Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving Retreat

Submitted by Judy…This year’s Thanksgiving Retreat was really special because we had every Gracepoint church represented, including Austin, Hsinchu, and the new church plants!  From the perspective of someone coming from one of the new church plants, it felt like a big homecoming reunion and a little foretaste of what is to come in Heaven when everyone I know and love who are serving hard for God will be reunited forever, with no more sorrows, no more pain, and no more tears, but pure joy as we recount all the ways God has been faithful.  I was so inspired and encouraged by all the different sharings in the many ministries, and I was so thankful that over 30 students from UCSD were able to come and share in this retreat!  It was such an eye-opening experience for them.  The students were blown away in so many ways – the awesome praise, the warm, friendly welcome of people who have been praying for them even though they never met them, and the stories of how our church used to be, the sacrifices that were made by the different ministries to raise up the church and send out the church planting teams just so that students like themselves have a chance to experience God’s love in this body of Christ.  I was so thankful for everything - the open homes by the brothers and sisters who lived in Alameda, the food that was prepared for us, even for the long 9-hr drive back to San Diego.  We were all also inspired by the ways our brothers and sisters have been serving God and experiencing closer fellowship with God through the various videos and testimonies at Thanksgiving Retreat.  I wish I could store all that I experienced into a treasure chest somewhere and look at it every time I am discouraged by a setback in life.  Thanksgiving Retreat was truly a spirit-lifting, inspiring time that has caused me to say in agreement to one of the most notable quotes from Pastor Manny’s College Revival Presentation “I would rather burn out than rust out!”