Hello Friends!
Taking weekend trips with my girls is always a blast. Spending late nights up talking, having fun together, and watching what God does in each of their hearts. I asked a few of them to share
with you some of the ways the Lord spoke to their hearts at Come Together. Come Together was the last weekend in February and is a retreat where all the Chi Alphas in the state of Arkansas gather together to spend time with God and each other.
“Come Together is always one of my favorite retreats. Over the last couple of months the Lord has been calling me into a new and deeper intimacy with Him. I got to see that calling come to fruition at Come Together. I have been learning through the word about the Holy Spirit and at Come Together I spoke in tongues for the first time! The presence of God was so evident and it was a privilege to be apart of it. I know that this is just the first of many gifts the Lord has for me and I can’t wait to continue in intimacy and become more like Jesus everyday! This season has been so sweet to prepare me to begin the internship with Chi Alpha next year!” - Brooke
“At Come Together, I learned a lot about the importance of thanking God for all that he’s done. It made me realize how much I hadn’t appreciated the things He’s done in my life. Before Come Together I knew that it was important, but I never really experienced how moving it is to sit and thank God for all that he’s done in my life, but also what I’ve seen him do in the lives of the people around me.” - Kayleigh
“Come Together was really a time for me to appreciate what God has done over the past few months in my life. Come Together was an amazing transition from a girl that was trying hard to fit the criteria of following the Lord to really just enjoying God’s presence and falling in love with the Him. I started seeing the beauty of his creation, and I was astonished at the way he created me. I have a specific purpose in God’s plan. I am equipped with the gifts and features he blessed me with so I can be successful in spreading his grace to others! I now find myself asking more questions about the word and learning more about the Lord’s character. I am no longer afraid to pray out loud, because I know the Lord will give me the words to say. I have been able to bask in God’s presence to find new ideas about what my life is meant for. I have a genuine heart to thank God for everything, and I cannot wait to see where he takes me!” - Pearl
“When I came to Come Together I was in a place of great doubt. I doubted the existence of God. I grew up in a very hostile environment and I couldn’t imagine a god who would allow that be worth following or worshiping. As the worship went on, I decided to give God a chance to be real so I began to pray. Many times the Lord affirmed who he was through those around me coming to pray for me and speaking the exact words I was thinking. After this weekend I believe the Lord is real and has a beautiful plan and identity for me. I am filled with a greater joy and hope than I have ever experienced before.” - Ava
"The Lord stood with me as I faced one of my biggest obstacles, spiritually, while at Come Together this year. I have been seeking to learn more about the Holy Spirit in months prior and I didn’t really know what it meant to be “baptized in the Holy Spirit”. I didn’t really grow up in church and no one ever told me what that looked like. I have read the stories in Acts about fire above people heads, and God giving people the ability to speak in other languages but I never thought I would be able to do that. I didn’t think that I was Holy enough or qualified, I didn’t think that the Lord would ever entrust me with such a gift. So I continued to shy away from anything that had to do with gifts from the Holy Spirit, especially speaking in tongues. On Saturday night when Ronnie (Chi Alpha director at UofA) started talking about how he wanted to give people the chance to receive the gift of speaking in tongues, I got super nervous. He said that the more that we press into the Holy Spirit and depend on it to guide us then the weaker the enemy’s attacks would seem. That stuck with me and I knew that I had to at least try to ask the Lord for it. So, as he called people forward that wanted to receive I went up, and I immediately crying...all I could think about was what if I didn’t get it or if I did would it even be real. I was disqualifying myself before I even tried and I was also disqualifying the Lord. Ronnie invited up other leaders that had already been baptized in the Holy Spirit and Alyssa came up to pray for me. As I continued to weep and pray all of these thoughts came to my mind about why I wasn’t good enough for this gift. I just started asking the Lord to forgive me for not trusting him, and to forgive me for discounting his love for me. I began to realize that I have a Father that is far greater than my fears and inadequacies. Long story short, Alyssa and I finally sat down after praying and talked though all of those things. Then I started to ask the Lord again to give me this gift. I believe God gives good gifts to his children and has given it to me. I’m choosing to believe that God is going to give more. “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” Number 23:19-23 The Lord is steadfast and is always on time, even if it takes longer than I would like it too." - Jayonna
"For me come together was so amazing! For the past year and a half I have been pouring and investing into my little sister to know the Lord. She is a senior in high school, but she came to Come Together. She dedicated her life to the Lord and is now getting baptized!" - Ande
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