And literally the next day, on Monday, God gave me Psalm 40. This summed up my experience at this retreat. 

1I patiently waited, Lord,

for you to hear my prayer.

You listened 2and pulled me

from a lonely pit

full of mud and mire.

You let me stand on a rock

with my feet firm,

3and you gave me a new song,

a song of praise to you.

Many will see this,

and they will honor and trust

you, the Lord God.

Psalm 40:1-3

May God bless you and keep you.

The man on the left also went to this retreat with me. The woman on the right is his girlfriend and she led him to Christ. Cute, right?