Allow me to begin by describing how awesome IndyCC was. The feeling of being in the center of over 2000 college students all worshipping God together is so amazing. One thing I’m constantly reminded of when I’m in situations like this is that worship is for God. It doesn’t matter if I don’t like a worship song because as the speaker Mike Erre pointed out, the worship song isn’t for me, it’s for God. It’s so refreshing to know that what we sing, even if we don’t like it, is glorifying to God. Listening to the talks was also really encouraging, as each one included a few challenge points, several of which really got me thinking. I won’t mention each point, but I will mention some of the points that most helped me.

One really awesome point from the first session was our view of God and how we find joy in Him. I so often am really excited to praise God when things are going well, and I am ready to ask for mercy and to change the circumstances when things aren’t going so well. The point was made that ultimately our joy should not come from things in our lives that are blessings; our joy should come from God regardless of what else is going on.

Another huge area that God has helped me grow in is recognizing that God is greater than me in so many ways. That sounds so obvious when I say it like that, but I can’t honestly say that I believed that God was bigger than me in every single way before this conference. It is my hope that someday I’ll be able to say that God is bigger than me in every way. One exercise we did at the conference was to think of the areas we don’t trust God with and really try to open our heart to Him in those areas. Two of the areas I chose were my relationship with my parents, and my future plans. God is bigger than my parents approval of my life choices, and He is bigger than what I want to pursue for my degree this summer.

Instead of trying to get a summer internship or research position this summer, I will be applying for the San Diego Summer Project.  This project is a combination of a beach project, city project, and international project. It’s a beach and city project due to the location of San Diego. It’s an international project for what the goal of the project is. The primary intent of this project is to start a Destino movement, a movement that reaches out specifically to Latin Americans by being involved in their culture and yes, probably (hopefully) speaking some Spanish.

This is only a small chunk of what I’m taking away from Indy this year. I’d love to talk more with anybody about it so feel free to contact me. Finally, I’d love to take an opportunity to A) go to IndyCC if you haven’t, at least once, and B) trust God with all parts of your life, and praise him even when things are bad.

Thanks for looking through my testimony. Feel free to contact me at cbschafe@mtu.edu if you’re interested in hearing more about what God has shown me or any questions in general about IndyCC or Summer Project.